How to get the best performance from this budget build?

[JoeThePizzaGuy]

Hi,

 

I recently built a budget system with the specs;

 

Motherboard: MSI B450 Tomahawk

CPU: Ryzen 5 3600 3.6GHz 

CPU Cooler: ID-COOLING SE-214-XT

Case: Aerocool Bolt 

RAM: Corsair 2x8GB 3200MHz Vengeance LPX DDR4 

GPU: PowerColor RX 580 8GB 

PSU: Corsair CV550 550w 

OS: Windows 11 Pro

 

I'd like to ask for advice on how I can get the best performance from this budget build. After doing some research, I OC'D the RAM kit to 3600MHz, which appears to be stable, I did previously OC the CPU to 4.3GHz @ 1.3v although I did not keep those settings for long and instead reverted back to PBO because I did not trust those temps rising up to 80c+ when stress testing it. Although in games it was less than that. I OC'd the GPU to 1420MHz / 2100MHz and it appears to be stable but I need to run more tests. Can I do anything else to increase performance, i.e messing around with the BIOS settings or GPU settings etc. Or at this point it's not possible. Thanks!

 

Edit: Whoops, I meant 2x8GB kit, not 2x16GB.

 

[Shooterdude34]

2 minutes ago, JoeThePizzaGuy said:

Hi,

 

I recently built a budget system with the specs;

 

Motherboard: MSI B450 Tomahawk

CPU: Ryzen 5 3600 3.6GHz 

CPU Cooler: ID-COOLING SE-214-XT

Case: Aerocool Bolt 

RAM: Corsair 2x16GB 3200MHz Vengeance LPX DDR4 

GPU: PowerColor RX 580 8GB 

PSU: Corsair CV550 550w 

OS: Windows 11 Pro

 

I'd like to ask for advice on how I can get the best performance from this budget build. After doing some research, I OC'D the RAM kit to 3600MHz, which appears to be stable, I did previously OC the CPU to 4.3GHz @ 1.3v although I did not keep those settings for long and instead reverted back to PBO because I did not trust those temps rising up to 80c+ when stress testing it. Although in games it was less than that. I OC'd the GPU to 1420MHz / 2100MHz and it appears to be stable but I need to run more tests. Can I do anything else to increase performance, i.e messing around with the BIOS settings or GPU settings etc. Or at this point it's not possible. Thanks!

 

First, what benchmarks did you run to confirm it to be "stable". 

 

3600mhz should be no issue, but theres always edge cases. as for cpu, 80c is no problem. most cpus are built to run 90+, granted not for long. 

 

Use OCCT / superposition for the gpu stress testing. when testing, look for artifacting (google if unsure what these look like)

 

for memory testing, using TM5 with the PCB Destroyer config is usually good enough for a 90% stable oc.

 

and for cpu testing, Prime95 and/or core cycler are usually reccomended. 

 

there are also overclocking discords that you can join, where you can gain more in depth help faster and easier

 

good luck! the path of overclocking is a labor intensive one, and is not something you should expect to be a short task. this is where people get in trouble with unstable or dead systems. 

[RONOTHAN##]

There are only two things I could see that might help. One is getting the RAM a little bit faster, most Ryzen 3000 series chips should be able to go to something like 3733MT/s in 1:1 mode (some even 3800), though whether your RAM can handle that is a different story and it's almost certainly not going to be a noticeable performance uplift. The other is doing some more advanced tuning for the GPU to unlock voltage and power limits through BIOS modding. The GPU tweaks are more likely to be noticeable, Polaris cards IIRC can scale quite a bit with voltage, but it's also a bit more dangerous and I'd be surprised if you got 10% more performance fully stable. 

[Bismut]

11 minutes ago, JoeThePizzaGuy said:

I OC'D the RAM kit to 3600MHz, which appears to be stable

That is good, mine does not go that high (although I might have to give my SOC more voltage? I am not an expert)

 

7 minutes ago, JoeThePizzaGuy said:

because I did not trust those temps rising up to 80c+ when stress testing it. Although in games it was less than that.

That should still be okay under full synthetic load, as it is unlikely that you will hit that type of load when gaming. I would recommend setting a more aggressive fan curve and upgrading your cooler soon-ish though, maybe around black friday?

 

10 minutes ago, JoeThePizzaGuy said:

I OC'd the GPU to 1420MHz / 2100MHz and it appears to be stable but I need to run more tests.

Gaming can be one such test; it is unstable if there are too many issues or crashes for your liking.

[Bismut]

2 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

The other is doing some more advanced tuning for the GPU to unlock voltage and power limits through BIOS modding. The GPU tweaks are more likely to be noticeable, Polaris cards IIRC can scale quite a bit with voltage, but it's also a bit more dangerous and I'd be surprised if you got 10% more performance fully stable.

How worth it is that though? BIOS modding sounds somewhat risky, especially compared to just using Afterburner.

I would stay away from that as long as the card has warranty and is mostly performing up to par (go ham if you plan on upgrading soon anyway and do not care about possible repercussions though)

[Mister Woof]

As a longtime consumer overclocker....not worth your time. Run everything at the most reasonable settings for stability and performance, and enhance your computing experience in other ways. Most of the time you're looking at single digit performance differences (especially in modern hardware) and in real world that isn't noticeable enough to be worth your time.

