Discussing CPU and RAM upgrades while inquiring about the motherboard.
Discussing CPU and RAM upgrades while inquiring about the motherboard.
For serious CPU overclocking, you'll need a B450, X470 or X570. An A350 offers a very basic chipset and won't support overclocking. Also, I'm not sure if your A350's motherboard supports a stable 3600MHz frequency.
The R5 3600 functions well on the B350, though I’m not certain about RAM compatibility on that specific board. It’s a good idea to update the BIOS beforehand, but I’m unsure how stable it would be running at 3600Mhz for your RAM. You might consider using a 3200MHz CL16 kit instead. Upgrading the motherboard likely won’t provide a major performance increase.
If you don’t have a first-generation Ryzen or can’t update the BIOS, opt for a B450 model that allows BIOS flashback. Unless your dealer can flash the A350 for you.
I wouldn't suggest overclocking in general. The third generation Ryzen doesn't perform well with OC initially, and gains aren't significant. Using fast RAM and tweaking PBO settings in Ryzen Master is the better approach if you're aiming for OC. Also, these CPUs tend to show quicker performance drops when higher voltages are used. I'm okay with the RAM specs, but I'm uncertain about the stability of 3600MHz.
I pushed my 3600x to overclock and it's holding steady at around 4.3Ghz for roughly three months. I haven't faced any problems myself, but I'm aware it will wear out quicker. For long-term stability with RAM boosts, a better motherboard would be necessary.
Operating at 1.30v provides stable results. Experimenting with 4.4GHz at 1.325 didn’t yield good performance; 4.3Ghz at 1.30 was more effective. I recall hearing similar advice about Zen 2 before, but the impact felt significant. Attempting higher voltages caused throttling in both temperature and speed, so I settled on 1.30v.
Additionally tested 1.27, which functioned well at 4.2-4.3GHz, leading me to consider reducing the voltage back to 1.27.