The Ryzen 7 3800X runs at a clock speed of 3.8 GHz.
The Ryzen 7 3800X runs at a clock speed of 3.8 GHz.
So, I was in the same boat (R7 3800x) until I read this thread ... So basically here's what's going on. Assuming you've got the power and cooling requirement (which I believe your setup qualifies), you too should be able to boost to 4.5Ghz but ONLY ONE THREAD !! That's by design. You can saturate just a single thread (with all others idle) and the chip will flex it 4.5Ghz. Now if you start loading up other threads, that head-room drops to allow the chip in totality to remain within power and cooling specs. It's all part of the equation as to when, where, and duration of activity is on the chip. You'll never hit all cores 100% at 4.5Ghz. That ain't going to happen. So while it's a stretch to say AMD is misleading, I agree in that they're not being clear about it to the average consumer as to limitations in all this boosting capability. Having a product core-load matrix showing max freqs to that of core utilization (1 through 8 and beyond) would be exceedingly informative upon first glance IMHO That all said, the way I can prove the above this is by downloading and installing 7-Zip and Ryzen Master . Now open Ryzen Master so you can see all cores and Peak Speed in view. In other window, open 7-Zip and choose Tool --> Benchmark from the drop-down menu. Set your Dictionary size to 512MB (If you've got 8GB of RAM), then select 1 for thread count to lock it at 1 thread of utilization. Now let it run (Restart button) and watch your Peak Speed. I personally hit 4512 Mhz (4.51Ghz). Though on average with subsequent runs I get 4.47Ghz. YMMV. Now, do the same thing with 16 thread benchmark. You'll have to drop down the Dictionary Size, but basically set it to the maximum or just below your physical RAM limit; it's listed right there so just play with the drop down until you dial it in. The point with a large dictionary size is so you can have the CPU benchmark as long as possible without finishing to cool back down. Anyways, once I set it to 16, threads on average my CPU boosted to 4.23Ghz. That was the wall it hit with all cores maxed out.
The 3800X is a 3.9 GHz component, marketed with CPB and PBO to elevate its frequency up to around 4.5 GHz when conditions allow. I'm struggling to locate detailed specifications, but it seems the available data holds value. Under sufficient cooling and robust VRM design, it can deliver higher performance (especially with Intel TurboBoost or Core Performance Boost). You're observing 4.5 GHz during single-core tasks like web browsing because the system operates at lower power, leaving room for greater gains on fewer cores.
I've never encountered a 4.5GHz setting before; usually I see around 4.2GHz with pbo/default/auto. At 4.375GHz (1.2V) it took about 1.4V to hit 4.4GHz.