September 25, 2023 -

I’m making this post in hopes that it will help other 7800X3D owners (current and prospective). The following is a summary of two weeks worth of testing/benchmark using AMD’s Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO) and Curve Optimizer (CO). Please feel free to correct/expand for the benefit of anybody stumbling upon this in the future.

I am by no means an overclocking expert or master of the Ryzen platform. But this data may be useful to beginner and advanced enthusiasts alike. If anything, it is the diary of a tinkerer looking to squeeze the most out of their hardware.

Build Components

• MSI PRO B650M-A WIFI MATX

• AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D

• Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE (TF7 Thermal Paste)

• G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo 2x16GB DDR5-6000 CL30-38-38-96 (SK hynix A-die)

• Corsair RM850x 80+ Gold

• Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB

• XFX Speedster MERC 310 Black Edition Radeon RX 7900 XT

• Corsair 4000D Airflow case

Case Configuration and Test Environment

• Ambient room temperature ~22°C

• Corsair 4000D, with all filters installed

  • Front: 3x120mm intake fans (Arctic P12)

  • Top: 2x120mm exhaust fans (Artic P12)

  • Back: 1x120mm exhaust fan (included case fan: Corsair AirGuide)

  • Bottom: PSU oriented as intake

• Fresh installation of Windows 11 22H2, OS build 22621.2283

• Fan Control v170 using a combination of Mixed and Auto curves (CPU set to 40°C idle, 70°C load)

  • At 100% fan speed, CPU idles between 38-41°C; at 30% CPU idles between 40-43°C

Idle temperatures at CPU fan speed 100% (top) and 30% (bottom)

Note About Temp Readings

• I found there was a lot of inconsistency with how users reported their temps: Tctl/Tdie, Package, Tdie, Core Temps, etc.

• HWiNFO64 CPU Die (average) matches Ryzen Master the closest; both are roughly 0.5 to 2. degrees lower than CPU (Tctl/Tdie)

• When setting a PBO thermal limit in the BIOS, it pegs the CPU Die (average) temp at the selected value. Therefore, I used this measurement throughout my testing

BIOS Thermal Limit reflected by CPU Die (average) Maximum, 10 minute Cinebench run

Thermal Paste and Cooling Concerns

• The Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE (PS120SE) is more than capable of keeping up with the 7800X3D

• The CPU will do everything in its power to boost into the high 80°C range; rest assured, this is normal

Maximum temperatures getting close to Tjunction during prolonged boost

• There are diminishing returns as you approach the upper end of the thermal limit (more on that later)

• Initially doubted my thermal paste application using the pea-sized method following Noctua’s recommendation from August 2022

• Updated instructions for AM5 say to use the 5-dot method

Zero observed difference before/after re-paste, but now I can sleep better at night

BIOS Settings, Boot Times, and RAM

• BIOS version 7D77v19 (released 2023-08-11)

• Using Optimized Defaults, Last BIOS time as reported by Task Manager was 45 seconds

• Enabled both Memory Context Restore and Power Down Enable: boot time reduced to 14 seconds

• However, experienced instability using these settings with EXPO enabled (had to clear CMOS with a paperclip numerous times)

• Apparently this is a known bug in AGESA ; some motherboards are impacted worst than others

• Enter: Buildzoid’s Timings (credit to u/buildzoid)

  • SOC Voltage at 1.25v

  • FCLK 2033 MHz

  • Primary timings at 30-38-38-28

  • VDD = VDDIO = VDDQ = 1.35v

  • Video Guide can be found here on YouTube

• Make sure to save an overclocking profile after applying these settings. You will thank me later!

