November 26, 2024 -

Just wanted to post my results and some general observations and questions, if anyone wanted to give some feedback on some theoretical questions about RAM speed and Ryzen 9 processors.. Oh, and even though my SSD speeds are good enough and it won't make the tiniest bit of difference when it comes to real world performance, if anyone knows how I could improve my peak benchmark speeds, I'd be interested to know.

ASUS ROG Crosshair Hero X870e
AMD Ryzen 9 9950x
Corsair Dominator Titanium DDR5 2 x 48GB 6400Mhz (96GB Total)
MP700 Pro Gen 5 SSD (12,400MB/sec) x 2 in RAID 0

I built a workstation purely for the work I do. I honestly feel like the 9950x was made for me. It's been fantastic at for what I wanted it for. I understand, it's not for everyone. It's no where near the best gaming CPU and it's expensive. But, I don't even have a graphics card in this machine. The fact that I now have integrated graphics that are actually quite impressive for just being on-chip was a wonderful bonus. My last machine I had to pick a cheap GTX 1650 just so I could run multiple monitors.. With USB to HDMI, I can run multiple monitors off this machine just fine, even at high-res using the 40gbps ports.

Anyway... I saw/read a bunch of reviews talking about the 9950 out-the-box multicore benchmarks in, say, R23 being around 41,000 points. Which is pretty awesome in itself. I was getting around those scores as well.

After MUCH tweaking, learning about infinity fabric and RAM speeds, undervolting, curve optimiser and setting my thermal limits.. it took a lot of reboots! But I finally cracked 47,000 points with NO overclocking whatsoever.

I recon I could go higher with actual overclocking, but I'm totally happy with this result.

Couple of weird issues with all this though. Firstly, I really wanted to underclock my memory so that I could try and get a 1:1 ratio with the infinity fabric, however, I can't get it stable at all. Second, I can't find any better timings than the ones I have at the moment. It doesn't seem to affect performance, as I'm obviously getting excellent benchmarks, but I really wonder if I could find memory timings that are stable and I also wonder what would happen if I could get a 1:1 ratio..

Cpu-z says my current ratio is something really weird like 1:33 ? Which doesn't sound exactly ideal..

The other crazy thing is.. even though I'm running RAID-0 using the motherboard RAID array controller, it seems like my SSD speeds are tied completely to the speed of my processor. So, I'm running 2 x MP700 Pro Gen 5 SSDs.. I've been down a 2 week rabbit hole trying to work out my motherboard claims of GEN5 PCIe lanes, it can run 1 x SSD at Gen 5 speed, then it does some super weird bifurcation, despite the fact I don't have a graphics card. So, my SSD Read Speed is supposed to be 12GB/s. The best I've gotten in RAID-0 in 3 weeks of changing every setting that exists related to PCIe lane speed, splitting, bifurcation, forced Gen type etc. is 15GB/s total.

I've seen RAID0 better speeds if Windows is running the RAID array.. although, its a bit late for me to want to format everything and try that out. Maybe one day, if everything goes horribly wrong, I can give Windows control of the RAID array and see what the results are.

As you can see from the picture of the max speeds of the RAID0 2 x GEN5 SSDs when everything is not running optimally, speeds completel tank down to 1.7GB/s across the board.. and I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA why that is.. ?!

In order to get both SSDs running full speed on Gen 5 Pcie lanes without splitting or sharing. Apart from waiting 5 years until gen 5 is standard everywhere, then the only motherboard capable of doing this today, as far as I'm aware, is the MSI Godlike - a mere snip at around £1,300 GBP (about $1,600 in freedom dollars) .... for a motherboard..

October 24, 2024 -

So today I'll get the ryzen 9950x and the x870e asus proart. I want to know if I need to set on bios something (a must have ) for running smother the pc or with the performance. tnk you in advance

June 12, 2025 -

I know the 9950x is not primarily for gaming, but i plan to be doing gaming and compiling, hence the 9950x chosen over the 9800x3D.

I've ordered a X870E Nova WiFi and a 9950x, while i know the X3D's are the primary culprits of CPU's burning up there has at least been one case of the 9950x burning up by a youtuber.

I've ordered ram from the QVL Kingston FURY Beast RGB DDR5-6400 64GB

I plan on using PBO, if AMD expects reviewers to do so, then it's deamed safe enough from their end.
I plan on using EXPO
I plan on using sleep
I plan on using virtualization
I also plan on upgrading the bios to 3.25 before inserting the CPU.

