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AMD to Introduce Adaptive Undervolting to Precision Boost Overdrive for Ryzen 5000

Raevenlord

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AMD has announced they will be introducing Adaptive Undervolting tools for their precision Boost Overdrive software, available for the latest Ryzen 5000 series CPUs. This feature will be made available come launch of AGESA 1180 on 400-series and 500-series motherboards (estimated availability in early December), and will require a BIOS update to enable at the software level. According to AMD, this tool will dynamically calculate the precise amount of voltage required for a given task, analyzing internal sensors (such as workload, temperature, socket limits) and adapting voltage values on the fly at up to 1000 times a second.

This approach by AMD will bring a new age for CPU undervolting, which usually only allows for users to undervolt their CPU on the basis of the worst-case scenario: usually, the way undervolters work is by incrementally reducing the CPU's voltage and testing for stability via stress applications, gaming, or other specialized applications. This means that the CPU will have adequate juice so as not to fail in these scenarios - but of course, your CPU isn't always (in fact, it's almost never, depending on your specific use-case) using the full CPU processing power; this means that all other workloads where the CPU isn't under 100% utilization still have room for voltage reductions. With AMD's Adaptive Undervolting, this will now become possible.





In the most basic terms possible, this will mean higher CPU longevity (lower voltages means lower stress on the CPU), alongside reduced power consumption - of interest as ecological consciousness becomes more pervasive. However, another very appealing side to this equation is that of increased performance being extracted from your CPU. We all know about that "silicon lottery" effect where differing CPUs will have differing power characteristics; and we also know that CPU manufacturers set base voltages so as to enable the majority of produced CPUs for a given tier (for example, the Ryzen 9 5900X) to operate "sans probleme".



This silicon lottery will soon be able to be taken advantage of by users by using AMD's Adaptive Undervolting, since this means that voltages will be intelligently, dynamically applied according to their particular CPU's power characteristics. Lower voltages across the CPU stress curve will enable for lower temperatures, which could allow for higher boost clocks to be maintained, for longer periods of time, than if the full, original voltage were to be applied.

AMD's Adaptive Undervolting will allow users to define their undervolting characteristics by "stages", with each differing stage accounting for 3-5 millivolts, up to a maximum of 30 stages (this means a maximum undervolt up to 90-150 millivolt). AMD says that enabling this feature could lead to up to 2% higher single-thread performance and up to 10% higher multithread performance, as lower temperatures enable the CPU to more aggressively Boost under these conditions. According to AMD, this undervolting technique shows higher gains the higher number of CCDs (and thusly, of cores) that a given CPU has available in silicon.



AMD has also stated that this is going to be applied to all new processors going forward; back-porting of this technology to pre-Ryzen 5000 CPUs isn't possible as it requires engineering optimizations that were introduced specifically with Ryzen 5000. The Adaptive Undervolting feature will firstly be available via BIOS settings, but AMD plans to bring this feature up to its OS-level Ryzen master utility.

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now we are talking baby! give me some more lovin!!!!

AMD says that enabling this feature could lead to up to 2% higher single-thread performance and up to 10% higher multithread performance, as lower temperatures enable the CPU to more aggressively Boost under these conditions
 
now we are talking baby! give me some more lovin!!!!

Which part of this press release made you think AMD had entered the adult robotics business?
 
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Undervolters rejoice!!?

It's kind of cool how AMD keeps catering to their customers. It's like an episode of pimp my ride, yo dawg I heard you like undervolting, so we put undervolting in your chip so you can undervolt w/o doing nothing!
 
I just have but one question: How on earth this is not the default behavior? :banghead:
 
I just have but one question: How on earth this is not the default behavior? :banghead:

I mean it kind of already is, PBO is all about saving energy but boosting really high when needed... this just enhances/optimizes it even more.
 
I just have but one question: How on earth this is not the default behavior? :banghead:

Is that all you do is complain? Read the OP, geeze. It's a new method for undervolting which will be...