AMD Ryzen Master 2.11.2.2659

• Latest version missing auto-detect Curve Optimizer feature for 7800X3D (Start Optimizing button replaced by Validate Offset)

• Reverted to version 2.10.2.2367 and ran the auto-optimizer

• Many paperclip jump-starts later, I realized it was a waste of time

• Ryzen Master provided the following values which were ridiculously low (-45 to -49). Couldn’t even boot into Windows without BSOD

Recommended offset values using Ryzen Master auto-optimization

Stability: Perceived versus Reality

• Researched further online and decided to go with -30 all core offset

• Could run Cinebench R23 all day with ~18.5k Multi Core score

• Used it for 3-4 days gaming, browsing web, etc.; seemed stable with no crashes

• Ran Prime95 and 2-3 workers errored immediately

• Reduced to -20 all core and 2 cores failed after 2 hours of Prime95 Blend torture test

• Debated on proceeding with -15 all core, but didn't want to 'leave performance on the table’ by not individually pushing each core to the max

• Begin the Per Core Curve Optimizer rabbit hole

Note about Cinebench Scores

• Variance between tests reached as high as 2% using exact same settings (within margin of error)

• Note that the program defaults to priority Below normal

How to set priority for Cinebench in Task Manager

• Switching between Below Normal to Realtime can add a few hundred points (be aware of this when comparing to other users)

• Background applications can also impact scores, including monitoring software which poll/refresh during the benchmark

• Here’s my best run using -45 all core offset (unstable) with Realtime priority: 19,221 pts

Unstable—only good for bragging rights

CoreCycler-v0.9.4.2

• This utility lets you test the stability of each core individually while the boost clock is maxed out

• It’s a great start for baselining your best/worst cores

• Here are the settings I used in the Config.ini:

  • stressTestProgram = YCRUNCHER

  • runtimePerCore = auto (10 minutes for y-cruncher)

  • numberOfThreads = 2

  • mode = 22-ZN4 ~ Kizuna

  • tests = BKT, BBP, SFT, FFT, N32, N64, HNT, VST, C17

• Tip: use coreTestOrder = x to focus on an individual core while finetuning

y-Cruncher window as executed by CoreCycler

Error Reporting

• I found that HWiNFO64, CoreCycler, Y-cruncher, and Prime95 didn’t capture all Windows Hardware Errors (WHEA)

• Therefore, best to create a custom view in Event Viewer by filtering on Source = WHEA-Logger

Windows Hardware Error log in Event Viewer

• Note the Processor APIC ID is the logical core number; CPU 7 resides on Core 3, while Ryzen Master labels it as C04 (see below)

Testing Methodology

• Created a table which lists offset value for each core (Core 1 is fastest, Core 5 is second fastest)

Core stability table. Red means failed, green means pass

• Started with -40 offset value for each core

• Ran CoreCycler and observed which core threw an error first

• No point in continuing with the test; failure-first approach reduces runtimes

• Add 5 to the offset (i.e., -40 becomes -35), and re-run the test

• Use coreTestOrder = x to target the failed core first, or cycle through it more often

• Repeat this process until you are able to pass CoreCycler overnight

• Now run Prime95 Blend torture test. Use the same approach as above and repeat the process until you are able to pass overnight

• Repeat again for Prime95 Small FFTs

• Lastly, run y-cruncher overnight with all tests enabled

y-cruncher 10hr run using all available tests

• I believe stress testing to be more comprehensive and strenuous when using multiple utilities

• Each iteration has a different load profile, single and multi-core scenarios, and acts as a filter to catch errors that the prior cycle didn’t

• Below are the per core values it took for me to pass each test overnight

Although Core 2, 4, and 5 passed CoreCycler, they failed during later tests

• Final Blessing: run the AIDA64 CPU SHA3 benchmark (to avoid getting roasted in the comments)

Passing AIDA64 CPU SHA3 benchmark

• Make sure to cycle through all-core (default), and per-core by setting Processor affinity in Task Manager to 0+1 for Core 0, 2+3 for Core 1, 4+5 for Core 2, etc.

