Limit for Ryzen 7950X3D is defined by PBO settings.
Limit for Ryzen 7950X3D is defined by PBO settings.
Hello everyone, I wanted to check if setting PBO to just 65°C could have any negative effects. I used both PBO Auto and PBO Advanced and got similar results in CB 23. I’m curious if this might affect the CPU performance because lower voltage could impact it. The reason I set it low was that games like Monster Hunter Wilds and Horizon Forbidden West pushed my CPU close to 80°C, which I found too high. So I limited it to 65°C with PBO Temp Limit, and now the in-game frames are the same while the CPU stays cool at 65°C. I tried using Curve Optimizer, but it didn’t help much—my CPU still stayed above 70°C during play. Interestingly, the power consumption remains around 50-65 watts regardless of PBO settings.
You're aware that Ryzen 7000 and 9000 tend to get warm by design. At 80°C it's considered 'fairly cool' for an AM5 CPU during intense gaming. The processor maintains the same performance regardless of whether it's at 60°C or 83°C, delivering consistent results.
If the results match then it's fine. I'm just emphasizing that it doesn't really matter. Have you checked the clock speeds of each core to confirm they aren't restricted by PBO at 65°C versus no restrictions? You won't harm the CPU by capping PBO to 65°C as mentioned in your first message.
Thanks for the confirmation! I didn’t check the clock speed initially, but after reviewing the games, I see consistent FPS and no stuttering or poor frame rates with those PBO settings. On CB23 I get -200MHz which is fine since it’s around -20°C and uses 35W less power while only slightly reducing performance in CB23.
In my view, I’d use PBO Unlimited with a -30 to -20 Curve Optimizer setting. I tried this on my 7700x and achieved a boost of 250Mhz while reducing heat by about 15c with that same curve. With the 9800X3D, I’m running at 5.6Ghz instead of the stock 5.25Ghz, adding roughly +200Mhz per core manually. Expect temperatures to climb above 65°C, possibly reaching 85°C—definitely acceptable for this chipset. You invested a lot in the 7950X3D, so I wouldn’t want to cap its performance unnecessarily. But a 65°C limit isn’t harmful; maybe try 75 or 80°C to see if it affects core speed. The benefit is flexibility—you can adjust as needed. As someone who loves overclocking, I’m naturally biased toward pushing it to its limits. Check this out to see the results and notice how it handles higher temps compared to others on the market. This just illustrates how it works, without criticizing your PBO choices. You might find this helpful. The video was timed at 24:16 for a quick recap. The 7950X3D is truly impressive! A 10% drop in performance isn’t much when it’s so powerful. Thanks for the long explanation.
Anticipate significant performance drops on a 7950x3D with a 65C PBO limit. It seems even pushing the temperature down to 80°C in a tight cooling configuration could ruin it. Before giving up, I managed to hit 37531 in CB23 using that model.
The specified clockspeeds from the CB23 test are listed below.