Overclocking

The Ryzen Threadripper 2920X, like every other Ryzen chip, is multiplier unlocked, letting you easily overclock the chip by dialing up the base-clock multiplier. With a set voltage limit of 1.45 V, we managed to push all 16 cores to 4.15 GHz on air cooling, which, as you'll soon find out, isn't the best way to overclock this chip. Our boost analysis page shows that even when left at stock settings, Precision Boost 2.0 will boost low-threaded workloads well above 4.15 GHz and high-core count loads above 4 GHz, which isn't far behind what we managed. We've come to realize that unless you have serious cooling to reach significantly higher clocks, it's best to use Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO).

Precision Boost Overdrive - The Newer and Saner Way to Tweak a Threadripper

Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO) is a new method of overclocking Threadripper. Each Threadripper CPU has a set of rules that govern how high the boost algorithm will clock the processor. These rules not only take into account number of cores loaded, but also current temperature of the processor, power and current delivery capability of the motherboard, and the temperature of the VRMs on the board. The idea here is that rather than arbitrarily setting a higher-than-nominal clock speed and forcing the processor to tick at that clock speed all the time, you instead increase these platform limits so that the processor can boost higher for longer. This ensures that your effective OC headroom is higher because you won't need all the cores to run at overclocked speeds all the time, and for low-threaded workloads, the cores will boost to their maximum, which would otherwise be unstable with a manual overclock because all cores would be running those high clocks.


What's more, PBO cuts through a lot of settings by respecting the voltage/frequency curve, so you don't end up with an unstable combination of the two. PBO lets those with air-cooling or AIO liquid cooling make the most of their cooling setups since you'll probably need DIY liquid cooling or extreme cooling to get the best results from manual overclocking. The Ryzen Master software, which comes with a new Threadripper-friendly user interface, lets you toggle PBO and play with its limits.

Ryzen Master Software

Ryzen Master is a comprehensive software suite by AMD that gives you an overview of the current operating state of your processor and lets you tweak it. You control CPU per-core clock speeds, voltages, per-channel memory clocks/voltages, and other important power domains of your machine. You also get to control fan speeds and RGB lighting on certain Wraith cooler models. With the latest version of Ryzen Master, AMD is introducing a revamped user interface optimized for Threadripper, with a larger workspace to tweak each of the up to 32 cores.