How to set Aida64 Processor affinity for Core 0

Additional Stability and Peace of Mind

• Synthetic tests are not reflective of real-world applications and gaming workloads

• Stability can be subjective—it all depends on your workflows and use cases

• However, some people can’t risk a random crash since it will cost hours/days of work (or thousands of dollars)

• Make sure to include comprehensive idle testing and not just load testing

• Extreme negative offset values are more likely to cause instability during low load scenarios (per my research)

• Leave the system idle overnight (disable screen and sleep in Windows Settings > System > Power)

• Put your PC to sleep and wake it; try different durations ranging from seconds to hours

Performance and Thermal Data

• Average of two Cinebench 3-minute runs, with priority = Normal

• Only applications open were Fan Control and HWiNFO64

Maximum/Average temperatures, clock speeds, and Cinebench scores

• All Configurations under Per Core Manual (PCM) are assumed to be stable since they add a power consumption limit or thermal limit; i.e., no change to Curve Optimizer values

Choosing a Configuration (and Living With it)

• Results above sorted by ascending Effective Clock Speed

Configs in red are not stable, but interesting to compare

• Immaterial performance difference between base Per Core Manual (PCM), and PCM Limit 80°C

Highlighted bars show similar clock speeds and benchmark scores

• Now compare the same two configurations in terms of average and max temperatures

4 to 5 degree reduction when setting a thermal limit

• No-brainer to add a thermal limit: Reduces temps by 5°C, while maintaining 99.7% of the performance

Conclusions

The 7800X3D is great out of the box. Tweaking PBO+CO to limit thermals/power consumption— while increasing performance over stock—is a game within itself (min/max, anyone?). Just don’t get caught up trying to chase online benchmarks. The real-world difference is negligible.

That being said, the observed difference between the lowest Cinebench score to the highest (stable) was a mere 2.8%. That’s not much potential you are leaving on the table should you decide to go with all-core, per-core, fixed wattage, and/or applying a thermal limit.

I didn't test in a temperature-controlled room or utilize state-of-the-art equipment, but the observed results confirm my hypothesis: the 7800X3D running at/above 85°C is by design. Over 80°C and you add additional heat for limited performance gain. It’s up to each user to decide if the trade-off is worth it.

The last time I messed around with overclocking was an Intel Q6600 which ran at 2.4 GHz stock. I pushed it to 3.2 GHz on air cooling, but settled for 3.0 GHz daily usage. That’s a 33% and 25% bump, respectively. Nowadays, we're pumping less juice for more power. My have the times changed!

Technology has advanced tremendously since, and that includes online resources available to PC enthusiasts. Hopefully this post summarizes all the information that took me days to research and compile. Lastly, we should all be glad that a chip like the 7800X3D exists and makes high-performance gaming accessible to all who can afford it.

May 12, 2023 -

Hello everyone! I hope you're all having a good one.

I'll be brief: I want to undervolt my 7800x3d, but want a good place to start, or a guide of some kind. Any tips?

Thanks!

April 13, 2024 -

I am super new to all of this. I am running my 7800x3d at -40 CO and Extreme LLC. FYI, I have XMP enabled (2x16 Corsair Vengeance, 6000 CL 30). I scored 18650 on Cinebench R23 but I have seen above 19k…I know that it varies by the chip though. So, my questions are: 1) Is this high of a LLC dangerous - read different options on the matter; 2) what to do to score higher.

FYI - I have been playing exclusively CS2 on max settings and my CPU temps have been in the low to mid 60s (with super rare spikes above 70 for a few seconds). My fans are running quiet and the FPS is insane - 450 average.

My end goal is to squeeze the maximum from the CPU in gaming for the lowest possible temps and fan noise. Anything else you guys would recommend to decrease the temps or they are already ok?

Thanks a lot for helping a noob.

