7800X3D PBO + 6000C28

Core 0 - 30 Core 1 - 35 Core 2 - 30 Core 3 - 35 Core 4 - 30 Core 5 - 20 Core 6 - 25 Core 7 - 30

Boost: 200+ I'm not sure if this has any effect because it didn’t gain any performance in cb, but it is stable.

EDIT: After a huge amount of testing, it seems like switching LLC Normal->Standard lets me do -40 stable instead of just -35, but every other setting has literally zero effect on my actual speed and higher LCC doesn't seem to let me do higher clocks. Seems like Cinebench is just a bit inconsistent, lol.

I'm coming across a lot of conflicting information with these, and I'd appreciate a little bit of clarification as well as some answers to various other questions.

I've got a 7800X3D cooled by a Corsair Hydro H150i Pro. I've got some extremely fancy fan curves set up with Fan Control, and essentially it's all based around coolant temp. I try to keep it at around 37 for your average day to day cpu load meaning it's basically always silent, and I then try to keep it at around 35 when the CPU goes over 85 for a sustained period, and this seems to be enough to dissapate any heat I throw at it and prevent a thermal throttle.

First of all, is 45 an alright idle temp? If I blast the fans constantly the coolant hits 29 and I get an idle temp of 41.5 on Tctl/Tdie, but at 37ish it tends to settle at 45. I've seen people talking about idling at 35, but Tctl/Tdie never goes below 41 no matter how hard I run the fans. Interesting, the BIOS shows around 33 if I reboot straight back into it, which is more similar to Tdie. My idle CPU Package Power is around 28w

Only changing the PBO curve, I've been able to get my chip to -30 which is a pretty great improvement. Generally the CPU Package Power will cap out at about 80w, and this will run the CPU at around 85 degrees. Going up to 35 gives the occasional error on a benchmark, and 40 normally fails to boot into windows.

The two things that seem to be able to affect things based on my research are LLC, and Scalar.

From what I understand, LLC changes something about power, but I don't know exactly what. If I max this out on Extreme, then I can get 40 fairly stable. Increasing this also increases the max CPU Package Power to 89w, and my cooler seems to just be able to handle it sitting at 89 degrees but without actually hitting the thermal throttle.

This is obviously a notable improvement over auto LLC since it allows for a lower curve and higher clocks, but I've come across a few posts saying not to use it due to voltage spiking. I can't find any concrete information about it though, is it safe to max this out or can it cause problems?

The other option is Scalar, which as far as I can tell makes the CPU a bit less cautious when running at higher voltages for longer. I have it set to 4x, and it seems to let the cpu clock a tiny bit higher, maybe one or two steps on average. The performance benefit in something like Cinebench was basically 0 though. It also doesn't seem to improve how much of a curve offset I can set, so honestly I can't even tell if it's doing anything at all.

How dangerous is it to leave Scalar on 2x/3x/4x, and is there a notable improvement if you're already capping the power limits? Should it improve stability allowing for lower curve offsets, or does it just improve how willing your cpu is to stick at the higher clock speeds?

In addition, from what I can tell increasing the core clock +200 is pointless since it can never go over 5050Mhz anyway, is that true?

The biggest trouble I'm having is a lot of the information I'm finding is for non X3D chips, where you have a lot more knobs to turn. The only knobs I know do something for the 7800X3D as per my testing are PBO Curve and LLC, and I'm thinking Scalar might do something but honestly I'm not actually entirely sure. If it's not making a difference then I'm guessing it's best to just ignore it, but I can't quite tell.

Any clarification and answers would be appreciated, thanks!

I thought PBO Scalar the higher the Scalar the more aggressive the voltage would be to maintain higher frequency.

And Curve Optimizer -20 -30 the lower it is, more of an undervolt?

Why is it Scalar 1x -30 holds a 5.425 clock Current/Min/Max throughout Cinebench and other stress tests.

But setting 1x -20 floats around 5.2-5.3

Then also setting a Scalar to 7x -30 vs -20 same thing.

I thought more voltage is suppose to help maintain a higher frequency, not the other way around.

New AMD user here. Upgraded from a 9900k to a 7800x3D. I have experience overclocking the Intel platforms from various generations. Very new to AMD stuff.

Heard PBO Curve editor could potentially squeeze out some extra performance by undervolting... but will I really notice a real world difference if I don't have problems with temps?

Don't really want to have a run in with messing with system stability for a 1-2% gain in overall performance/fps in games.

I use a Noctua NH-D15 and on Cinebench stress tests I hit max 70C on all cores at stock. No PBO set. Only thing set is EXPO for RAM

Hello everyone,

I've been reading mixed opinions about scalar settings in various places. Some claim it's completely unsafe regardless of temperature or voltage, while others openly recommend using a scalar value of 10x. This left me wondering: are there any official documents or reliable sources that clarify how safe or unsafe this setting actually is, what it does, and what to look out for to determine if its current state is safe or not? If anyone has experience with testing, I’d really appreciate your input.

From what I understand, the scalar increases the Vcore curve and extends the boost duration. But if Vcore spikes stay below 1.3V and temperatures remain below 80% of tjmax, how exactly is this unsafe? According to HWiNFO, current limits aren't even being approached. The only potential concern I can think of is the extended boost duration. But isn’t that what the limits are for?

