Tip: are AMD Ryzen CPUs good for gaming? Let’s find out.

Things to Know Before Overclocking AMD CPU

1. Ensure Sufficient Cooling

Overclocking a CPU will increase the power draw and the heat produced by the processor. Hence, it’s best to ensure there is sufficient cooling before you start the overclocking process. You should check out an aftermarket CPU air cooler or AIO cooler. You should also overclock only on a motherboard known for handling overclocking and a power supply with sufficient wattage and build quality. Good to know: if you are looking to buy a new CPU, you should learn about the importance of its core count and clock speed.

Be Careful Not to Overdo It

Any operation of the CPU beyond its specifications will also void its warranty, so you won’t want to overdo it. If you are careful to not push the chip beyond the specified operating threshold, you needn’t worry.

Benchmark Your System

It’s best to run a benchmark of your current stock performance so that you have something to compare to later. You can use Cinebench to get single-core and multi-core scores of your CPU’s default performance. Also, we recommended using HWiNFO to monitor the CPU temperature, voltage, and power readings during the benchmark. You can repeat the Cinebench tests after overclocking your processor and compare those scores with the stock scores to see how effective your overclock was. Successful Cinebench runs also help determine whether your overclock is stable.

Don’t Take Shortcuts

Lastly, you should never try to use overclock settings found on the Internet on your own chip – even if it’s the same model. Due to the so-called Silicon lottery, no two units will have the same overclocking headroom. Make sure to test your own settings on your CPU before running a sustained overclock.

Overclocking Ryzen CPU Using Ryzen Master

Ryzen Master is AMD’s overclocking and system monitoring software that provides overclocking features in a Windows environment. Before you start fiddling with its knobs and dials, there are a few things you should know:

Your overclock settings will be reverted to default with every system reboot. Ryzen Master doesn’t support auto-start on boot yet. The list of supported processors is limited to Ryzen 2000 CPUs and newer, with feature support differing between CPU generations.

Ryzen Master is useful for users who don’t want to run a 24/7 overclock. You can simply turn overclocking on or off with a click, depending on the workload you’re running – no BIOS tweaking is needed.

You can download Ryzen Master from AMD’s website and install it using the instructions of the setup wizard. There are three overclocking modes you can use in Ryzen Master to boost your CPU’s performance:

Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO) Auto Overclocking Manual

While PBO and Auto OC are mostly one-click modes that utilize automated boost mechanisms set by your CPU and motherboard design, the manual mode gives you the most flexibility for overclocking. Users looking for higher gaming performance can choose Auto OC, while those wanting a boost to multi-threaded workloads can opt for PBO.

Overclocking With PBO for a No-Nonsense Boost

PBO is not meant to push your CPU’s frequency beyond the advertised base or boost clocks. It manipulates three separate power limits – PPT, TDC, and EDC – to allow the CPU to reach those advertised boost clocks more often and for sustained intervals, hence improving performance. You’ll notice a few profiles on the left side of the window. The “Creator Mode” and “Game Mode” are preconfigured profiles. While the former can help with multi-threaded scenarios, the latter should only be used for legacy game support on CPUs with more than eight cores, per AMD’s documentation. For our purposes, we are using “Profile 1” and “Profile 2.” You can run Cinebench to get a new score for the multi-core test and check what effect PBO had on the performance. You an also choose to run a single-core test again, but PBO hardly affects single-core performance.

Overclocking With Auto Overclocking for an Aggressive Boost

The Auto Overclocking mode is used to set a boost frequency higher than the advertised boost clock. While Auto OC keeps Voltage Control locked just like PBO does, it allows the CPU to boost to higher frequencies while staying under automatic control. This mode is recommended for users who want to explore a boost in single-threaded workloads like gaming and encoding but don’t want the hassle of manipulating voltage as well. Note that Ryzen Master will require a system restart on engaging Auto Overclocking mode. We’ll leave the other settings like ”Memory Control” untouched.

Overclocking With Manual Mode for Maximum Control

Finally, the Manual mode unlocks all the settings in Ryzen Master, allowing you to not only set the per-core frequency but also tweak the voltage supplied to the CPU. The principle here is to increase the voltage by as little as possible so as to keep the higher CPU clock stable. If your Cinebench test is crashing the system after increasing the clock speed, increasing the voltage in small increments can increase system stability. If you notice, however, that the CPU temperature in HWiNFO was too high (close to 90 degrees) just before the crash, voltage might not be the issue. Instead, you may need to decrease the frequency a bit. The Manual mode can potentially unlock higher clock speeds than the Auto Overclocking mode, as you’re no longer limited to the conservative power and temperature curves of the automatic modes.

Undervolting and Eco-Mode With Ryzen Master

Undervolting is a handy technique to make your CPU cooler and more silent than in its stock configuration. The idea is to intelligently adjust the voltage-frequency curve of the processor to achieve the same performance at a lower voltage and temperature.

Eco-Mode With Ryzen Master

The “Eco-Mode” runs your CPU in a lower power condition to lower the temperature for scenarios where you don’t even need stock performance. Open any profile on the left, enable “Eco-Mode” under ”Control Mode” and click ”Apply.” Ryzen Master will restart the system for the changes to take effect. You’ll find a “Reset” option on the bottom left of the Ryzen Master window to revert your CPU to factory settings. Also, “Basic View” shows you some basic CPU monitoring values, and you can do some quick overclocks with the options on the right. Alternatively, you can also undervolt your CPU with Throttlestop.

Overclocking Using the BIOS

If you want to save your overclock settings so that it persists after a reboot, you can consider using the BIOS for overclocking. Some users even combine the two approaches: using Ryzen Master to test and validate settings within the tool, then applying the settings in the BIOS. Note that you’ll still need to stress test your system with Cinebench after tweaking settings in the BIOS. Tip: if you get lost in the BIOS interface, find out what each setting means in the BIOS.

Undervolting Using the BIOS

You can also undervolt your CPU in the BIOS. Image credit: Unsplash. All screenshots by Tanveer Singh.