Getting better performance with an upgrade to a new CPU like the Intel Core i5-3600
Getting better performance with an upgrade to a new CPU like the Intel Core i5-3600
Hey, I'm finally starting my PC build that took months to get ready, and I picked a Ryzen 5 3600 processor with a B450 Aorus Pro motherboard. My cooler is the Hyper 212 RGB BE, which is pretty basic at first. What I do is gaming all day without streaming, and I want the CPU to last for years. Yes, I don't like overclocking because it's not worth it, and I live in a hot area, so keeping things cool is super important. If they run well on stock speeds, that's fine; but lots of people said I should undervolt because of high temps since the CPU naturally runs hotter than usual if you keep it at 3.6Ghz. How much do I need to cut down my voltage? If I just boost up safely to 3.9-4.0-4.1Ghz, which option is better for the long run? How do I balance between Core Clock speeds and Voltage levels? And what's the safe range of voltage for this processor? Should I bench test every single change just to make sure it runs okay at reasonable temperatures? And how hot should my cooler get? Based on your experience, what are the best safe clock speeds and voltages for this CPU? I need to be set up tomorrow when I finish building, so any tips would be super helpful. Thanks for any help!
Surely, using a lower clock means less heat and less wear, making it safer. Even though 4.1 isn't dangerous as long as things are running right and voltage isn't wildly high set in stone, a Hyper 212 will keep the temperature down nicely, which is safe too. If you leave it on AUTO, the computer's brain controls the voltage so that part is also covered. To stay safe, just let the processor figure out how much power to give by letting its own algorithm do the work for...
You should probably be fine with a Ryzen 212X instead of that fancy stock Wraith Stealth cooler. What about your other parts? Are you going to lock for a maximum of 60 frames per second if you're using a 60Hz monitor? The reason I ask is because if that's the case, you can pretty much turn off PBO completely in BIOS. At base clocks the Ryzen card is definitely capable of pushing more than 60fps.
Well, my graphics card is an RTX 2060 and I'm currently running on a 60Hz monitor. I plan to upgrade soon to get better performance. With that low refresh rate, the screen can't show anything faster than 60 frames per second anyway. If I turn off PBO in my BIOS settings, what would happen? Does disabling this have an effect on things? Should I really be tweaking these settings instead of just using Ryzen Master? I hope you answer both of my questions!
Ryzen's automatic boost mainly depends on how hot things get. If it stays below 62 to 65 degrees Celsius, you get the full power up there. But if it gets hotter than 70 degrees Celsius, the speed boost drops a little.
You just need to keep the temperature down by putting on a good CPU cooler. Let the computer run naturally without lowering power, because that is how it was built to work. Just don't try turning things down too low if you don't have enough air blowing over it. This screen definitely won't show more than 60 frames per second no matter what. But you can get way better performance by disabling V-Sync in the NVIDIA settings and in the game itself, plus using triple-buffering. Even though you only see 60fps on the screen, your graphics card will still be drawing frames much faster than that, which means less delay when the images come out. If you have an HDMI cable, just switch to a DVI one; you might get some weird visual glitches or screen tearing, but it's okay for gaming at higher speeds.
The hotter the computer gets, the quicker my CPU wears out, right? As for speed, the clock isn't on by itself and needs to be turned on manually with Ryzen Master. I still didn't figure out how to do an undervolt because I have a good cooler already.
Yes, heat matters, but I need advice on how to stop it without doing that undervolt trick since I'm not sure if I'll do that anyway. Really thank you for this tip, but honestly, DVI cables are getting old and I'll just wait until I get a new monitor. I hope we aren't going out of context here because I still didn't get answers to my questions about items 2, 3, and 4 in the post. Thanks so much for helping!
Yeah, getting hot and using too much electricity both make things age faster. That's the limit we're stuck at right now because no two computers or chips are ever exactly the same way. The goal is just to find a balance that keeps things working well without breaking down completely. You'll have to test it on your own.
The lower clock speeds produce less heat and fewer problems, making it safer to use. However, 4.1 GHz isn't dangerous as long as the temperature stays cool and voltage doesn't spike unexpectedly. A Hyper 212 is great at keeping things cool, so that part should be fine too. When set to AUTO, the processor handles voltage automatically, which adds safety there as well. You should let your processor's built-in system balance voltage and clocks for best results. That's a pretty sure thing because it works very well and adjusts things quickly without you even knowing what happens at that speed. There isn't any reason to try messing with settings yourself if you just leave the voltage and frequency set to AUTO. Now questions 2, 3, and 4 are all answered. But regarding question 1: how much undervolt is needed depends on your specific CPU model and how your motherboard was designed by the maker. If you decide to go under-volt, do it slowly using small step changes only. Test with CineBench 20 and run both single-thread and multi-thread tests before saying it's good enough. It's easy to ruin performance just in one spot. Single-thread numbers show how well games run on your system. But even if you see some improvement in scores, you probably won't notice real-world benefits for gaming since the GPU is far more important than CPU speed here.