Zen 4 5.5ghz constraints with recent AGESA improvements
Zen 4 5.5ghz constraints with recent AGESA improvements
Hey everyone, I recently tried Zen 4 on my setup three weeks back. After updating the BIOS for my motherboard (Asrock B650E PG Riptide WiFi), the 7950X still caps at around 5.5GHz no matter what I do. About two months ago, SkatterBencher posted a video discussing this issue, specifically mentioning AGESA 1.0.0.3's C-state limiter. The latest Asrock BIOS now includes AGESA 1.0.0.4, and it actually enforces the limit. PBO doesn’t help much; even with an extra 200MHz and undervolting, nothing changes. I switched to a BIOS version that had AGESA 1.0.0.2, and all cores now reach up to 5.76GHz without any restrictions. I see those speeds in games, but the new version still caps at 5.5GHz. It’s frustrating because AMD clearly didn’t prioritize this feature on their flagship. They showed a 5.85GHz result, yet my machine doesn’t exceed 5.76GHz even with aggressive cooling and negative offsets. Asrock doesn’t offer Boostit like ASUS does, so they didn’t notice the problem. Their response confirmed everything, and I shared a screenshot showing cores exceeding 5.5GHz on the same board and BIOS. It’s strange how they don’t grasp that 5.5GHz only works in non-existent scenarios—especially in gaming, where you can’t really overclock. The only option seems to be sticking with older BIOS versions.
This topic is frequently discussed in most motherboard forums on OCN. It doesn’t bother me since I’m still achieving better benchmark results than with older BIOS versions using the default settings. I’m hitting the 85C limit and keeping voltage low at -40mV for CO. So far, my best scores compared to manually tuning each core are impressive. If it’s this simple, I’ll be less careful with my 7900X. My buddy’s 7950X is clocking 41k in CBR23 on this AGESA release. Hopefully the next BIOS improves it, but I’m not too concerned.
Performance variations are a topic of discussion, using release versions with only a negative 20V reduction seems reasonable. It typically achieves 5.6-5.7GHz across most cores based on the game, though it runs hotter and consumes more power. With that cap in place, you can't exceed 5.5GHz, but it lets you undervolt significantly lower without fear of aggressive boosting attempts or crashes. It’s disappointing that AMD made such claims without clear reasoning for these restrictions.