Is there something wrong with my 5950x?

[1Wolf]

Hello. I've recently just built two new systems. One with an 5900X and one with a 5950X. These are my first AMD systems and it had been almost 10 years since I built a machine (my last machine was an intel 3770K).

I've run both systems on Aida64 stability test for about 2 and a half hours with HWInfo64 running. I clear out the averages in HWInfo64 just as I start the stability test and then as I end the stability test I snag a screenshot of HWInfo64 so that I can capture the "averages" in the average column as the average for the entire stability test.

When comparing the results of the 5900X run to the 5950X run I'm a little concerned. I was expecting higher clock speeds out the 5950X but it seems like the 5900X was performing much better? My problem is that I have no frame of reference to know whether or not I'm seeing a problem and I'm not as skilled at understanding and interpreting alot of these numbers.

I also ran Cinebench R23. Multithread score was 24384. Single Thread Score was 1584.

Does this look like an issue with the 5950X to you? Or are these numbers pretty much what you'd expect? Or can I just relax and enjoy the systems?

Here is the HWInfo64 screenshot for the 5950X after 2 hours of stability test. I haven't activated any PBO or AutoOC or anything like that from the defaults in the BIOS. The only BIOS change I made was to activate DOCP for the memory. In case you'd need to know, the 5950X machine has 64 Gigs (4 x 16) of 3600 16-16-16-36 TridentZ NEO. The ratios of MCLK/FCLK/UCLK are 1:1:1 as they are all running 1800. The system is running a 360 Radiator (NZXT Kraken Z73).

Here is the HWInfo64 screenshot for the 5900X after 2 hours of stability test. I haven't activated any PBO or AutoOC or anything like that from the defaults in the BIOS. The only BIOS change I made was to activate DOCP for the memory. In case you'd need to know, the 5900X machine has 32 Gigs (2 x 16) of 3600 16-16-16-36 TridentZ NEO. The ratios of MCLK/FCLK/UCLK are 1:1:1 as they are all running 1800. The system is running a 360 Radiator (NZXT Kraken Z73).

Thanks!

 

[SmokeRngs]

First of all, yes, there is something wrong with your 5950x, it's not in my machine instead.

Seriously, I don't think there's anything wrong. The 5950x has four more cores and it's running with the same power envelope as the 5900x. That means the 5900x has more power to spare to get higher clock speeds on more cores. Once you start to mess with PBO2 and clock optimizer it's likely you'll be able to hit higher clock speeds on the 5950x than what you're seeing now although the 5900x will probably have higher all core clocks after it's been tweaked the same for the same reason you're seeing it with higher clocks right now.

The 5900x is also easier to cool than the 5950x since each chiplet only has 6 cores to cool vs 8 cores which will affect all core clock speeds.

I don't see any reason to be worrying about the results you're seeing at the moment.

 

[1Wolf]

First of all, yes, there is something wrong with your 5950x, it's not in my machine instead.

Seriously, I don't think there's anything wrong. The 5950x has four more cores and it's running with the same power envelope as the 5900x. That means the 5900x has more power to spare to get higher clock speeds on more cores. Once you start to mess with PBO2 and clock optimizer it's likely you'll be able to hit higher clock speeds on the 5950x than what you're seeing now although the 5900x will probably have higher all core clocks after it's been tweaked the same for the same reason you're seeing it with higher clocks right now.

The 5900x is also easier to cool than the 5950x since each chiplet only has 6 cores to cool vs 8 cores which will affect all core clock speeds.

I don't see any reason to be worrying about the results you're seeing at the moment.

Thank you!!! Thats greatly appreciated! I'm so used to my previous Intel 3770K world where, while it had 4 cores, it was either boosting or it wasn't. It was alot simpler to look at the numbers and realize it was performing as it should. It was overclocked to 4.4 and I'll I'd have to do is pull up task manager and give it something to do and the frequency would pin itself there.

These AMD CPU's with all these cores are just confusing when you are not used to looking at them, especially when you're trying to learn about precision boost, PBO, undervolting, Auto OC, and how to understand the way Precision Boost decides what its going to do. Heat values, frequencies, Voltage stuff just all over the map.

