Processors

[Ryeisenberg]

I know this board (msi b350 pc mate) is old and not the best but it's marked as supported, I got a fan pointed down onto the VRMs and so far so good. (People with B550 / better mainboards have also complained about < 4.6 GHz issues).

I am already kind of happy but I don't reach 4.6 GHz at all under 100% load (Cinebench, OCCT benchmark).

It's capped around 4.2GHz and 4.4GHz. It also doesn't clock down to 2.8 GHz without energy mode. So the CPU is essentially running at 4.0-4.2 GHz all the time.

This 5600X is new, I got a good cooling solution with more than enough paste on it. Max temp Cinebench is 64C.

LPX 3200 MHz RAM only get up to 3200 with XMP1. Most recently BIOS (beta .AN5 2022)

EDIT: It just reached 4.5 with OCCT benchmark. Weird it seems like you really have to have lots of load beyond a 100% CPU taxing benchmark.

Has anyone with a b350 reached max turbo 4.6 Ghz so far? I want to overclock this CPU a bit but at first it should reach it's max turbo speed.

[Qanatoz · Accepted solution]

Your CPU limited by TDC, EDC and PPT.

Simply saying you can't run 4.6 if all cores load 100%.

You can unlock limits at Overclocking menu of your UEFI or with AMD Catalyst driver(only with AMD GPU pair).

[MADZyren]

Out of curisosity, is your aim the highest clockspeed or performance?

While I'm about to upgrade, I'm still with my trusty 3800X and highest single-core clockspeeds do not translate into best performance. Also you are likely to gain more performance through increasing memory voltage to 1.375V-1.4V (I would not go beyond that, thought I know reviewers do) and then trying, what is the highest clockspeed you can achieve. If pushing you system to limits is something you want to try (realize that overclocking is always something you do at your own risk of damaging something and having to replace it at your own cost), this is something you might want to test https://www.techpowerup.com/download/ryzen-dram-calculator/ as faster, lower latency memory is something which pushes your performance further any normal OC can, but it takes a lot of testing. If you do it, you need to know how to reset your CMOS as when trying these settings, you might end up with system which refuses to boot at all... But you can fix it by uplugging machine from socket and either shorting Clear cmos pins or removing the cmos battery on motherboard. And restart after that will take longer than normal, so dont' panic.

[Ryeisenberg]

Oh no I just want to push clockspeed (not permanently of course, just out of curiosity, whether 5Ghz is possible.

I noticed what @Qanatoz said on my machine. At 100% I don't achieve high clockspeeds. Under medium/light load, even semi idle I reach well beyond  the mentioned limits.

I don't intend on OC RAM beyond XMP1, I don't want to touch anything that screams voltage for safety reasons.

I will simply increase the core multiplier

[Qanatoz]

You can tune your CPU by using PBO per core curve (if this feature available at overclocking menu) to fit more performance within default PPT, EDC, TDC. All core can achieve higher frequencies if they use less power and you need to find out by yourself how lucky your buy.

Remember your CPU will be unstable if you tune it wrongly, but you can boost 10% or more multicore performance without changing limits and maximum frequencies with temperatures. Wrongly tuned CPU is not a problem, just fix problems step by step by increasing\decreasing curve units for unstable cores. Test them not only under high load but under light load.

Good luck researching.