Need assistance with AMD FX-9590 optimization? Let me know what you're experiencing!
Need assistance with AMD FX-9590 optimization? Let me know what you're experiencing!
My suggestion is to pause and reassess your approach. Regardless of how much you push the CPU beyond its limits, the gains will be minimal. You already have powerful chipsets that draw a lot of power—further overclocking might only strain the motherboard’s VRM significantly without noticeable speed boosts. The processor also doesn’t support advanced instruction sets such as AVX2, which are becoming essential for today’s software. Most components are built with MOSFETs rated for temperatures between 125-150°C; your board usually keeps them under about 110°C. Maintaining the VRM temperature below 100°C is crucial because prolonged exposure (hundreds of hours at that level) can cause the epoxy in the fiberglass to dry out, carbonize, or degrade. This might turn the glass into a conductive material, risking short circuits between board traces. That’s why most motherboards cap VRM temperatures around 100°C. In reality, the stock performance of your processor is lower than that of an original Ryzen 1600. Here’s my plan:
1. Dispose of the GTX 970; a single GTX 1080 should suffice.
2. Offer the motherboard, CPU, and 16 GB RAM together for roughly $150–200.
3. Sell the high-end board for $50–70, the 16 GB RAM for $20–30, and the remaining items separately.
4. If you have 32 GB in four 8 GB modules, sell the rest as individual parts. You can get a Ryzen 1600 AF series for about $85–100—roughly double the stock FX-9590. A solid board could be $60–80, and another $30 for DDR4 memory.
5. If you opt for a 4×8 GB configuration, sell the rest separately. You can find Ryzen 1600 AF for $85–100, which is about 1.5 times the stock FX-9590. A decent board costs $60–80.
6. Replace your CPU with a model that has a higher TDP (around 220W), which will draw more power—about 250–300W when overclocked. Over four hours, you’ll use about 1,000 kWh. With the new CPU, you’d only need to play for an hour. This cuts your electricity bill by roughly three times.
7. If you play a few hours daily, the savings accumulate. Consider spending $50 on this upgrade and paying back in 3–5 months of energy costs. You can also repurpose mechanical drives and invest in a fast NVMe SSD for the OS and important apps.
Hey there! I’m honest, my mind started thinking about replacing the CPU, motherboard, and RAM. I was in a bit of a tug-of-war because my budget was tight. I had a GTX 970 with 12GB RAM and some older storage drives. My research suggested that if I upgraded the motherboard, CPU, and RAM, the GPU would become the limiting factor. After weighing all options, I realized I could either focus on upgrading the video card while handling the CPU bottleneck, or upgrade my CPU/MB/RAM to tackle the GPU limits. Overall, it seemed like a tough situation. No matter what path I chose, it would cost a lot and not get me very far. That changed when a friend offered to sell his GTX 1080 Turbo for $200. Suddenly, things felt more manageable! I didn’t have the funds for the CPU/MB/RAM, but I did have enough RAM and a few hard drives that could be moved to a new system. The drives could be transferred, and the RAM could be repurposed into a home server later. This is what got me here. My goal is eventually improving the motherboard RAM and CPU, but for now, I just need to keep going. Regarding thermal performance and power consumption, I have some thoughts. Right now, my temps stay below 50°C on all cores, and cooling has never been a problem. I plan to pay attention to the VRM and adjust accordingly. If everything stays under control, I’ll try pushing the CPU a bit more. It won’t last forever—just a year or two—to invest in better hardware. If my temperatures hit the ceiling, I’ll have no choice but to accept. That should give you a clearer idea of why I’m working hard to keep this system running.
The VRM paired with that chip tends to get quite hot. Placing a small fan nearby would help, but even with AM3+ Gigabyte boards, overheating was common. The default voltage set by AMD for the chip is excessively high; it can sustain its stock speed of 4.7 while running at under 1.50V easily. Performance depends on your specific configuration and the exact model—some handle lower voltages well, others struggle. Generally, an FX-8370 or similar would be more reliable since they tend to perform consistently. The advantage of 8xxx chips is their lower power draw compared to 9xxx models, allowing stable 5.0 performance even with higher voltages. If you want maximum stability, consider overclocking with good airflow—like the Scythe Susanoo cooler on a 9590—though thermal limits still apply during intense gaming. Water cooling is essential for 9xxx chips to avoid crashes under load. Boards such as the Asus Crosshair V and its newer versions, Sabertooth 2.0, and the updated Sabertooth 3.0 (with RGB under PCI-E latches) support these chips well. I own all four and have never faced VRM issues with my 9590. A fun fact about the Sabertooth 3.0 is its M.2 slot, which adds another benefit.
