Question Has anyone here seen any boost in CPU speed with Precision Boost Overdrive?

[MadScientist]

Been running an Intel CPU for awhile so new to AMD. I've read through most of the posts here on PBO and this article https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3491-explaining-precision-boost-overdrive-benchmarks-auto-oc in which they concluded that "Precision Boost OVERDRIVE and AutoOC are poorly named and poorly explained features that barely do anything" The article was published in July, 2019.

The default setting for PBO on my Asrock B550 Gaming 4 MB with a Ryzen 5 3600 CPU is Auto. The Overclock Mode is set to Auto in the bios. I used the AMD Ryzen Master Utility in Creator mode to apply PBO. In the bios It set PBO to:
PBO - Advanced, PBO Limit - Motherboard, Precision Boot Overdrive Scaler - Auto, Max CPU Boost Clock Override - 0 Mhz, Platform Thermal Throttle Limit - Auto, PPT, TDC and EDC to 0. Ran OCCT; then manually set Max CPU Boost Clock Override to 200 Mhz in the bios, ran OCCT; set PBO back to Auto in the bios, ran OCCT; then disabled PBO in the bios, ran OCCT. I saw no boost in the CPU speed, 4.02 Ghz, and the core temp, 73C, was the same.

Edit 8/25: Ran these settings again with Cinebench R20, OCCT, and HWININFO. Saw no difference in Cinebench results, 3680+/-20. No boost in CPU frequency, average 3.6 Ghz idle, ~4.04 Ghz under load. CPU temps were average 32C idle, 70C load. What I did see is a high fluctuation of the CPU core vids, idle 0.95V to 1.456V, load 1.30V to 1.456V; and the CPU frequencies, idle 3.6 Ghz to 4.2 Ghz, under load 4.02 Ghz to 4.2 Ghz.

Has anyone here seen any boost in CPU speed with PBO enabled?

 

[TheELF]

I saw no boost in the CPU speed, 4.02 Ghz, and the core temp, 73C, was the same.

When doing what? It can only give more boost if there is enough headroom,if you are running a benchmark there will be no headroom, if you run something much lighter there might be some opportunities to boost a little.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

The stock wraith stealth cooler is underwhelming. I also gave up on letting the boards handle the overclocking. Every 3 and 4 series board I have used will pump 1.4+ volts with the 4.2GHz boost. I have found setting it up manually, I can set the vcore at 1.325v 4.3GHZ on my recent 3600, 1.35v 4.2GHz on the launch version, which results in both being faster and cooler. I use a coolermaster 120mm AIO on the old one, and a wraith prism on the other.

 

[MadScientist]

Thanks for the info. I will try setting it manually. On Auto my 3600 is at 4.02Ghz, 1.30V, and 73C running OCCT or the Intel Burn Test on Very High. I'm using a Pure Rock 2 cooler with 2 Pure Wings 2 120mm fans in a push/pull config. It's very quiet even when both fans are running full. I only have 2 -120mm case fans, one in front and the other in back. Just ordered this Noctua fan from Amazon to add to the case. Noctua ND-P12 redux.

 

[MadScientist]

The stock wraith stealth cooler is underwhelming. I also gave up on letting the boards handle the overclocking. Every 3 and 4 series board I have used will pump 1.4+ volts with the 4.2GHz boost. I have found setting it up manually, I can set the vcore at 1.325v 4.3GHZ on my recent 3600, 1.35v 4.2GHz on the launch version, which results in both being faster and cooler. I use a coolermaster 120mm AIO on the old one, and a wraith prism on the other.

Setting it up manually I was able to get it stable at 4.2 Ghz at a bios vcore of 1.2875V, 1.256V load running OCCT and the Intel Burn Test on Very High. Temps were 34C idle and 68C load. When I install another case fan I'll try for 4.3 Ghz.
Thanks for your help.

 

[Kenmitch]

Has anyone here seen any boost in CPU speed with PBO enabled?

PBO usually only effects the all core loaded clock speeds. Try Cinebench or some other app with PBO on and off. Most likely you'll see another 100-150MHz boost under full load.

Using a fixed overclock tends to shave down the memory latency somewhat. No huge gains, but it does somewhat drop as the fixed clocks increase.

 

[MadScientist]

With my manual overclock, ran Cinebench R20 and OCCT with PBO set to Disabled, Auto, Enabled, and Advanced - MB - Max CPU Boost Clock Override to 200 Mhz. The results were within 20 of each other. Multiple runs on the same settings varied by 20 or 30, average 3810. Saw no boosts in CPU speed. Core vids and CPU frequencies were fairly steady, unlike on AutoOC, idle 1.288V, 4.2 Ghz; load 1.256V, 4.2 Ghz. CPU temps were lower than AutoOC, idle 30C, load 66C.

Tests in first post and this one were run with the same ram settings, all fans set on performance mode, and power option set to AMD Ryzen High Performance.