January 4, 2023 -

Introduction

Hello everyone,

Recently I realized there needs to be a simple and effective guide from the start to the end about undervolting Ryzen 5000 series using PBO 2, a bs free one that is easy to follow for people who do not really care for specifics, just a stable and efficient system.

Mind you, all the information provided here is by a random guy on the internet - all you do with your hardware is your own responsibility. Though steps provided should not generally cause any harm - rather lower the heat of the system - do everything at your own risk.

Prerequisites

- A new install of Ryzen Master, obtainable at the bottom of this page.

- A new install of Cinebench R23, obtainable at this page.

- Extracted CoreCycler from here here.

- Updated BIOS.

- Basic capability of modifying your BIOS settings.- Basic understanding of what overclocking, undervolting etc means.

Action time

Ryzen 5000 presents an ability to easily overclock your system "automatically", by simply flipping a switch. Real meat lies within modifying the values manually though, and I'll try to present doing this today.

1. First off, you need to locate PBO 2 in your bios settings. Try to find a simple instruction for your specific BIOS, here are general tips for several bioses I found:

GIGABYTE -> Advanced settings -> Settings -> AMD Overclocking -> Accept disclaimer

ASROCK -> Advanced -> AMD Overclocking -> Accept disclaimer -> Precision Boost Overdrive

MSI -> Advanced Mode > Settings > Advanced > AMD Overclocking > Accept Warning(thanks u/Inner-Gain-457!)

Instructions may vary on motherboard models basis, if you know some please write down in comments so we can improve it.

2. In the same place look for simple switch to turn it on/off, and set it to Advanced, with PBO Limits Manual. Do not touch stock values (PPT/TDC/EDC) for now, those are your motherboard limits.

3. Save it, and get back to Windows.

4. Now we must configure CoreCycler to effectively test stability. Open its directory, and open the file config.ini.

Location of the file.

5. Change those default values to the following:

stressTestProgram = YCRUNCHER
 
maxIterations = 5

Other default values are fine for our purposes, and setting it this way makes the test finish running in 6 minutes * core count * 5 iterations. It might seem long, for ex. my 5800X spent 3 hours on each such run, but effectively test will crash way earlier before our tune is done. Remember, we test for stability - without it, you run a risk of random bluescreens during daily use.

4. Start Ryzen Master, navigate to Curve Optimizer (bottom position from left top panel).Here make sure that:

- Control mode: Eco-Mode is NOT selected, Precision Boost Overdrive is green(selected). Again, do not touch stock numbers yet.- Curve Optimizer Control: Included is green, Auto Offset is green.

How my options look.

Finally, press Apply at the bottom.

5. Close everything but Ryzen Master, and press Start Optimizing.

Warning - this tool heavily uses your CPU power - high wattage and temperature is to be expected, especially since we barely enabled PBO. We will tone them down later.

During that time the tool should look for a "stable" PBO values of each core. Why quotation marks? well...

6. Once it finishes, note down the values it set to each core. On paper. That is because now you need to consider your system unstable - Ryzen Master tends to overshoot the values.

This is where your values will be visible. Note them!

7. Apply values in ryzen master with the button on bottom of the window. Close it, and go to your machine's BIOS.

8. Under the PBO settings, which we located in point 1, and set Thermal Throttle Limit to manual, and make it 85. This is a good point to limit our CPU from boiling and keeps the fans from screaming.

9. Still within bios, go to Curve Optimizer. Make sure values there are the same as you noted, if not, change them to it. Target options here are:

- Curve Optimizer: Per Core

for each core number X and its noted value Y:

- Core X Curve Optimizer Sign: Negative- Core X Curve Optimizer Magnitude: Y

10. Apply settings and get back to Windows.

11. Run CoreCycler from Run CoreCycler.BAT as administrator.

12. Do not touch the computer until test finishes, either by crashing your pc or naturally.

13. If NOT crashed skip this point. Otherwise:

Try reading the LATEST logs file left by CoreCycler within logs directory.