May 26, 2024 -

Specs are: Msi b650 gaming plus wifi 7800x3d 32gb (2x16) corsair vangeance 6000 cl30 4070ti super Be queit dark rock slim cpu air cooler

I jus installed 7800x3d and playing around with the undervolt. Right now I have

• expo for ram enabled, no other tunes

• -30 all cores

• ppt to 88

• all else auto

I was reading on reddit that people recommend putting the ppt at 75, but this made my cinebench score much lower and also the boost clocks lower. 88 seemed to give best results.

Right now during cinebench r23 the cpu boosts to 4.7 and 83 degrees max, and the score is 18136. I have attached photo's of hwinfo64. Is this okay to settle for? I am not that experienced or knowledgeable when it comes to this stuff. Or do you guys have any recommendations? Any help is appreciated! Bios an chipset drivers are updated by the way.

January 28, 2024 -

So I recently just built a new PC in my CPU is ryzen 7 7800 X3D. I've been looking a lot into optimizing my entire system and came across undervolting. do I need to enable PBO? Or do I just undervolt without enabling PBO. Which way is the best way to do it to yield the best performance. I'm not looking to do a crazy overclock. Kind of confused when it comes to undervolting. Currently as it stands I have PBO enabled with a -30 offset. But, I had a -20 offset before without PBO enabled and it felt pretty good. I haven't ran any benchmarks yet, but I'm Using my gaming experience as my "benchmark" for now. Before i start testing with benchmarks, l'd like to understand the best way to go about it. Mainly hung up on weather or not to enable PBO. Like if I were to use curve optimizer without PBO would I still boost my cpu frequency higher? Or is PBO needed for that? And and all information is super appreciated. I've seen different threads about this, but none of them got very specific.

August 15, 2024 -

I'm looking to get a bit lower temps on my CPU, generally whilst gaming I'm getting between 65-80 depending on the game and 40-45 whilst idle. I don't mind losing a bit of performance to get lower temps and I have repasted my CPU several times and am using the Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 with the Arctic MX6 Thermal Paste.

I've seen this video below on undervolting via the BIOS and is it really as simple as using curve optimizer to turn all cores down by -10/-15/-20, etc?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68EpgUU3CyQ

If so should I have PBO enabled as it is currently disabled. I honestly have no clue what I am doing here and don't want to make a mess of it cause myself issues I am unable to fix.

Currently using a Gigabyte B650 AORUS ELITE AX (rev. 1.2) Motherboard on BIOS version FA1a but can update to the most recent version if that is what I need to do.

June 21, 2025 -

Recently undervolted my GPU no problem, so I figured I might as well try with my CPU.
Watched some tutorials and read into what could go wrong and the general consensus was that all CPUs should handle -30 just fine, but one should approach it in smaller steps.
So I started off installing Ryzen Master and setting it to -10 all core, stress test was fine but it wouldn't POST after reboot.
After full CMOS clear it took ages but booted again. Now I set it back to 0 because I don't trust the stability of -10.
Did I just lose Silicon lottery, or am I doing something wrong?

Specs are
MSI B650 Plus WiFi
64GB Corsair DDR5 RAM
Ryzen 7800x3d

February 1, 2025 -

Anybody here who undervolted their 7800X3D in BIOS? I’ve seen some YT videos of this, using Ryzen Master. But are there any real benefits like temperature and wear/tear? I have the MSI X870 Tomahawk motherboard.

October 26, 2023 -

Would anything happen if I don't undervolt this cpu. Would it run faster if I did. Would it last longer (lifespan) if I did undervolt it. Also Are there any benefits or downsides to not doing it.

January 4, 2025 -

I want something that does not have a headache and does not take too much time with trying to do stress tests and finding out if its stable. I just want undervolt it a bit and call it a day so if you got a written guide or a youtube video that you recommend would be nice!

