Ryzen chips, silly question

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

CjMitsuki

Junior Member
Feb 17, 2019
2
4
41
I’m thinking of a 2700x system. I know the new chips will be arriving soon but it’s unlikely I can wait.

I feel silly asking this.
Do Ryzen chips down clock/use less energy when they do not require the extra performance.
If I’m using a 2700x just web browsing or doing some web based work stuff do they use less than their 105 watts?
Can you “down” clock them manually?

You shouldn't feel silly since even many that think they have an understanding of how Ryzen behaves actually haven't scratched the surface. Ok, so to address the Performance plans...There absolutely is a performance difference in Balanced and Hi Perf but it wont be much as the setting arent terribly different within the registry. You will want to use High Performance plan but go to Minimum Processor State and set to really anything below 40%. I have included a screenshot of the setting in this post. I set mine to 5% just bc its less typing. This allows the 2700x to use PBO properly, otherwise it will essentially behave like an all core clock and for Ryzen that isn't optimal for 90% of tasks.

Now, to take it a step further you dont really even want to use the default power plans that Windows has because they hide about 40+ options dealing with processor performance and processor power savings behaviors. Some settings arent really important and some make a dramatic impact on performance like how the processor reacts to loads such as speed of the reaction and how fast it can transition throughout the P States, and Core Parking. Core Parking is enabled by default in windows and it needs to be unlocked either manually through the registry or through a utility that makes it much easier for users such as the one I use Power Settings Explorer . This utility gives the user the ability to change any power setting in Windows easily and without worry of breaking something in the registry. It also lets you unhide the options so they can be accessed in the advanced Power Settings as seen in my screen shot from all of the extra settings you wouldn't normally see. There are quite a bit and some you may not understand and need to be researched a bit but many are easily understood and the tool tips explain them quite well. You should read the forum thread that is linked before downloading the utility to help understand a little about the settings as well.

From my HwInfo64 in my screenshot you can also see general loads on my system with several apps open but dont take those as normal light operating loads as mine will be much higher than normal due to running my system a fair bit faster than the vast majority of users as can be seen from the clocks. 20-25w are to be expected with no performance tweaking i would presume though. Adjusting the Power settings wont increase this by much at light or idle loads though so in my opinion it is a must if you are looking to use the full benefit of the 2700x. If you are just wanting to save as much power as possible then balanced or Power Saving would be fine i guess. Lets get real though, if you are wanting a 2700x it isn't to run it in Power Saving at all. The utility doesn't need to be installed and does nothing but act as a UI for those registry settings so they are more user friendly.

FYI, dont freak out over PBO voltages when you get your 2700x going. Single core voltage spikes are common and wont hurt the processor. I have ran my 2700x daily for a year at 1.45v+ up to 1.7v with no degradation. Now, I dont recommend anyone run their system at those voltages though. They are only meant to show you that seeing spikes of 1.5v when using Performance Boost Overdrive is normal and wont hurt your CPU. Another note is that you should get a decent mobo not so much for the heavier VRMs but more for the better memory support and mostly for the options in the Bios.

If you happen to get something like the ROG CH7 there is a very detailed and informative THREAD on Overclock.net dedicated to that board and there should be one for nearly any X370 and X470 board and thats also where you can find me most of the time as I created this profile here in response to this thread but I will make sure to hop over here to AT periodically to offer advice and help others on Ryzen. There are also many other informative threads for Ryzen such as 1Usmus DRAM Calculator Thread where 1Usmus and many others give Memory overclocking advice and also memory testing results for various setups and is highly active all the time. There is another very useful thread by 1usmus showing How To Flash a Bios Correctly and is amazing as it includes a utility that is used by high level techs rather than the horrible flashing methods used by OEM manufacturers included in the Bios. This utility is run outside of the bios and OS and has various uses including the ability to load modded bios but its best used for regular bios flashing as you are able to completely wipe the bios chip and then flash the bios onto it instead of overwriting the data every time which can cause instability through data writing errors. Those are just a couple of things that are important on Ryzen and if you have questions you can message on here and ill eventually get it or on OCN here -----> CjMitsukianand.PNG