Question R5 3600 performs worse after being overclocked compared to its original performance.
Question R5 3600 performs worse after being overclocked compared to its original performance.
i just assembled my first PC this xmas and decided to attempt overclocking. i started with control numbers in cinebench r20 at stock 3.6Ghz, achieving 3500 with no changes in the UEFI. later, i reached a stable 4.05Ghz and got 3777, which wasn’t much different. when i tried 4.2Ghz, thermal throttling occurred and the score dropped to 3200 in cinebench. i concluded my stock wraith stealth couldn’t handle the overclock well and reset it back to 3.6Ghz at 1.1V. after that, i ran cinebench again and got 3200, a 300-point decrease from the initial test. these results were the best among three attempts, indicating it wasn’t an isolated issue. i’m not very experienced with overclocking, so i’m unsure why performance dropped so much. anyone else have faced this problem after resetting to default after overclocking? is there a solution?
Thermal and power throttling are the primary reasons for reduced scores during overclocking. During this process, increasing the voltage is necessary, but keeping it at auto can lead to overvoltage and overheating. The standard approach is to manually adjust a reasonable voltage and allow it to stabilize using LLLC or with an offset adjustment. Have you reset the CMOS/BIOS and set the voltage to auto?
Ryzen's boosting method excels at reaching higher clock speeds when conditions permit, offering performance gains beyond what most manual overclockers achieve. The short bursts of increased speed create the key advantage. Attempting the same speed manually without cooling breaks is risky because the processor can't maintain stability. A full manual all-core setup might work with a rare high-quality chip, but it demands careful adjustment to keep VCore low (typically 1.30-1.35) and robust cooling to avoid instability. Generally, 3600s have limited voltage options for Ryzen chips, making it hard to hit very low voltages consistently.
If your main activity on your PC is gaming, then RAM overclocking could be worth considering. Adjusting the memory timings can improve performance. Below are some benchmark results for various speeds and settings.
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IY_KlkQK1Q
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH3qq_mSxTM
Typically, you should aim for a RAM speed that matches the highest stable frequency your CPU can maintain.
You're matching it with a 1660 super, aiming to boost performance only when your GPU becomes the limiting factor. Beyond that point, further overclocking offers little benefit.
If you're not comfortable changing RAM timings, stick with what feels right. Slow RAM might already prevent overclocking.
Be mindful and avoid excessive adjustments.