In the end I ended up combing the net for lists of Cinebench R23 scores to compare to. Finally, when comparing to lots of other "stock" scores it looks like I didn't fair very well in the silicon lottery and my results are towards the bottom of most posted. My single core looks to be about average or a little low. My Multi core looks to be towards the bottom. It looks like i have a few cores that are just dogs and I think maybe once I learn and understand more about undervolting the individual cores that I might be able to compensate for that a bit. I just have alot to learn.

Once I learn all the settings in the BIOS I need to switch to turn on PBO2 maybe I'll give that a shot. Or maybe try Auto OC. I'm just not quite sure which settings to set yet.

The important thing is that it looks like the CPU isn't "bad"...its just not "great".

Thanks again so much for helping out and offering your advice! Its tricky when I don't know what I don't know

 

[III_Slyflyer_III]

Thank you!!! Thats greatly appreciated! I'm so used to my previous Intel 3770K world where, while it had 4 cores, it was either boosting or it wasn't. It was alot simpler to look at the numbers and realize it was performing as it should. It was overclocked to 4.4 and I'll I'd have to do is pull up task manager and give it something to do and the frequency would pin itself there.

These AMD CPU's with all these cores are just confusing when you are not used to looking at them, especially when you're trying to learn about precision boost, PBO, undervolting, Auto OC, and how to understand the way Precision Boost decides what its going to do. Heat values, frequencies, Voltage stuff just all over the map.

In the end I ended up combing the net for lists of Cinebench R23 scores to compare to. Finally, when comparing to lots of other "stock" scores it looks like I didn't fair very well in the silicon lottery and my results are towards the bottom of most posted. My single core looks to be about average or a little low. My Multi core looks to be towards the bottom. It looks like i have a few cores that are just dogs and I think maybe once I learn and understand more about undervolting the individual cores that I might be able to compensate for that a bit. I just have alot to learn.

Once I learn all the settings in the BIOS I need to switch to turn on PBO2 maybe I'll give that a shot. Or maybe try Auto OC. I'm just not quite sure which settings to set yet.

The important thing is that it looks like the CPU isn't "bad"...its just not "great".

Thanks again so much for helping out and offering your advice! Its tricky when I don't know what I don't know

I'd HIGHLY recommend at least enabling PBO, but the next step of tweaking the curve is not terribly hard either... you can get some stellar results by doing so, and I bet your chip will perform just fine if your motherboard is at least mid/high level.

For example; here is a quick run of CineBench R23, when gaming; my single boosts will hit 5.2Ghz or more and all core will be much higher, around 4.8~ish (lower load, lower power, lower temps).

 

[1Wolf]

I'd HIGHLY recommend at least enabling PBO, but the next step of tweaking the curve is not terribly hard either... you can get some stellar results by doing so, and I bet your chip will perform just fine if your motherboard is at least mid/high level.

For example; here is a quick run of CineBench R23, when gaming; my single boosts will hit 5.2Ghz or more and all core will be much higher, around 4.8~ish (lower load, lower power, lower temps).

View attachment 359676

Thanks! Maybe I'll go ahead and give that a shot. This might be a stupid question but do you happen to know which settings in the BIOS I should set to enable it. What did you set to enable yours? When I look through my BIOS (ASUS Crosshair VIII Dark Hero) I see PBO mentioned in several different menus. I've done some googling and looked at some YouTube videos but I can't seem to find a good list of which things I need to set. I think part of the problem is that alot of these videos are mixing that with other stuff that is a bit more advanced then I'm looking to do at this point. I've come to the conclusion that this must be such common knowledge amongst AMD users that maybe folks think that guys like me might appreciate the instructions. I did find a really great YouTube set of videos about Overclocking with Ryzen Master and setting that curve using Ryzen Master and I might give that a shot as well.

 

[III_Slyflyer_III]

Thanks! Maybe I'll go ahead and give that a shot. This might be a stupid question but do you happen to know which settings in the BIOS I should set to enable it. What did you set to enable yours? When I look through my BIOS (ASUS Crosshair VIII Dark Hero) I see PBO mentioned in several different menus. I've done some googling and looked at some YouTube videos but I can't seem to find a good list of which things I need to set. I think part of the problem is that alot of these videos are mixing that with other stuff that is a bit more advanced then I'm looking to do at this point. I've come to the conclusion that this must be such common knowledge amongst AMD users that maybe folks think that guys like me might appreciate the instructions. I did find a really great YouTube set of videos about Overclocking with Ryzen Master and setting that curve using Ryzen Master and I might give that a shot as well.

