System shows 5950X instability, needs higher voltage, CPU is underperforming significantly
System shows 5950X instability, needs higher voltage, CPU is underperforming significantly
I placed my 5950x on release day and got it about a week later via SCAN. Over the past year or so, my CPU has been increasingly unstable—eventually it wouldn’t boot at all in Windows. I tried resetting the BIOS and other fixes, but only after adding a small voltage boost to the CPU did it stabilize. Once that worked, it booted normally and became usable again. Previously, it would crash during idle but not under stress, which led me to increase the voltage. Recently, I had to raise it further by 0.15V because the problems returned and performance dropped significantly. My Cinebench R23 score has fallen from 26k to 19k. Anyone have suggestions on how to proceed?
Hello! It looks like your motherboard's power regulators might be the issue. Do you have another board on hand? If not, consider purchasing one online, testing it, and returning it if it doesn’t resolve the problem. It’s more affordable than replacing the CPU, and CPUs don’t typically degrade that way (except possibly high-end Intel models).
What voltage were you using? In R23 I managed just over 24K at a steady 1.45v for 4750MHz, but it wasn’t stable and was around 300w. Do you have PBO turned on? If yes, I’d reset the CMOS and just apply XMP to test. If you have Ryzen Master installed, remove it then clear the CMOS.
my complete setup includes the 5950x, 128GB Corsair Vengeance 3200MHz, RX 3090 Founders, RMA1500 Corsair PSU, ASUS X570 gaming board, and two 2TB Samsung M.2 drives. I've attempted to turn off DOCP with no effect, removed some RAM to check for issues, but nothing changed. I can't get the voltage it previously supported because it's now impossible to boot without a voltage boost. I'm planning to update the BIOS tonight, though I've done so before and think the problem might be related to the voltage increase under load. The CPU was protected by PBO for about five months before I disabled it due to instability, but that didn't resolve the issue. The attached file shows the CPU under load on Cinebench R23. Let me know if you need anything else.
You might stay here for a long time. Consider switching to a different motherboard.
I chose to skip the offset voltage, and it’s now stable within the first hour using a 25k cinebench. It’s puzzling—there’s just been a temperature shift because it’s winter. Anyone have any suggestions on why this is improving?