In some demanding stress tests, like Core Cycler, I’ve noticed that both the effective and target clock speeds drop by about 50–100 MHz after a while. Depending on the test, clock speeds range from 5.2 to 5.4 GHz, with the most demanding workloads typically at 5.2 to 5.3 GHz. Could scalar influence this? For example, could it allow higher clock speeds even under the most heavy loads? But then again, I wonder how this can be unsafe when there are limits in place?

Also, how relevant is any of this for someone who mainly plays games? Based on my in-game temps and Vcore readings, gaming scenarios don’t seem to resemble these stress tests at all. The only time I saw behavior that came close was during shader compilation or loading screens. Helldivers 2, spiked to 1.33V and hit 82°C for just a second when launching for the first time but then never again. This was with the scalar set to 10x. I am also pretty sure I could recreate this with the shader loading when you launch CoD, but I can't test that at the moment.

I tested scalar settings at 1x, 5x, 6x, 7x, and 10x for stability and benchmarks. Performance differences were minimal, under 5% across all scores. Vcore varied by about 0.02V, and temperatures differed by maybe 1–3°C. So for now, I’ve left it at 1x. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that I might be missing out on some performance, and in general I’m just curious.

Apologies if these questions sound basic. I've really tried to understand this topic based on what I found online.

In case anyone asks, here are my current settings and specs:
Ryzen 7 9800X3D
Rog Strix B850-f
Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360
2x16 GB G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo 6000Mhz CL30
Asus Prime Rtx 5070 Ti
1000w Corsair PSU
Fractal North XL

EXPO I enabled
PBO enabled
Curve optimizer: -20
+200 MHz boost override
Scalar: 10x (now at 1x)
Motherboard limits enabled

My Cinebench R23/R24 scores are in line with other similar OCs. Stability tests like OCCT and AIDA64 ran for 30–60 minutes with no issues. I’ve been gaming for the past three weeks without any crashes or instability, so I’d say it's stable.
Effective and target clock speeds range from 5.2 to 5.4 GHz depending on the task. Under full load, effective clocks are usually within 20-30 MHz of the target. In stress tests and some loading screens, Vcore very rarely spikes to 1.30V, but it averages around 1.22V. During gaming, it ranges between 1.0 and 1.2V. Temperatures in stress tests always stay below 85°C. To me, this seems stable, and I haven’t observed any signs of clock stretching. But if I’ve overlooked something, I’d appreciate any corrections or advice.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been fine-tuning my 7800X3D on an ASUS X670-Pro motherboard. The system runs with good thermals, and despite what I believe is a solid setup, my CPU refuses to boost past ~5050MHz — even with all the right BIOS and Windows-level optimizations in place.

System Specs

CPU: Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard: ASUS X670-Pro (latest BIOS)
RAM: 32GB Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR5-6400 A-Die (running stable at 6200MT/s CL32, 1.35v, SOC 1.25v)
OS: Clean install of Windows 11, debloated with only essential services running
Power Plan: Balanced

BIOS Settings (All under AI Tweaker)

• AI Overclock Tuner: DOCP I (DDR5-6400)

• Memory Frequency: Manually set to 6200MT/s

• DRAM Voltage: 1.35V

• SOC Voltage: 1.25V

• Precision Boost Overdrive: Manual

  • PPT: 210W

  • TDC: 145A

  • EDC: 190A

  • Boost Override: +200MHz

  • Scalar: Auto or 1X

  • Curve Optimizer: Per core (-5 to -20 based on preferred cores)

• BCLK: 100.00 MHz

• Spread Spectrum: Disabled

• FCLK: Tried fixed at 2000, 2033, and 2067

• Memory Context Restore: Disabled

• Power Down Enable: Disabled

Observations

• Cinebench R23/R24 (single core) never pushes above 5040–5100MHz

• Cinebench doesn’t consistently use one core — it fluctuates

• I’ve manually tested affinity per core — some cores did hit ~5250MHz before

• HWInfo shows effective clock rarely reaching theoretical boost

• Temps stay within safe range (<85°C multi, <65°C single)

• No background apps like SignalRGB, Armoury Crate, etc. running

• Tried resetting BIOS, clean Windows, and removing all curve/PBO settings

• CPU-Z BCLK fluctuates slightly (~99.95–100.1) but HWINFO is steady

What I’m Trying to Understand

• Why did I previously see 5200+ MHz but now capped closer to 5050?

• Could Cinebench be a poor representation of true boosting?

• Am I missing a Windows setting or subtle BIOS toggle?

TL;DR
Clean Windows 11, 7800X3D, PBO + CO (-5 to -20), +200 boost override, stable 6200 MT/s RAM. Previously saw 5250MHz+ in SC loads — now stuck at ~5050. Temps and power limits are fine. Looking for advice on what could be limiting boost now.

In almost every overclocking video I see for this cpu they using x10 pbo scaler isn't that a fast way to kill the cpu? , also I heard amd recommended to do this?

Hi guys, just today I received my B650 Aorus Elite AX, 7800x3d and 32gb 6000mhz cl30 ram.

I have some pbo adjustments already made with EXPO enabled and FCLK 2133 and 6200mhz cl30(haven't had time to do anything else yet).

I had 10x, clock +200, all cores -30 co.

SoC set to 1.20v

In gaming I received these results, are these okay or I should be worried about cpu-s health?

If I've done something stupid then let me know please, im in learning phase with amd cpus and especially x3d.