 

Work on noise levels and heat.

[Budget DIY]

Might as well get an angle grinder out, and remove your top/front/side panel. To improve airflow. Because in pictures, this case seems horrible for OC-ing/decent airflow.

 

https://tweakers.net/pricewatch/1325392/aerocool-bolt/specificaties/

^^^ should include the images I saw.

 

*Sidenote: I'd agree with just about anything @Mister Woof said.

[JoeThePizzaGuy]

44 minutes ago, Shooterdude34 said:

First, what benchmarks did you run to confirm it to be "stable". 

 

3600mhz should be no issue, but theres always edge cases. as for cpu, 80c is no problem. most cpus are built to run 90+, granted not for long. 

 

Use OCCT / superposition for the gpu stress testing. when testing, look for artifacting (google if unsure what these look like)

 

for memory testing, using TM5 with the PCB Destroyer config is usually good enough for a 90% stable oc.

 

and for cpu testing, Prime95 and/or core cycler are usually reccomended. 

 

there are also overclocking discords that you can join, where you can gain more in depth help faster and easier

 

good luck! the path of overclocking is a labor intensive one, and is not something you should expect to be a short task. this is where people get in trouble with unstable or dead systems. 

I ran Cinebench R23 and it was fine and I started a few games which ran fine as well except for GTA V which crashed some time later with a AMD driver timeout message but I don't know whether that's the OC or some other issue because apparently a lot of people had this crash message due to MPO but I need to run more benchmarks so I can be 100% certain that it's stable and not "seems to be stable." 

 

 

 

 

 

[JoeThePizzaGuy]

22 minutes ago, Budget DIY said:

Might as well get an angle grinder out, and remove your top/front/side panel. To improve airflow. Because in pictures, this case seems horrible for OC-ing/decent airflow.

 

https://tweakers.net/pricewatch/1325392/aerocool-bolt/specificaties/

^^^ should include the images I saw.

 

*Sidenote: I'd agree with just about anything @Mister Woof said.

I have two 120mm fans attached to the CPU cooler, and the standard rear 120mm fan. I think I can add more, is it worth it or nah? Or would that even improve airflow? I'm essentially a novice when it comes to the hardware aspect of things.

[Budget DIY]

Just now, JoeThePizzaGuy said:

I have two 120mm fans attached to the CPU cooler, and the standard rear 120mm fan. I think I can add more, is it worth it or nah? Or would that even improve airflow? I'm essentially a novice when it comes to the hardware aspect of things.

Based on the pictures from the site I linked, there doesn't seem to be much airflow possible with that case. Adding more fans probably doesn't do all that much. Is there even a front air intake?!?

[JoeThePizzaGuy]

41 minutes ago, Mister Woof said:

As a longtime consumer overclocker....not worth your time. Run everything at the most reasonable settings for stability and performance, and enhance your computing experience in other ways. Most of the time you're looking at single digit performance differences (especially in modern hardware) and in real world that isn't noticeable enough to be worth your time.

 

Work on noise levels and heat.

Yeah I'm thinking of resetting everything back to default settings but at the same time I want to squeeze that orange for as much juice as I can within safe limits especially since I don't think I'd be upgrading this unit in a long time. 

[JoeThePizzaGuy]

2 minutes ago, Budget DIY said:

Based on the pictures from the site I linked, there doesn't seem to be much airflow possible with that case. Adding more fans probably doesn't do all that much. Is there even a front air intake?!?

There appears to be at the front where the RGB is. 

[Budget DIY]

But can it flow allot of air, like on the top? Most likely nope. Flow paterns are really odd if you max it out, and could be MUCH better. IMO, a terrible case for OC-ing. Open air/test bed or a butchered case, is probably much better. I don't OC at all, but I feel like my almost 10 yo case, has tripple the airflow vs your thing.

[JoeThePizzaGuy]

6 minutes ago, Budget DIY said:

But can it flow allot of air, like on the top? Most likely nope. Flow paterns are really odd if you max it out, and could be MUCH better. IMO, a terrible case for OC-ing. Open air/test bed or a butchered case, is probably much better. I don't OC at all, but I feel like my almost 10 yo case, has tripple the airflow vs your thing.

There is a designated space on top with holes that would fit 2 120mm fans that's covered with a dust filter. But yeah it seems slightly tight inside but I think it can be fixed if I adjust some things.

[Budget DIY]

1 minute ago, JoeThePizzaGuy said:

can be fixed if I adjust some things.

Like I said, angle grinder, remove front/top/side panel. And I'm kinda serious. (I tend to push angle grinders into my cases, I has plenty-o-proof)

[bezza...]

28 minutes ago, Budget DIY said:

Like I said, angle grinder, remove front/top/side panel. And I'm kinda serious. (I tend to push angle grinders into my cases, I has plenty-o-proof)

must be a better way

[JoeThePizzaGuy]

33 minutes ago, Budget DIY said:

Like I said, angle grinder, remove front/top/side panel. And I'm kinda serious. (I tend to push angle grinders into my cases, I has plenty-o-proof)

I can remove the front panel without cutting it although I won't have a RGB and the front will look ugly.