CPU is 7800X3D and mobo is the ASUS ROG Strix B650E-F

January 5, 2024 -

Hey guys , yesterday I got all my parts for my half new PC 7800x3d MSI b650i mpg edge wifi Corsair vengeance 32 (2x16) 6000mhz Rtx 3080 (from last build)

Trying to undervolt my 7800x3d Started from negative pbo of 30 And in prime95 tests my PC shut off after few seconds So I went down in pbo and for now seems like 15 is stable enough to run (checked for few mins , but played few games afterwards and it was stable although I had like a big freeze In one match and it fixed itself but It was for 5 ish seconds) And I'm thinking maybe I can do something to increase the pbo and get a more efficient system.

Also my temps are something like 80 85 ish sometimes when gaming (average is about 75)

But the thing is that my cooler (axp120-67) is kinda loud and I'm looking for something to make it a bit quieter but not lose performance that much , if any of you have any advice it'll really help me , thanks!

Edit: my case is the fractal terra fyi

October 13, 2024 -

As I had recently made the switch from Intel to AMD, building a whole new system, (7800X3D, RTX 4090, 64GB DDR5 6000MHz), every bit of my gaming experience has been above and beyond what I was expecting, until I was told about undervolting for AMD Ryzen 7000 series X3D chips and how apparently you can squeeze a little more performance out of these chips, but at more consistent rates and a lower temps. I have been going between -20 and -30 PBO offsets, and 1.2-1.25 SOC voltages and honestly can't really see much of a difference at the end of the day. I found that I was able to get a best multicore score of 16794 on Cinebench, (-30 PBO and 1.2 SOC), which although is better than what I got with default configurations, a score of around 16300, however I am realizing that even 16794 is quite low compared to what many other people are getting with relatively the same PBO and SOC settings. I have heard that -30 PBO is and should be a dramatic performance increase, and if it isn't really changing much, that could mean that the silicon quality of my chip might not be the best and it just is what it is. The only positive I am seeing from doing any of these configurations is higher overall core clock speeds, and maybe a very small difference in temperatures, although I can’t confirm that because when gaming temps seem to stay the same as they were before, and I still get temp spikes when idle. (Maybe slightly lower overall idle temps). Is it even worth it on my part or should I just leave at default?

Edit: I forgot to add that when performing a multicore benchtest, my temps seem way too high. I get a peak Tctl/Tdie temp of 90 degrees Celsius, and it stays at about 89 throughout the whole test. However, my CCD1 (Tdie) reading shows about 10 degrees Celsius less over all? Each core stays around the mid to low 80s.

Edit 2: Just ran another bench test with a slightly lower negative offset of -25, and the same SOC voltage of 1.2, and got a barely higher score of 16808 lol.

June 20, 2024 -

So basically I haven't touched OC or UV in a while. Last time I dipped my toes into this world was almost 4 years ago, and even then it was just me lowering the CPU voltage until it worked fine playing games at stock speeds.

Now I've got the 7800x3d with a Gigabyte B650 AORUS ELITE AX for the motherboard. I've read a little and browsed the bios a bit and could only really come to the conclusion that PBO using the curve optimizer is the best way to undervolt without spending a whole bunch of time doing repeat testing to find that perfect spot.

So here's where my problems start. Most guides I see talk about setting the curve to around -25 or -30 if you're feeling lucky and benchmark it to check for stability and temps... I'm at -40. My problem is that the temps aren't going down, in fact they've gone up while running tests. Before my benchmarks would hit a max of maybe high 70s and now its getting into mid 80 territory. So I have no clue if some other setting in the board is sneaking in power or something from somewhere and creating more heat despite the curve being set so low. The speed isn't being effected either, on the contrary, I saw it hit 5GHz on the last benchmark I ran at -40 CO.

I'd rather not go down this rabbit hole any deeper until I know whats happening. Help and advice would be much appreciated, I'd rather mess with this CPU anymore in case I damage it.

