What issues are present with my system?
What issues are present with my system?
In short, I've spent the last couple of years diving into CPU and GPU overclocking. It was a fluctuating journey filled with attempts, setbacks, and learning unique issues that no one else has encountered before. After some time, I've really grasped the key techniques for GPU overclocking and understood their logic. CPU overclocking, however, has remained the biggest challenge. I’ve studied common options, their effects, and optimal configurations, but none of these general guidelines match real-world experiences on my system.
I’ve been exploring the most effective methods recently and discovered that many prefer AMD PBO for its simplicity and performance over the stock version. I also learned that manual overclocking, when done correctly, often outperforms PBO and auto OC. I’d rather go the manual route because I’m confident in my approach and want to maximize results.
I started CPU overclocking about 1.5 years ago, experimenting with frequency multipliers, core voltage, SOC voltage, and LLC settings. Initially, I didn’t see much progress, so I settled on 4GHz and gave up after a while. Over the next year and a half, I kept tweaking without changing core settings much, which helped me understand what each setting does.
Recently, I set clear goals—aiming for a stable 4.2GHz at around 1.475V—and began thorough testing using Cinebench and CPU-Z. The main issue? Even at 4GHz with 1.4V and maximum LLC settings, my runs would crash or fail to complete. PBO, on the other hand, handled the benchmark smoothly, reaching 3650MHz under stock conditions.
This is definitely not the end of the road, even if I faced a tough silicon selection. It’s time to check if the problem lies with my motherboard or with my CPU itself.
Initially, around 1.5 times the power to the CPU is an issue. It's recommended to keep below 1.3v, ideally staying at 1.25v. Overclocking causes more problems, so it's better to leave it unchanged. You're also using a standard cooler, which suggests upgrading to a 240mm or 360mm AIO would help with long-term performance.
Initially, around 1.5 times the power to the CPU is an issue. It's recommended to keep below 1.3v, ideally staying at 1.25v. Overclocking causes more problems, so it's better to leave it unchanged. You're also using a standard cooler, which suggests upgrading to a 240mm or 360mm AIO would help with long-term performance.
I had a standard 1700 processor. I believe I tested it at 3.9GHz with around 1.38V. PBO behaves differently on the 3000 series CPUs compared to PBO on other models. Refer to the link provided. For my 3900X, I used Buildzoid to apply PBO with a +200Mhz and XMP settings, achieving a performance close to a manual overclock at 4.2. I mostly use PBO for benchmarking. I also configured manual OC profiles in the BIOS for 4.3 at 1.3V and 4.4GHz with 1.38V, but only during testing.
But when I enable PBO auto voltage auto frequency, I see 4.2ghz during idle, 3.7-3.65ghz at CBR20, and an average of 1.5 volts at idle, with 1.2 at full load. Also, if I apply a negative offset of 0.75 or 0.5 volts, PBO becomes almost ineffective for me since stock performs better, and at the end of the CBR20 run, PBO brings my voltage down to roughly stock levels at 1.2-1.25v.
I figured it out. My temperatures are leading to crashes, but I'm now running at 3.95ghz with 1.325 volts (auto LLC). Still getting high temps in CBR20 all core (85-90c by end), though no crashes. Might be worth investing to get the Noctua NH-D15.