Device fails to increase clock speed to its maximum rating.
Device fails to increase clock speed to its maximum rating.
The performance isn't reaching the advertised 4.2GHz, and it hasn't hit that speed even after two years. It should reach 4.0, otherwise it wouldn't have been released. Could there be a reason behind this or a fix? Your system includes a Ryzen 5 3600 with MSI B450 Tomahawk Max, G.Skill Ripjaws V, and other components. You mainly use it for gaming.
The maximum speed increase applies mainly to tasks with minimal threading. For most modern applications or older games relying on a single core, you'll likely never encounter it.
It's normal for a 3000/5000 series Ryzen processor to not reach its full boost speed. The maximum boost only occurs under ideal circumstances. If temperatures are too high (like with the stock cooler), multiple threads may be active, or other issues prevent reaching peak performance. For instance, my 5900X is rated at 4.8GHz max boost, but I haven't seen it exceed 4.7 in real-world use with PBO enabled—it's not unusual.
Custom power settings rather than the motherboard limits should achieve that extreme boost to 5150. Op, if you're using an Asus board, turn on Asus Performance Enhancement—it usually adds around 100MHz. If your temperatures are climbing, that might be why it isn't reaching its full potential.