(Solved) CPU curve optimizer at -40 all core. Max boost at -50. Thermal throttle at 80c but it doesn't reach that. Infinity fabric set to 2133. SOC v set to 1200(1.2v). CPU vcore loadline set to medium. Vcore SOC loadline set to high. XMP was turned on. Pretty much every other setting is still where it was when I took it out of the box.

Gaming is now reach max temps around 70 maybe 71. Tested Helldivers and Cyberpunk on max setting at 1440p. Doesn't crash during idle, idle temps also around 40 so right where I like em. No stability issues noted.

April 27, 2023 -

I’ve never really messed with cpu settings before but I’m semi interested in trying something with my new ryzen. How exactly will undervolting the cpu help it, and is it worth doing?

October 20, 2024 -

Hello, I tried to undervolt my new 7800X3D to see how much the temp/power etc. decreases.

This is after 10 min of running cinebench R23, see pictures below from HWMonitor.
From what I can see there is almost 0 improvement while undervolting.
(Slightly decreased temp, higher power usage (??).

Why all this hype about undervolting the 7800X3D? I'm not experienced at all when it comes to these stuff.

PBO, negative 30 all cores, thermal limit 85 C deg:
https://imgur.com/a/rjeqRD8(first picture)
Cinebench score: ~18700 points

Stock settings:
https://imgur.com/XFJI7CI
Cinebench score: ~18100 points

Is it something I'm missing?

I'm using a 240mm AIO and mobo is MSI Tomahawk B650, BIOS is the 2nd latest BIOS version (7D75v1J).

July 6, 2024 -

I built my PC like a week ago, it's the first time I'm building with AMD and even if I was pleased with how it performed I was a bit pissed that the processor never went to 5050mhz in gaming even if I have very good cooling (LF III 360) and it never reaches 60 degrees+, it still won't go to 5050 but stay around 4800 mhz. So I decided to undervolt it and I set PBO to advanced (MSI B650 Tomahawk), a negative curve and a -30 on all cores. The system is very stable and in Cinebench R23 I gained about 1000 points from undervolting, in gaming now it stays in 5050 mhz all the time but the performance is worse. I ran Cyberpunk Benchmark stock and Undervolted and from 87 fps avg (stock) I went down to 84 undervolted. Why would this happen and how could I improve gaming performance?

edit:
For those who say you don't know if the system is stable I rand Aida64 Extreme for about 15-20 minutes and I've had no issues so that's why I said it's stable.

October 31, 2024 -

Hi there, I have the latest BIOS for a date. I did improved performance in gaming, microstutters issue is almost gone especially if you compare it to what is was before.

I decided to make fine tune of my system, among that I decided to check what happens if I add undervolting, previously even -20 all cores made my system unstable and I finished with per core undervolting -15 and -10 for a certain core. It was fine.

Modern BIOS is stable up to -40, I do testing for hours now and there is no sign of instability. But I see no changes in either clocks either temp either power consumption. That makes me think it is pointless nowadays. Is it normal? I can't find what possible I could do wrong. My Mobo is AsRock B650 Pro RS. I do all that by curve optimizer in AMD overclocking section.

April 25, 2024 -

So ive just build my pc with the Ryzen 7 7800x3D, which is a big upgrade from my last cpu granted, however with it came really high temps / temp spikes when playing games as well.

Im using the AK620 Zero Dark cpu cooler btw.

So what i have done so far is enabled PBO and set the curve optimizer to All Cores -> Negative -> 20

However, i also wanted to lower my PBO limits, specifically my PPT limit, but when i set that to 110000, the TDC and EDC limits stayed at 0

So my question is, would i need to set that at a specific number as well, or do i just continue with only the PPT set at 110000?

I havent altered the PBO limits yet since i dont wanna mes something up :)

April 29, 2024 -

I'm currently using a B650M mobo from MSI, and I'm using a dual tower air cooler (Phantom Spirit Evo) with idel temps ranging from 44-46 degrees celsius. Should I undervolt the CPU to get better results or is undervolting not necessary?