All the posts i seam to find are focus'ed on the x3d's SOC voltage, would it be the same for the regular 9000x's ?

which BIOS settings should i also look into ? some state changing the LLC would be a good idea to change to help reduce the chance of a degraded CPU ?

November 13, 2024 -

Some of you may know my other guides on configuring Ryzen CPUs including previous gen X3D CPUs:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ryzen/comments/tntrif/definitive_guide_to_configuring_3rd4th_gen_ryzen/

https://www.reddit.com/r/ryzen/comments/137i5f5/how_to_optimally_configure_the_ryzen_7800x3d/

Although the first guide (but not the one for X3D) is still a valid way of configuring any Ryzen 9000 CPU (there no longer exists a significant difference between Ryzen 9000 CPUs and their X3D brethren) I have found a more elegant way of getting the job done.

I expect those of you who have equivalent hardware to mine to get better results due to the fact that because I have had two spine operations and have spinal arthritis, I have to keep my room temp at 30 degrees Celsius or 86 Fahrenheit.

Some of you might be thinking, "Why doesn't this guy just make a YouTube video about this?". The answer to that is easy, I have a face made for radio and a voice made for print - so here we are. In fact, when I was born, I was so ugly, that the doctor picked me up by the ankles and slapped my mother across the cheeks.

My kit:

Motherboard: GigaByte x670 AORUS Elite AX

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 96GB (2x48GB) DDR5 DRAM 6000MT/s CL3096GB (2x48GB) DDR5 DRAM 6000MT/s CL30 part number SKU: CMK96GX5M2B6000Z30.

If you have the same RAM, but the 2x32GB version then you will get slightly better results.

I have tweaked the timings somewhat, but I haven't gone nuts on it. Here are my timings:

DDR5 6000 2x48GB OC to 6200

Cooling: Arctic Liquid Freezer III 360 modified with three Phanteks T30 fans running with a max RPM of 2000.

CPU: AMD Ryzen R9 9950X

Timeout for a rant; to all the Goobers in the Tech Media/YouTube who have coined the term "Ryzen 5%" for the 9000 series CPUs it just goes to show that even after 5 years they have not bothered their backsides to learn anything about Ryzen - they should just stick to Intel and "Moar Powa, moar gud", because that is all they are good for. To configure Intel you use a hatchet, to configure Ryzen you need a scalpel.

In a number of YouTube videos concerning the 9800X3D I have seen reference to an overclock (which I won't repeat here, because it is brain-dead) they supposedly got from AMD. All I can say is that the person at AMD that suggested it to them should be terminated for cause due to terminal stupidity.

Personally, I think it was just some "Authoritative source" in the Tech Media/YouTube who pulled it out of their ass and the rest of the lemmings have jumped on it.

AMD have done a really great job of improving their Ryzen line-up with the latest 9000 Series and have improved all aspects of the architecture.

Finally, PBO works as it should and if used correctly in conjunction with CO and the Platform Thermal Throttle limit. In prior generations, PBO was more of a liability than an aid to configuring Ryzen CPUs - with the exception of previous X3D CPUs.

What follows is a step-by-step guide to configuring the Ryzen 9000. Please don't be stupid enough to just blindly punch in the numbers you see in the pictures and expect it to work. As with my other guides, if you have any problems then you are welcome to contact me on Discord under the name "michaelnager" and I have the same avatar there as well.

Every system is different and the best way to get the most out of your Ryzen CPU is to use a good cooler.

Either before or after you configure your RAM you then do the following in the BIOS.

Look for "Precision Boost Overdrive" then choose the option "Advanced" to get you to what you see in the picture below:

Precision Boost Overdrive Menu

The only thing you configure here is the "PBO Limits" and set it to Motherboard then set the "Platform Thermal Throttle Limit" to Manual in the picture I set it to 85C, but for me 83C gives me what I want.

Next go to the "Curve Optimizer" and then configure your Curve Optimizer Magnitude:

Curve Optimizer Menu

The option "Curve Optimizer" should be set to "All Cores" I will go into the other possibility later, namely "Per CCD"; don't set it "Per Core"

Set the "All Core Curve Optimizer Sign" to "Negative"

Then set your "All Core Curve Optimizer Magnitude" to something like 20 to begin with and then benchmark your system keeping an eye on the temp and the voltage as explained below in Ryzen Master,

After setting the CO run something like CineBench R23 for a few runs. If the CO is unstable, then you will find that out pretty quickly - so you don't have to go nuts benchmarking something tor hours on end.