As discussed, if you're bidding on electricity costs, you're missing out. You can significantly cut your monthly power expenses by making the switch now rather than delaying it for another two years. Consider moving to a top-tier VRM and build quality motherboard—like the 175$ Gigabyte x570 Aorus Elite—and pair it with an affordable CPU such as the 80-100$ Ryzen 1600 AF/2600. Within one to two years, you could upgrade to a Ryzen 3900x or 3950x. AM4 sockets still offer plenty of room, and these boards are built to handle them, especially the recommended Gigabyte model which can support even the 16-core 3950x. For budget options, MSI B450 chipset boards in the $80-120 range are solid choices.
You're swapping a power-hungry CPU—yes, it might run cool—but that’s mainly due to inefficient cooling and a low-quality PSU. Switching to a more efficient processor will reduce heat output and improve performance. The 1080 graphics card also benefits from using its hardware encoder; it won’t hinder gameplay and may even help avoid slowdowns. Relying on a separate video card adds unnecessary complexity and latency.
Modern CPUs like the Ryzen 1600 AF/2600 offer better instruction throughput, more cores, and improved efficiency compared to older models. At around 4.7-5.0 GHz, they’ll outperform even a 4.2 GHz FX due to higher IPC, larger caches, and faster memory bandwidth. In short, consider selling your GTX 970 and invest in the next-gen GPU for better overall performance.
@Phil Cunningham what’s the current status of your FX-9590? What voltage settings are recommended for a 4.7GHz/5.0GHz boost? This should help estimate how much performance you can extract. I’ll note right away that your Corsair H70 might be the bottleneck. When you push into the 4.8 / 4.9 / 5.0 GHz all-core range, a powerful air cooler like Noctuta NH-D14 or a solid 240/280/360mm AIO would be necessary. I managed to get my FX-8350 stable up to 4.8 / 4.9 GHz with around 1.45V to 1.47V core voltage, maintaining it at 4.9 GHz. At 5.0 GHz / 5.1 GHz you needed 1.5V+, but temperature limits made it tough. 5 GHz was fairly stable at lower core voltages, though not durable under stress. At that stage... a +0.05V boost for each +0.1GHz seemed marginal.
I realized air cooling isn't enough as I mentioned earlier. My massive Susanoo barely managed at 9590 undervolted at 5.0—it would still overheat the cooler during short gaming sessions. I had to settle for 4.7 with the undervolt to keep going, but even then the thermal paste stayed close to the lid. The large case with side panel off gave great airflow across the board. For a 9xxx chip, water cooling is essential. Using an 8xxx chip is cheaper and simpler, and a decent aircooler can still handle it.
Hello Rascal, I plan to check the settings soon after getting home (in about an hour) and share my findings. To be honest, the performance hasn't reached 5.0 yet, but I've only tested the default BIOS settings so far. It seems like the CPU might not be handling it well, though that could also mean the BIOS is protecting itself. I haven’t been able to pinpoint the issue clearly since I never knew exactly what I was aiming for. So far things have stayed stable, and I’ve been content, which means I didn’t feel the need to fix anything. As I mentioned before, I’m not convinced overclocking is necessary. Beerzerker recommended using an 8xxx series chip—possibly something like FX-8350 or 8370. If that’s the case, I was thinking about swapping it out for a test and see if it improves performance.
Yep, V-Z and Saber 2.0 both performed well, but CHVZ stands out the most. Possibly the Giga UD7 could work too... It needs significant cooling for FX-9590. Stock Turbo boost at 5000mhz is 1.5250v – quite challenging to manage. @Original Poster Don’t replace CPUs. Use Cpu-z, click “about tab”, go to the lower left upper tab and select “Save Report .TXT”. Open the file, scroll down for p-states, copy them, paste here. Choose a P-state below 5GHz boost, adjust multiplier and voltage manually. You can fine-tune until you reach your desired temperature. This was tested with air cooling; running at stock was impossible, but lowering the P-state helped. I had FX-8320, 8350, 8370E, 8300 chips available for swapping, but the 9590 outperformed them all due to its clock speed. Just reduced my clocks slightly.
Number of P-states 7 P-state FID 0x22 with VID 0x04 and IDD 18 (25.00x - 1.500 V).
P-state FID 0x1F with VID 0x04 and IDD 18 (23.50x - 1.500 V).
P-state FID 0x1D with VID 0x04 and IDD 18 (22.50x - 1.500 V).
P-state FID 0x18 with VID 0x04 and IDD 18 (20.00x - 1.387 V).
P-state FID 0x12 with VID 0x04 and IDD 18 (17.00x - 1.275 V).
P-state FID 0x8 with VID 0x0D and IDD 14 (12.00x - 1.075 V).
P-state FID 0x26 with VID 0x16 and IDD 11 (7.00x - 0.875 V).
Was this the information you needed?
Using an 8xxx chip won't boost FPS but would be easier to handle regarding operating temperatures. These chips are essentially the same core, though the 9xxx models are the highest-rated ones (like Vishera) and come with higher wattage specifications. Shrimpy has in-depth knowledge of adjusting P-States and can assist if you're serious about choosing a 9xxx. My main worry was avoiding constant overheating when the 9xxx is active, which could strain the VRM, so I offered these recommendations.