AMD has also stated that this is going to be applied to all new processors going forward; back-porting of this technology to pre-Ryzen 5000 CPUs isn't possible as it requires engineering optimizations that were introduced specifically with Ryzen 5000. The Adaptive Undervolting feature will firstly be available via BIOS settings, but AMD plans to bring this feature up to its OS-level Ryzen master utility.
 
I just have but one question: How on earth this is not the default behavior? :banghead:
It needs special tools/sensors induced in the silicon to auto-adjust its voltage by optimising for its specific silicon not based by the binning that made the product series. More advanced than ever. And I think it is good thing that even when having much more efficient CPUs they keep pushing forward.
 
Undervolting invalidates the warranty with AMD.
The Curve Optimization tool will be part of AMD’s Precision Boost Overdrive toolkit, meaning that using it will invalidate the warranty on the hardware
 
Is that all you do is complain? Read the OP, geeze. It's a new method for undervolting which will be...

I meant default for 5000 series which has been on the market for months. Did they "just" come up with this? Geez meez... :rolleyes:
 
I meant default for 5000 series which has been on the market for months. Did they "just" come up with this? Geez meez... :rolleyes:

Dude stop lying. I meant... Months, you can't even be accurate. :rolleyes:

Next time read the damn thread first.
 
Yay!

I just have but one question: How on earth this is not the default behavior? :banghead:

When you're in second place in all the performance charts, you can't afford to leave headroom on the table. AMD can finally focus on power saving now that they have the full spectrum of performance wins across the board without Intel saying stupid shit like "yeah, your Zen2 may be faster in productivity but our 14nm exploitable museum-pieces are still better at gaming"

Dude stop lying. I meant... Months, you can't even be accurate. :rolleyes:
He meant 0.6 months ;)

It sounds weird if you say it without the 's' on the end: "Nought-point-six month"
 
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Dude stop lying. I meant... Months, you can't even be accurate. :rolleyes:

Next time read the damn thread first.

You come off as offensive... Did I hurt your feelings at some point in the past?
 
Undervolting invalidates the warranty with AMD.

I feel like warranty has not been well defined on Ryzen. Allegedly, a lot of users claim that PBO usage has always kept warranty intact. Apparently not.

I was always kinda leery about that claim, because the ever popular EDC bug is part of PBO but blatantly violates safe voltage limits.

That said, undervolting never hurts processor lifespan, so no issue there. But they really need to clarify their stance on PBO.

My gut feeling tells me that there's no physical way (e.g. a flash counter like in phone bootloaders) they'd be able to tell if a CPU failed from PBO, but this is 2020 and I'm always on the lookout for surprises.
 
My gut feeling tells me that there's no physical way (e.g. a flash counter like in phone bootloaders) they'd be able to tell if a CPU failed from PBO, but this is 2020 and I'm always on the lookout for surprises.
If there is a way to find out I'd imagine the PSP (ARM core with binary blob) which is responsible for activating the x86 cores after power on before any x86 code is executed.
 
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question is how they know if PBO was used in case of warranty claim?

is PBO when 1st used sending a report to headquarters with cpu serial #?
 
You come off as offensive... Did I hurt your feelings at some point in the past?
The Smoking Man is just a Notorious Grouch. :roll:
The_Smoking_Man_(X-Files).jpg
 
Wait a minute, while I apply Adaptive Undervoltage to my Precision Boost... Overdrive...?

:rockout:

Mind blown
 

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If AMD fly so high atm, they wanna fall harder than after Phenom II.
If Ryzen x will be anydays the same like Phenom II vs 1st Gen FX on AM3+ :laugh:
 
About damn time really, shame it couldnt have been adapted since Zen1.
 
Wait a minute, while I apply Adaptive Undervoltage to my Precision Boost... Overdrive...?

:rockout:

Mind blown
AMD is using Precision Boost as a umbrella term for anything pertaining to overclocking including undervoltage. Technically running the CPU under the voltage it's rated for stock is overclocking.
 
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