You can get a collection of benchmark programs if you download Benchmate:

https://benchmate.org/

The Benchmate benchmark software launcher.

After every successful CO test run, go into the BIOS and raise the "All Core Curve Optimizer Magnitude" number until it crashes, then go back to where it was stable.

This gives you your basic configuration, but the actual tweaking is done by varying the "Platform Thermal Throttle Limit".

This is where the magic happens and this is why I think that AMD with the 9000 Series of CPUs has hit it out of the park, as I will demonstrate with two screenshots from Ryzen Master while running my all-time favourite Pay-to-Win game CineBench R23 :D

In the first screenshot, it shows my system running CineBench R23 all-core with a CO of negative 31 and a Platform Thermal Throttle Limit of 85C:

CB R23 CO -31 Temp limit 85C

Important to note here that the voltage you see under "Voltage Control" namely "Peak Cores Voltage" and 1.2344 Volts is the Set Voltage. If you want to know how much voltage the CPU is actually using then you look at the second dial from the right on the top under "CPU Telemetry Voltage" which is the Get Voltage and in this case, at this point of the benchmark run, is 1.193 Volts - this is the actual voltage being used by the CPU.

As an aside, the maximum safe Get Voltage for the 9000 Series CPU is 1.2 Volts, going above this will damage your CPU over time due to something called "Oxide Breakdown". This is not my opinion, but rather it is the statement from TSMC, the creators of the N4P node upon which the 9000 Series of AMD CPUs is based.

Some may tell you that going above 1.2 Volts is "safe", because AMD does so when running at stock, means that AMD deems it safe to run at that voltage without the CPU dying (not referring to degrading) for the extent of the warranty period of the CPU, namely three years, after which AMD couldn't give a flying one at a rolling doughnut about the health and welfare of your CPU.

So when you run your Ryzen CPU at stock, you are degrading it from day one.

The CineBench R23 score associated with the Ryzen Master screenshot above is:

CB R23 result from CO -31 Temp limit 85C

If you notice above, you will see that the CPU runs at 5.432 GHz on CCD0 and 5.336 on CCD1.

I have had the 3950X, 5950X and 7950X and in each case, for a given power limit, I have always been able to clock CCD0 higher than CCD1.

It is nice to see that AMD with the 9000 Series prioritizes CCD0 above CCD1 a lot more than in previous generations when confronted with a specific power budget, as I will show below. What I mean by this is that CCD1 no longer holds back CCD0 as much as it used to.

Another thing is that the difference between the 5000 Series and the 7000 and 9000 Series is that AMD reduced the minimum clockspeed increment from 25 MHz to 5 MHz.

Now let's see what happens when I reduce the "Platform Thermal Throttle Limit" from 85C to 80C:

CB R23 CO -31 Temp limit decreased to 80C

What are the main differences between setting the "Platform Thermal Throttle Limit" 85C and 80C?

1. Under "Voltage Control" the "Peak Cores Voltage" (Set Voltage) decreases from 1.2344 Volts to 1.19599 Volts.

2. The "CPU Telemetry Voltage" dial (Get Voltage) changes from 1.193 Volts to 1.156 Volts.

3. The "CPU Power" dial decreases from 211.862 Watts to 198.097 Watts

4. The Clockspeed of CCD0 increases slightly from 5.432 GHz to 5.459 GHz

5. The Clockspeed of CCD1 decreases substantially from 5.336 GHz to 5.274 GHz

I would like to show you what the CineBench R23 score is for changing to 80C but I forgot to screenshot it so as a stand-in I will show the result of limiting the "Platform Thermal Throttle Limit" to 83C instead and at some point I will insert the proper CB R23 score. It is however indicative:

CB R23 result from CO -31 Temp limit 85C to 83C

As you can see, the Multicore score decreased, but the single core score increased slightly.

I think that everyone can now see what I am doing:

1. I am configuring the CPU with the Curve Optimizer

2. I am regulating the voltage, and thus tweaking the overall performance of the CPU, with the "Platform Thermal Throttle Limit"

What happens if I reduce the "Platform Thermal Throttle Limit" to 75C?

