You just received a 5800X CPU/MB and have some questions.
You just received a 5800X CPU/MB and have some questions.
I wasn’t as fortunate as I hoped in securing components, even checking NowInStock and their Telegram/Discord communities. That’s why I ended up with a 3080 FTW3 instead of the 3090 FE last year, and this month I received a 5800X rather than a 5950X. Consequently, I ordered an MSI X570 Unify (My Asus WS Z390 Pro performed well and I really liked it, but Asus hasn’t been supporting Re-Bar much anymore, which left a disappointing impression, so I went with MSI this generation), a 980 Pro 2TB, and a Dark Rock Pro 4, all put together about a week ago. Since then, I’ve switched back to my H115i for cooling because the DRP4 didn’t perform as expected, and the main reason before that was missing the AMD adapter for my water cooler—though I found one on Amazon.
Here are my questions for you all...
1. My scores on Cinebench look lower than what reviewers say. For example, the R20 gives me around 5900, but reviews usually place this chip in the 6200 range. Is this normal, or can I improve it? I experimented with PBO, but my best results came from auto mode except for voltage curve and setting it to -15 for all cores. Other Cinebench versions show similar percentages below the review scores, so maybe it’s something I’m doing wrong.
2. My temperatures seem high (even with the H115i). Idle temps were about 45°C, and max temps under synthetic load reached around 89°C with AVX. I switched back to the H115i—now idle at 35°C and max temps are 71-72°C. That’s still higher than my 9900k with the same cooler, which seems odd given those were known for being very hot. I’ve repasted a few times, tried Kryonaut Extreme, Kryonaut, and even used a graphite pad during tests—it still shows these numbers. Is this typical, or could my temps be the issue?
3. My memory might be running at incorrect speeds or timings. I have a 4-pack of 8GB Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR4 3200 CL14 RAM (B-Die). I’ve tried different speeds in BIOS, but I’m not sure what setting is best. I used the “Memory Try It!” feature to test various speeds/timings and here’s what worked or didn’t:
- 3200MT 14-14-14-34 – Worked
- 3600MT 14-14-14-34 – Didn’t work
- 3600MT 14-16-16-36 – Worked
- 3800MT 18-18-18-38 – Worked
- 3866+ – Worked
I haven’t tried the Ryzen Memory Calculator yet, but the 3600MT CL14 settings it suggested didn’t show up. Also, I haven’t seen any WHEA errors so far—though you might be curious. I haven’t noticed much difference in benchmarks between these speeds, except for the 3600MT CL14 run I’m currently doing. Should I keep tweaking them or give up? I’d really appreciate any advice since I didn’t get the parts I wanted and any help would mean a lot!
Thanks for your support!
1. Results are perfectly normal. YouTube standards use fully sterile equipment, offering top-tier performance.
2. All temperatures are within expected ranges.
3. Multiple settings require fine-tuning using the Ryzen Memory Calculator. A second tab is recommended—personal experience shows it’s effective. You probably won’t exceed 3800 unless you separate the memory, which adds unnecessary complications.
Adding a second perspective, those temperatures seem completely typical for 5800x—it's the hottest among all Zen3 CPUs. My R20 score matched yours, around 6k at most, and with PBO enabled, everything was set to auto except for -25, where the core curve offset was adjusted. Have you tried running below -15? I’m not an expert, but I think using two sticks is your best bet for achieving high memory speeds. With four sticks, stability at higher speeds drops significantly. Someone more experienced can verify or clarify this. Congrats on the new setup!
Ah okay, that makes me feel a bit better...I am curious about a few things though. 1: My stock voltages looked crazy high which is why I used the curve in the first place and are still around 1.435v Idle in HWInfo...they drop a bit under load but this seems kinda nuts. Is this normal behaviour for a Ryzen 5XXX? 2: Ouch, also, I have 3 temps listed in HWInfo and they vary a LOT...is that normal too? Currently my idle while typing this is Tctl/Tdie: 43c, Average: 35c, and Tdie: 38c respectively. I feel like I only had 1 or 2 temps to look at on my 9900k besides the core temps lol. Also, AVX load temps tend to be almost identical for all 3 at Tctl/Tdie: 72.1c, Average: 72.1c, and Tdie: 72.5c respectively which seems more normal but the idle temps can randomly creep up to like 65c on Tctl/Tdie with nothing going on which seems very odd. 3: My memory is a relic from before I even had my 9900k, I had an 8086k before that which that memory seemed perfect for at the time but if there's a better option I'm open to replacing it with something else. Would risking a brand name I've never heard of to get PC4000 CL14 (Who's OLOY? lol) be worth it or would going higher on the speed but lower on the CAS and try to downclock it and tighten timings be better? Alternately, should I not even try past 3800 and go for a 3800 CL14 kit ? I'm a bit lost and some places say 3800 is the sweet spot and some say 4000 is but I've not seen anywhere that shows conclusively whether timings or speed are most important and/or what speeds/timings the priorities shift or when you get diminishing returns. I can do 3800 CL18 with my current kit of 4 x 8GB but if I can get higher performance with a new kit (and potentially find a good 2 x 16GB kit to let me upgrade to 64GB later) that's not insanely priced (My cap is $400-500 but I'd prefer closer to $200 unless there's a huge performance jump) then I'll go for it for sure. Thanks for your help!
100% normal. Ryzen 3000 and 5000 series are tuned this way so there is voltage there for the ramp up/burst when a load is put on. Once it sees this and realizes it doesn't need all that voltage, it dials it back like you are seeing. Tctl/Tdie is the most accurate in my experience with my 3700x. It matches what shows in Ryzen Master. Stick with the B-Dies you have now. They're great and the best at overclocking. Since you were able to get 3600mhz at 16-18-18-38, I would use that and call it good. You will gain nothing more really from trying to tune further. They say 3800 because of the Fclock I mentioned previously.
Great news! It's nice to hear that too. Both of you should be aware I've been using the same Windows 10 version since its launch. I set it up on my i5-2500 with 2 x 4GB DDR3 1066 RAM and a 250GB HDD, using an iGPU for work. Back when I worked repairing PCs, reinstalling Windows felt like giving up, so updating this install to new hardware was something I had to try at least. Over the years I've changed components multiple times and copied this setup from the 250GB drive to a 1TB drive, plus various SSDs and even a 2TB NVMe SSD. It's been a long journey since I first installed it. Now I'm all in and can't back out!
Choose what you understand is reliable and build from there. That’s the charm of boosting performance! You can’t predict exactly where it will lead. Just aim to keep your clock speed close to your RAM rate—like 3600mhz with 1800fps, or 3800/1900 if you prefer higher speeds.
Technically, the process extended if you include the Windows 7 installation I performed since I didn’t do a clean setup and retained all my applications. Additionally, another machine has added to the timeline but features less impressive hardware—originally built with a Pentium 3 until now, though it underwent fewer major upgrades overall. It likely launched as a Windows 2000 system before transitioning to a Core 2 Duo, which I bypassed in favor of the Pentium 4. I still recall upgrading for brand-new USB 3 ports, and possibly even an AGP slot before switching to the LGA 775 board with PCIe support (probably an Asus P5Q Deluxe). It ran for a long time before Windows 10 arrived. I’ve remained loyal to Windows 2000 for a considerable period and grew tired of Vista enough to move over to Windows 7 when it was released. Also...now that you mention it, I’m getting a bit older!