Comparing Multi-Core and Single-Core performance in clock speed.
Comparing Multi-Core and Single-Core performance in clock speed.
I reduced the voltage of my Ryzen 5 5500 and observed that during a quick Cinebench R23 test with the multi-core option, my effective clock stayed within about 10 MHz of normal, but when using the single-core test, the difference jumped over 100 MHz. This inconsistency raises questions—does it indicate core stretching? Should I lower the voltage settings? I’m using HWInfo 64 with Snapshot CPU Polling to track speeds and rely on VDDCR CPU Voltage Offset for undervolting. Although I know newer chips like the ASUS EX A320M Gaming aren’t recommended for older boards, I’m working with a tight budget and can’t afford a more expensive processor. Thank you for any advice.
This explains how clock speeds and power limits function. In single-core tests, only one core is active, so boosts increase as remaining power allows. Modern processors use various performance modes based on core usage percentages, adjusting boosts accordingly to meet specifications. Overall, the system operates as designed.
Sorry, my mistake for not being clear. The actual clock runs slower—100 MHz lower than what the core clock reported. The perf core clock was 4,250 MHz, while the effective core clock came in at 4,245 MHz overall. In multi-core tests it was 4,100 MHz, and on a single-core test it varied accordingly.
Yes, I understand your point. Based on what I know, there seems to be a threshold where keeping that setting becomes unstable and not advised. This is particularly worrying since single-core performance tends to be better than multi-core in most cases, contrary to what you mentioned earlier.
What are the voltage levels in the multi? It might be receiving additional power, enabling the CPU to operate at a slightly higher capacity.
I chose to skip undervolting entirely since the response seems so unpredictable even with a tiny offset. Sometimes it drops below 10 MHz, then jumps to 50 MHz after a short restart, later it settles around 30 MHz, and now it’s back up to nearly 100 MHz while keeping the same setting.