The system crashes and I would need to lower the "All Core Curve Optimizer Magnitude" from 31.

Here are other results I achieved with the "All Core Curve Optimizer Magnitude" at Negative 31 and the "Platform Thermal Throttle Limit" at 85C:

1. CineBench 2024:

CB 2024 CO -31 Temp Limit 85C

2) 7-Zip:

7-Zip CO -31 Temp Limit 85C

3) PyPrime 32B (single core runs in Realtime mode lower results are better):

PyPrime CO -31 Temp Limit 85C

4) PiFast

PiFast CO -31 Temp Limit 85C

5) OCCT

OCCT CO -31 Temp Limit 85C

6) Super Pi - also showing my system specs

Super Pi CO -31 Temp Limit 85C

As I stated above, if anyone needs help with their system, then they are welcome to contact me on Discord under the name "michaelnager" and the same avatar as here.

I have bought all the equipment from my own money, so I am not as familiar with other motherboards as I am with GigaByte.

The big difference between me and others is that I benchmark to configure, I don't configure to benchmark.

I don't paywall my info with PayPal or Patreon, because I am a techie, not a grifter or an E-beggar.

So why do I do this?

I am now 65 years old and the reason why I go out of my way to help people is that I remember back in the day when I first started off with PCs (around the end of 1983) I was a clueless numpty, and couldn't understand what was written in tech journals because I lacked the basics. I was lucky that there were people who took me under their wing and with patience introduced me to what has become my passion - namely being a techie.

They are now either dead or I have lost contact with them, and I cannot pay them back, but I feel obligated by their kindness to pay that help forward to others.

*** UPDATE FOR 9800X3D ***

Normally I would have purchased a 9800X3D, but thanks to the Yanks panic buying everything in sight and AMD shipping to the US as their only priority to avoid tariffs, we won't be getting any stock here in the UK for at least another four weeks.

That being said, someone who has a 9800X3D called "willymcphilly" contacted me on Discord and I could see what was going on with the 9800X3D and without being able to experiment with one myself for an alternative, the best way to configure one is in accordance with a previous guide I had written, namely the one below:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ryzen/comments/tntrif/definitive_guide_to_configuring_3rd4th_gen_ryzen/

In the guide follow the update I put in there for the 7000 Series - basically the update states to set the "Peak Core(s) Voltage" to 1.2 Volts.

When you have determined the maximum clockspeed your 9800X3D is stable using Ryzen Master then you can enter that maximum clockspeed into the BIOS in the following way.

1. Disable PBO and the Curve Optimizer

2. Set the CPU voltage to a MAXIMUM of 1.2 Volts

3. Instead of setting the clockspeed under the heading "CPU clockspeed" search for "Per CCX" (or in some BIOS's it might be "Per CCD") and enter the maximum safe clockspeed you have determined earlier with Ryzen Master.

If you are uncertain, then contact me on Discord under the name "michaelnager" (I have the same avatar there).

I am NOT going to message backwards and forwards with individuals for hours on end on Reddit.

On Discord you can show me through the camera on your phone what BIOS options you have and I will be able to find the options you need to set.

I don't get stuff for free so I only have my GigaByte motherboard, and as much as I like to help, you cannot expect me to spend £1,000 or more getting boards from MSI, ASUS, and ASRock.

When I do get to buy a 9800X3D I will experiment with it, and if I find a better way to configure it, then I will update this post again.

UPDATE 2

I now have my 9800X3D and it has been fun configuring it.

I will create a new post going through the steps one by one and show you how to get the most out of the CPU.

Here however is a preview of what you can expect to get out of your 9800X3D on any motherboard when you use my guide.

CineBench R23 10 minute run:

Ten minute stability test result

Here are the stats of this run with my sub $100 360 rad AIO cooler:

Stats recorded near the end of the second ten minute run

I then decided to pull out all the tricks I know for getting the most out of the 1.2 Volt budget I imposed on myself, because that is the maximum safe voltage for the 4 nm N4P node from TSMC and here is the CineBench R23 result:

Maximum result at 1.2 Volts

A lot of people have taken me up on my offer to help them on Discord and I am a bit sick and tired of typing at the moment, but I will try to bring out the standalone 9800X3D guide next week and I will link to it from here.