AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X Overclocking @ [H]

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AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X Overclocking

We have spent a lot of time understanding the new Threadripper 2950X and how it overclocks. We have put it through the paces using a chiller system, water cooling, and air cooling. We show you what Precision Boost Overdrive and what Precision Boost 2 can push the processor to in terms of stable performance as well as manual overclocking.

If you like our content, please support HardOCP on Patreon.
 
Gone are the days of X99 boost clocks maxing at 3.5ghz.

Stock performance sure has changed.

Would love to see that chiller on the 2990WX. How about some perfect scaling and a 7200 cinebench score? I do love to dream..
 
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I really like Ryzen Master. Takes the guess work out but I hadn't tried PBO as I hadnt seen a need for it yet.
 
PBO sure is impressive! I wanna do a full system rebuild here soon, but I'm going to wait until AMD has released their new Bob's next year. I want to use the FreeSync my monitor offers. Perhaps 7nM CPU will be out around the same time, and can be done quickly.

Thanks for the review, Kyle. Perhaps I missed it(on mobile, charts don't always show up), but what were the average clocks you were seeing with PBO and PB2 based on the workloads? What do we have to look forward to from Dan? Is this bad boy being sent to [H] video duties or heading to your main rig, or what?

You know?

Thanks again :) It's getting exciting again. Starting to feel like 2002/2003 again !
 
Seeing the home chiller setup from Kyle, reminds me of the "getto mod" thread that floated around the forums here for a few years. Throw in a cardboard box to hold the MSI MEG X399 board, and you have a real winner!
 
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Awesome Kyle
Great read for sure.

So you stand behind the MEG. That's also good that you emphasized the quality of the motherboard.

Now just waiting on the 2970wx review and I will make or not make my move back into threadripper.

MrC4 At one time I used to have an entire PC hanging from the ceiling using 50lb test fishing line. No case just each component hanging from the ceiling. It was an eye opener to my guests.
 
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Just built my i7 7820X system last November, so I'm gong to sit this round out. Really excited to see what the next generation of Zen processors bring.

Itching for an excuse to leave chipzilla
 
alxlwson said:
Thanks for the review, Kyle. Perhaps I missed it(on mobile, charts don't always show up), but what were the average clocks you were seeing with PBO and PB2 based on the workloads?
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I would have had to do that for every workload, so I did not do it.
 
Does Ryzen Master have to be always running or is it activate and close sort of thing?
 
Wow that's pretty amazing. PBO seems to really be pushing the envelope in automatic overclocking, way more than PB2.

Literally you can auto-overclock simply by choosing a better cooler.

I suppose they'll roll this out onto the AM4 platform for Ryzen 2. Unfortunately now I'm afraid I'll need to upgrade my motherboard, since the 300 series doesn't even support PB2.
 
If you mimiced that cooling rig with a standard, ~full, steel laundry tub in a standard frame/cabinet - who needs ice? - just as a passive heatsink it would be huge
 
Thanks for this article!

It confirms my intention to stick with aircooling on a PB2 and letting this great technology do its thing. It hardly leaves much on the table compared to PBO or hand overclocking, but it's always rock solid. The fact that it can do per-core tuning makes it better for the light thread workloads, which is most of them.
 
Wow, I was hoping to see that the 2950x would be able to stretch it's legs on PB2 on air, and it does! Now the question is whether I can really justify the 2950x for $250 more than the 2920x when that launches (with slightly higher boost). Honestly though, that air cooler is an absolute monster, and it makes me happy to see serious non liquid options.

Also, now that you have a piece of equipment, you gonna start brewing up your own beer Kyle, it's a fun hobby! (y)
 
Why run it through a coil in an ice chest when you can just make a 5 gallon bucket your "reservoir" and fill that bad boy up half full of ice then top it off with water?

+1 for the ghetto chiller though lol
 
DNMock said:
Why run it through a coil in an ice chest when you can just make a 5 gallon bucket your "reservoir" and fill that bad boy up half full of ice then top it off with water?

+1 for the ghetto chiller though lol
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Probably so that you don't have unknown contaminants/minerals and ice crystals going through your block/pump.
 
Welp… Is it okay to upgrade just on the name alone? Gotta find someone to sell my 2700x/Crosshair VII WiFi to now.

That and I need Amazon to stock the board I do my best to avoid Newegg, getting charged $40+ for APO style shipping and taking 4+ weeks is really a drag... Esp when Amazon generally gets stuff to me within a week.
 
ZiggyDeath said:
Wow that's pretty amazing. PBO seems to really be pushing the envelope in automatic overclocking, way more than PB2.

Literally you can auto-overclock simply by choosing a better cooler.

I suppose they'll roll this out onto the AM4 platform for Ryzen 2. Unfortunately now I'm afraid I'll need to upgrade my motherboard, since the 300 series doesn't even support PB2.
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X370 and B350 BOTH support PB2 with upgraded firmware - heck, even the [H] had something up on it.
 
I know it's focused on overclocking but some sort of power usage / power consumption figures would of been nice. That's literally the only thing I'm looking for about the new chip and almost no one is posting any data about it. And it's not in this article either. How much power does it use when overclocked?
 
