Yes, you can attempt to further overclock the Ryzen 9 5950X, but be aware of stability risks and performance limits.
Yes, you can attempt to further overclock the Ryzen 9 5950X, but be aware of stability risks and performance limits.
I've been using a Ryzen 9 5950X for about two months, running PBO with the power limits your motherboard supports. It's installed on an Asus Dark Hero X570 board, paired with Noctua NH-D15 chromax black fans, while stock fans have been swapped for two Noctua industrial ippc 3000 fans. Temperatures reported in Ryzen Master are consistently below the numbers shown. During Cinebench R23 stress tests, single-core temps peak at 60°C and multi-core at 53°C after roughly ten minutes. When PBO is enabled, single-core stays at 60°C and multi-core climbs to 76°C within about ten minutes. I've also set a manual overclock to 4.65 GHz with 1.375 volts, reaching 85°C in Cinebench R23—though that feels a bit high for longevity. The real concern is whether pushing it further would harm the CPU's lifespan, especially since thermal throttling kicks in around 90°C. Over six years, I'm wondering if running hotter than 76°C occasionally is safe or if lowering the power cap would help the chip last longer. Alternatively, I might consider creating a new manual overclock with reduced clock speeds and voltages. What I’m really asking is: what’s the highest temperature it reliably handles before throttling, and what voltage is deemed safe for Zen 3?
The increases in heat and power usage typically range from about 1 to 2% across average FPS counts, especially noticeable in triple-A games. Running it cooler seems like a smart idea.
These chips represent ultra-pure raw current technology. You choose where the heat should go. At 70°C you trigger a CPU high-temperature warning, and with a stock setup the fan runs at full power... likely for a specific reason. I believe 80°C with overclocking would be the optimal daily limit, not 85°C. The idea behind overclocking is to lower temperatures rather than accept a higher one.
It's worth noting that this specific CPU offers better single-core performance compared to other Ryzen models, which is ideal for gaming. PBO provides some assistance with core operations, but overall it depends on cooling and environmental factors. Paying attention to your PPT TDC and EDC settings is important. I'm comfortable with 80°C, but exceeding that might require reducing scaling slightly. Try to maximize airflow into the case and support your D15 a bit more. An airflow-focused chassis could be beneficial.
I align with the 80C limit, which feels like the point where I stop diving into OC. Your take on lowering temperatures is interesting. Usually I view overclocking as achieving peak performance within safe voltage and heat limits based on cooling capacity. But since I’m used to an older setup—Intel X58/LGA 1366 with an i7 980x—I might have adjusted since then. Back then, the focus was on ensuring adequate cooling before pushing the CPU to its safe voltage threshold, then identifying the stable maximum clock speed. It seems I settled for that approach. Now I’d invest more time in tuning curves and skip the manual core-by-core optimization.
I've fully pushed the single-core clock to its limit, which is stable. The highest it reaches is 5.15 GHz for the best cores. Beyond that performance drops significantly. PBO caps me at 395 watts, TDC at 255 amps and EDC at 200 amps. The motherboard won't let me exceed those numbers with PBO. The only option left is to manually overclock all cores or adjust each one individually—which takes a lot of time and isn't practical for me. Everything seems fine with the good airflow in this case. A Phantom Echo 719 with Lian Li Uni SL120 fans provides ample cooling. It looks like both of you agree 80°C is the upper limit, and since I'm at 76°C with PBO, I think it's better to keep PBO on and focus on tuning the curve instead.
Yes, adjust those settings to achieve the single-core gain. For example, with my 5900 I set it to 200 130 130, while with my 5600 I use 200 140 180. The limits are generally higher for the 5600 compared to the 5900. You'll likely need to experiment with these values, as they don't appear as stable as what many expect from Intel.
Power caps are set at their maximum, which helps me achieve a solid single-core score in Cinebench r23 compared to others. My results are 1600 with stock settings, 1631 without any adjustments, and 1654 with tuning applied. The latter seems to be near the best I can observe. Reducing power limits will also cause cores to slow down their clock speed during heavy use, which lowers performance. This is mainly affecting multi-core performance rather than single-core needs for games.
In R23 single core and my 5600X I achieved 1625, while with my 5900X it reached 1685. So you seem to be doing fine. R23 multi maxes out at around 24421 with air cooling. Reducing limits on my 5900 doesn’t really help—it adapts accordingly. I’m boosting performance by turning on ASUS performance enhancement, which adds a bit more power to keep things running smooth. Without it on, I lose about 50-75MHz under heavy load.