Find LAST command that says "Set to Core" and its respective number, like this:

This is an example of CoreCycler changing core it tests. Don't be scared of many lines - start from the bottom!

This is the core that crashed during stability test, therefore we need to increase the PBO value on it (remember, we operate on negative numbers, more is closer to original)

Go back to your notes, increase the value by 5 (for ex. if Ryzen master said -10, set it to -5). Mark it as one that we won't try pushing anymore.

Decrease all other cores value by 5, Go to BIOS like in point 9, set the new values. Go back to point 10.

14. If no cores failed, keep pushing ones unmarked as already at their limit by decreasing their values by 5, just like above. Go back to point 10. Otherwise, continue.

Congratulations, you successfully set optimal Curve Optimizer settings for your processor. Now, let's try pushing it further by overclocking it.

What does that mean? Now that we know the limits of our undervolted CPU, we can safely try pushing it a bit more with the power it gets. You may ask yourself - why overclock, this is a guide for undervolting? That is because this way we make system use even less power - If it can achieve more megahertz over same amount of energy, it is a literally, no strings attached free performance gain.

15. Go back to Precision Boost Overdrive settings in BIOS, and find Max CPU Boost Clock Override. Increase it by 25, apply and get back to Windows.

16. This time we run a stability test , but if it fails, we do NOT change the curve optimizer - but the overclock, down by 25. Once you find the limit, proceed.

You managed to successfully set the overclock - it is that easy! Time to lower the power usage.

17. Run Ryzen master, go to Home.

18. Start Cinebench R23, change the process priority to high*^{*This is crucial, it tends to start as low for some reason, falsifying true performance.}

This is how cinebench starts on my machine. Change this to High by right click and going to the option shown from Details section of Task Manager (press Ctrl+Shift+Esc anywhere to start it)

19. Start the benchmark, whilst observing the values in Ryzen Master. Note them, and try comparison to suggested values for your CPU online.

The values to monitor. If they hang with Cinebench running, it might be a warning sign - but NOT a defining feature of a failure.

For example, my 5800X finds a sweet spot of performance to heat at PPT/TDC/EDC at 120/90/120.

Quick search for 5900X suggests this this.

Quick search for 5700X suggests this this.

Quick search for 5600X suggests this this.

Remember, those values will - not may - vary across machines. Try finding more sources yourself, as they may render useful in next steps.

20. Now having a point of comparison, try changing to values others found online.

This is best done within BIOS, in Precision Boost Overdrive settings. Set them, apply, reboot to windows.

If performance is satisfying, try to optimize it by lowering the values by steps of 10 to make all of them equal during a benchmark, in other words, try making all three gauges (PPT, TDC, EDC) as close to 100% as possible at once.

If you think your CPU pumps too much heat, try the opposite - lower values in 10W steps, whilst trying to keep them all at 100%.

21. Finally, run Cinebench 1-5 times (depending on your faith in it), and set Iterations within CoreCycler to 10000 (follow steps 4-5 to get to its settings).

22. Disable windows automatic screen locking and going to sleep, and start CoreCycler - let it run overnight.

If everything went well, in the morning your machine should still be running, and CoreCycler should not have crashed.

If this is not the case, you need to go back all the way to step 13.

Congratulations, you successfully optimized your Ryzen 5000 processor performance, power draw and heat. Enjoy!

P. S. Now that it is all said and done, please let me know how I can improve this guide in the comments. If others do not call it complete bs, I will gladly update it according to constructive criticism - everything here comes from my experiences as a complete newbie.

Edit 1. Added some pictures, fixed wording mildly. Onto trying to take pictures of my BIOS.

Edit 2. Added several notes from users' observations.

October 14, 2022 -

Hey guys,

I bought a 7900x, will arrive next week, but I wanted, for the first time, undervolt it instead of overclocking it.

Is there any good guide out there?