I have no clue for your specific motherboard, but I had been solid Intel since 2006 and came into this blind as well. Spent some time on the googles and here and got it all figured out.

In my case, I just enabled it in the BIOS and on top of that modified my PBO curve offsets and power limits (was in the same area). For me, it was all under a section called "AMD Overclocking". I set PBO to "Advanced" and then tweaked my curve and power settings from there. If you are not looking to tweak the power or the curve, you probably just set something similar to "Enabled". Or you can probably use Ryzen Master; but I'm old school and prefer to use the bios for everything... lol.

 

[RanceJustice]

Just mentioning I'm pretty close to in your situation, so I appreciate this thread as well. I'm about a new system with a 5950X (after I select the cooling) and the same RAM you're using (the GSkill Trident Z Neo CL16 "flat 16" 16-16-16-36, which apparently uses the highly rated and overclockable/stable B-Die chips) but only 2x 16gbfor 32gb total. I am also using the Asus Dark Hero, partially for something that may be pertinent here - I highly suggest you look into overclocking on the Dark Hero specifically, as it is my understanding that despite the "fully manual" or "PBO2" options that all decent X570 mobos w/ a 5950X will be able to use, the Dark Hero has a special mode built in to its BIOS that is meant to be the "best of both worlds" giving access to high all-core OCs or very very high single/few core OC when needed - I think this is called "Auto OC" and requires some relatively limited tweaking to get the most out of it in all situations, but I'm not entirely sure on the specifics yet. This, along with its updated VRMs and some other features is one reason it is so desirable and has been hard to find/scalped , so check out this particular option alongside PBO2 and manual.

This will be my first AMD Zen based system so some things are new to me, coming off Intel HEDT as my last major OC projects, so I'll have to read up on the specifics but threads like these are helping out others like me as well! Enjoy!

 

[III_Slyflyer_III]

Just mentioning I'm pretty close to in your situation, so I appreciate this thread as well. I'm about a new system with a 5950X (after I select the cooling) and the same RAM you're using (the GSkill Trident Z Neo CL16 "flat 16" 16-16-16-36, which apparently uses the highly rated and overclockable/stable B-Die chips) but only 2x 16gbfor 32gb total. I am also using the Asus Dark Hero, partially for something that may be pertinent here - I highly suggest you look into overclocking on the Dark Hero specifically, as it is my understanding that despite the "fully manual" or "PBO2" options that all decent X570 mobos w/ a 5950X will be able to use, the Dark Hero has a special mode built in to its BIOS that is meant to be the "best of both worlds" giving access to high all-core OCs or very very high single/few core OC when needed - I think this is called "Auto OC" and requires some relatively limited tweaking to get the most out of it in all situations, but I'm not entirely sure on the specifics yet. This, along with its updated VRMs and some other features is one reason it is so desirable and has been hard to find/scalped , so check out this particular option alongside PBO2 and manual.

This will be my first AMD Zen based system so some things are new to me, coming off Intel HEDT as my last major OC projects, so I'll have to read up on the specifics but threads like these are helping out others like me as well! Enjoy!

I also came from X99 and a 5960x (based on your sig)... I had my 5960x OC'ed pretty hard (past 4.6Ghz), but even so, it was a pleasant jump to this new 5950x. These new chips offer so much IPC, tweaking for me was more about fun and pushing as much as I could than gaining anything real in games at 4K.

You will not be disappointed, but there indeed was a small learning curve for tweaking. Unlike Intel, instability will cause random wierd issues as well without causing a BSOD, so I HIGHLY recommend stress testing with Prime95 at minimum if you do tweak things. Prime95 for me seemed to find memory OC errors rather quickly when I first started down my OC path on this platform. Been stable ever since!

 

[soulesschild]

Follow this guide:

 

[Xero717]

I'd HIGHLY recommend at least enabling PBO, but the next step of tweaking the curve is not terribly hard either... you can get some stellar results by doing so, and I bet your chip will perform just fine if your motherboard is at least mid/high level.

For example; here is a quick run of CineBench R23, when gaming; my single boosts will hit 5.2Ghz or more and all core will be much higher, around 4.8~ish (lower load, lower power, lower temps).

View attachment 359676

This is a golden chip, and not the norm at all. Most reviewers were also sent cherry picks as well.

 

[gerardfraser]

Yep your 5950X is a dud compared to my 5800X. LOL