Kithylin said:
I know it's focused on overclocking but some sort of power usage / power consumption figures would of been nice. That's literally the only thing I'm looking for about the new chip and almost no one is posting any data about it. And it's not in this article either. How much power does it use when overclocked?
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All on the last page iirc.
 
Great review. I had a lot of fun reading that. AMD has really brought an enthusiast platform to those who want it.
I do have to question the logic of - "3200MHz RAM, but we were able to get it dialed in at 3400MHz with 16-16-16-36-1T timings at 1.45v. The RAM is rated for 3200MHz at 1.25v."
A drop of 2 CL points and a .2v bump for 200MHz? To me this is the opposite of "dialed in". To me "dialed in" would be tightening the timings. Not massively loosening them for 200MHz.
Is this just a habit of old school OC'ing? :p
 
PhoenixWings said:
So, is the 2950X a better buy than the Skylake-X 7960X? Sometimes if you search really hard you can get a 7960X for around $1000 (not retail). Thank you.
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Not speaking for Kyle, but 'better' needs to be qualified. In most cases, from a performance standpoint- especially fully overclocked- the Intel CPU will be 'better'.
 
ZiggyDeath said:
Wow that's pretty amazing. PBO seems to really be pushing the envelope in automatic overclocking, way more than PB2.

Literally you can auto-overclock simply by choosing a better cooler.

I suppose they'll roll this out onto the AM4 platform for Ryzen 2. Unfortunately now I'm afraid I'll need to upgrade my motherboard, since the 300 series doesn't even support PB2.
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300 series supports pb2, its part of the processor. High end 300 series boards support pbo, like the ch6, so this is already rolled out for am4.
 
noko said:
Kyle, where is the data/tests to show this for current AMD systems?

Hitman (most responsive game to ram speed I've found) using DX 12 and looking at minimum frame rate as in percentages, tighter timings as well as ram speed work together. Using Stilts 3300 safe and OC FSB to get 3500mhz in the past gave the best results but in the end, at least for me it was not significant enough. For productivity programs it was virtually nothing. Dug up some old data, configuration was 1700x, Asus Crosshair Hero 6, 3.9ghz, TridenZ memory (Samsung B modules) 2 x 8gb, Gigabyte 1070 G1. These are Stilts settings which were later incorporated into the Bios on ASUS boards, very tight timing settings. Looking at the lower percentiles and averages. For this setup the biggest change was going with tighter timings at 3200 from 3200 DOCP to 3200 Stilts Safe timings while faster speed memory and tight timings helped. Unfortunately data is incomplete now as in resolution tested at. Anyways, request this be looked at in a professional serious way so folks do not spend way more money they need to spend for very limited improvements for very isolated particular cases. This was best case I've found back in 2017 with memory speeds besides 3500 not shown below, the data below it was cut out, consisting of over 10,000 frames for each test run.

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http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/memory-performance-speed-latency

Going by the numbers on their graph, 200mhz faster with cas being bumped up by 2, should yield about the same "actual latency". At the same time, you are getting 200 more cycles per second, so throughput is increased while maintaining about the same latency. The only way this could result in a reduction in performance is if the system is no longer stable with this overclock, or your workload is extremely dependent on low-latency and the resulting "actual latency" is a little worse.

On the other hand, reducing latency at a given speed will obviously improve performance, but that is assuming that you are able to do that in the first place. Some RAM is able to remain stable with lower latencies without adjusting the speed, while others will not budge. The same way some RAM will run at higher speeds with little or no adjustment to latencies.

You should take advantage of whatever is best for your hardware and software combination, knowing how particular tweaks can affect performance. That's not what this particular review is about, however.
 
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Nobu said:
http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/memory-performance-speed-latency

Going by the numbers on their graph, 200mhz faster with cas being bumped up by 2, should yield about the same "actual latency". At the same time, you are getting 200 more cycles per second, so throughput is increased while maintaining about the same latency. The only way this could result in a reduction in performance is if the system is no longer stable with this overclock, or your workload is extremely dependent on low-latency and the resulting "actual latency" is a little worse.

On the other hand, reducing latency at a given speed will obviously improve performance, but that is assuming that you are able to do that in the first place. Some RAM is able to remain stable with lower latencies without adjusting the speed, while others will not budge. The same way some RAM will run at higher speeds with little or no adjustment to latencies.

You should take advantage of whatever is best for your hardware and software combination, knowing how particular tweaks can affect performance. That's not what this particular review is about, however.
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Good chart, I just find it more important in how it relates to real performance one can have. Many programs have virtually zero performance improvement with ram from 2666mhz to 3500mhz, such as renderers. Many games show little difference between 3200mhz and 3466mhz and zero performance difference when you are GPU limited as in running at 1440p and up in the first place - maybe the 2080Ti could be helped some with the higher speed ram. What I've seen and tested, 3200Mhz and tight timings is the sweet spot for Ryzen with little gains above that.
 
Thanks for this great investigation into fascinating technology. I am currently an AMD fanboy and glad to see their exceptional efforts in clock control objectively evaluated, publicized and appreciated. And no, I don't work for AMD nor (sadly) own their stock.
 
The Wraithripper I think is the largest TR4 air cooler that has been announced. Why are we not seeing dual tower and dual 140mm fan units like the D15, R1 and TC14PE?
 
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