240mm AIO liquid cooler and increasing the
various limits available. The single-core score
in Cinebench rose from 467 to 476 but only 50
points was added to the multi-threaded score
of 3,450. Manual overclocking, on the other
hand, saw that score rise to 3,756 and the single
score rose further from 476 to 492, so here, a
manual overclock is by far the better option.
Each motherboard and CPU is different,
though, as will be your own cooling setup
so we can’t offer any blanket
statements with AMD overclocking.
The Threadripper 3960X saw its all-
core boost increase by up to 100MHz
with PBO while maintaining its 4.5GHz
single-core boost, but a manual
overclock saw us lose 150MHz of
single-core boost, but add 250MHz to
theall-core boost. Here, both overclocking
methods have their benefits.
The Ryzen 9 3950X has a peak boost
frequency of 4.7GHz. However, we could only
hit4.35GHz when manually overclocking,
meaning you’ll lose a hefty 350MHz of single-
core boost, which could impact lightly threaded
applications. On the flip side, the CPU could
only hit 3.9GHz all-core boost, so we added
450MHz to that, which saw the Cinebench
multi-threadedscore rise from 9,188 to 10,184.up AMD’s stack you go, the higher the boost
frequencies, so the more you stand to lose
from a manual overclock. The Ryzen 5 3600,
for example, can reach 4.2GHz on a single
core at stock speed and we observed an all-
core boost of just below 4GHz. Most 3rd-gen
Ryzen CPUs can hit 4.2-4.4GHz on an all-
core manual overclock and with our Ryzen 5
3600 at least, manual overclocking gave us a
frequencyof4.25GHz.Thisis a littlemorethan250MHzhigherthanthestockall-coreboost
and50MHzhigherthanthepeaksingle-core
boosttoo,soyou’regaininggroundonboth,
especiallyinmulti-threadedtasks.
HowdoesthiscomparewithPBOand
AutomaticOverclockingthough?Well,we
maxedoutallthesesettingsincludingadding
a 200MHzoffsettoautomaticoverclocking
andsawa peakboostof4.225GHzwithhe
Ryzen5 3600,buttheall-coreboostdidn’trise
muchabove4GHz,despiteususinga powerfulMANUAL OVERCLOCK VS
PRECISION BOOST OVERDRIVE
As we’ve already mentioned, there are two
ways to overclock AMD Zen 2-based CPUs.
The first is using a manual overclock, where
you increase the frequency of all cores at
once as well as applying a fixed CPU voltage,
also known as vcore. In general, this can give
you better multi-threaded performance.
The other is to use Precision Boost
Overdrive (PBO) in unison with
Automatic overclocking. Combined,
they allow higher power delivered to
the CPU and increased single and all-
core boost frequencies, but are highly
dependent on your motherboard and
cooling and often don’t yield significant
benefits. However, they do allow the
CPU’s Precision Boost to continue operating,
so your CPU will continue to boost to its
rated frequencies – especially important for
CPUs with boost frequencies above 4.4GHz.
This won’t happen with a manual overclock
where clock boosting is disabled and your
CPU’s cores will only boost to your all-core
overclock frequency, which can mean a
reduction in lightly threaded performance.
This sounds as if PBO is the obvious choice,
but it’s not that straightforward.Thehigher
HOW TO OVERCLOCK YOUR CPU
STEPS FOR ALL OVERCLOCKERS
APPLY XMP PROFILE
There are several things you need tocheckintheEFItoensure
therestof your system is running optimally, andcanrampupfansand
pumps to deal with the extra heat. Start by applying the XMP profile in the
overclocking section. This will set the correct memory speed, timings and
voltage, which is especially important for AMD systems.
SETFANSPEED CONTROL
Allowyourcoolertoramp up its fans to deal with the heat. In your
EFI’sfancontrolsection,ensure your cooler’s fans can hit full speed before
it reaches your preferred maximum CPU temperature. If you’re using a
pump, it will also need to be able to ramp up to full speed well in advance
of your CPU getting toasty.1 2
YOU’LL NEED YOUR CPU TO SIT
BELOW 75°C FOR AMD RYZEN
AND THREADRIPPER CPUS,
AND INTEL HEDT CPUS
FEATURE / CUSTOMISATION