Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

Before starting a new review Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 I would like to thank the Ryzen community for the patience and warm welcome of the project. The release of CTR 1.0 and 1.1 was not that smooth and many faced a number of problems and shortcomings that cannot be solved with a hotfix or patch. It turned out to be physically impossible to process such a number of requests. Therefore, despite all the difficulties, it was decided to re-create the project in a fairly short time without proper support from the giant companies. If at least some samples were provided (entry and mid-level processors), then there was no information support at all. Fortunately, there were people in the community who possessed valuable information and skills, thanks to which it was possible to translate all plans into reality. In particular, special thanks to Keaton Blomquist and Vadym Kosmin for their contributions to the development of CTR 2.0.

Zen 3 Potential

In addition to all of the above, there was one more event with a capital letter that added pleasant hassle and postponed the release of CTR 2.0 - this is the long-awaited release of AMD processors with the Zen 3 microarchitecture. GHz, and sometimes even higher.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

Everything the community asked for - the community finally got it. But those weren't all surprises.

I think some of you will remember the information in the news feeds that Ryzen processors with the Zen 3 microarchitecture were able to individually adjust the frequencies for the cores. At the time of release, this turned out to be a slightly different feature than the news, including myself, - individual voltage control for the core referred to as "Curve Optimization".

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide
Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

To my surprise, there was no mention of an active dLDO in the presentation slides at all. During the development of CTR, it was found that during boost to all cores, each core receives its own portion of voltage, depending on the individual characteristics of silicon (FIT). Information about this beautiful architectural feature began to flicker at the time of the announcement of the processors codenamed Cezanne, although it already existed in the processors codenamed Renoir.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

I can also note that AMD was able to overcome weak single-core boost or single-core boost from cores that had mediocre silicon performance and fault tolerance. That is, now the marking of the CPPC cores corresponded to reality and the SMU intelligently uses cores in low-threaded applications with maximum energy efficiency. At this moment it may seem to you that everything is optimized or overclocked to you and we, enthusiasts, have nothing else to do here, but this is not so.

The “strength” margin of silicon, or as some call “potential,” has not been canceled, since long-term testing of silicon in factory conditions is both additional time and additional resources, which can ultimately lead to a disproportionate increase in the cost of the product. That is, there is a template for testing silicon with certain tolerances (required range) in voltage relative to a certain frequency at which the chips will be selected and, depending on this, they will enter either the Ryzen 7 5800X or the Ryzen 9 5900X (for example). As a result, each CPU has a chance of the lottery, but processors with two CCDs are more likely to increase in performance. Let me give you an example. The Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 7 5800X processors have similar TDP and PPT, but have dramatically different performance. This suggests that the chips used in the Ryzen 9 5900X have a better frequency-to-voltage ratio, and such processors usually have huge overclocking potential. The Ryzen 9 5950X, in turn, has a better frequency-to-temperature ratio. Apart from that, the Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 9 5950X processors have another interesting feature. CCD # 1 is always a super selective specimen, and in most cases it is this CCD that is capable of conquering the 5 GHz mark, while CCD # 2 is only an appendage with an average binning category in order to reduce the cost of the final product and often it is CCD # 2 that we most often see as the main CCD in the Ryzen 5 5600X.

As for the technical process, it has been significantly improved. If earlier the generation of processors with the Zen 2 microarchitecture required about 1,1 V to conquer the frequency of 4050 MHz, now for Zen 3 we can count on 4375 MHz at 1,1 V, that is, + 8%, while the static leakage currents almost did not change ...

AMD has also taken care of the temperature peaks previously seen in idle mode in a significant proportion of Zen 2 processors. Voltage can now drop down to 0,3V, and short-term operating system background activity no longer triggers maximum performance with a value of VID of 1,45 V. Operating temperatures did not change during load, but it is also recommended to use high efficiency cooling as boost and CTR potential depends on this, and the difference can be about 300 MHz when comparing conventional air and custom water cooling.

CTR 2.0 what's new?

The first thing that catches your eye is the updated graphic shell, made in dark colors to meet all modern fashion trends and at the same time be comfortable to use in the dark.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

Most of the graphic elements remained unchanged. The Energy Effiency section was completely abolished as it was not in demand. However, the energy efficiency factor can be seen in the diagnostic report. Processor telemetry monitoring items have been added. In particular, CPU TEL (V) is the most accurate measurement of processor voltage.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

Next, you can see the switch for the new CTR HYBRID OC mode. The settings for this mode are located in the PROFILE MANAGEMENT tab.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

The purpose of this mode is maximum performance in any scenario and even in single-threaded (!) Applications. This mode has three profiles. The P1 profile is designed for heavy tasks that use all cores. Actually, this is what was in the CTR 1.1. A P1 profile has been added to profile P2, which is only activated in situations where one or more CCXs are partially loaded within CCX usage min and CCX usage max. Conventionally, I call it "game", since it will be useful for applications that use 4-6 threads (it all depends on what settings the user will use). The peculiarity of this profile is the frequency, which exceeds the factory boost, while the processor's power consumption does not exceed the factory one. Another advantage of this profile is a fixed core frequency, the user gets maximum performance, which is not affected by a number of factors, such as temperature, spontaneous voltage dips (caused by statters) or the type of instructions being executed (remember that everything is within the jurisdiction of the load comparable to AVX Light).

Profile P0 is the standard boost of the processor. If the load on the processor is lower than the CCX usage min profile P1 or P2 will be deactivated to put the processor in the state of maximum power saving or maximum single-threaded performance. If CCX usage min equals 0, the processor will never enter the P0 state.

Another interesting feature of HYBRID OC CTR is profile prioritization and keeping the profile active for a certain period of time. If the P2 profile is used while the application is running, but CTR detects the crossing of the CCX usage max boundary, the P1 profile will be automatically activated to maintain maximum system stability. That is, the P1 profile has the highest priority, and it can displace the P2 profile at any time, if required. In order not to jerk the profile back and forth hundreds of times a minute, a parameter called Holding time is used. This is the time that the profile will be kept active even if the current load on the CPU or CCX has changed. And why is it convenient?

Firstly, the profile switching time can take 20 milliseconds of time (estimate for a 32 core Threadripper), and if the load is pulsating, then the CTR will be forced to jerk the profile back and forth, thereby losing performance, since switching between P0 and P1 or P0 and P2 causes a short transient state in which the processor operates at 3500–3800 MHz at 1,1 V. Second, the more often CTR interferes with the work of applications, the more context switches are made, which also affects the final performance. In very simple language, Holding time is a “pillow” that dampens short-term load surges. This "pillow" also has its own "boss" who can turn off P1 or P2 and his name is Max temperature. That is, the CTR will not allow you to fry the system, even if you really want to. The temperature interruption time is 45 seconds and only after this time the CTR will again decide which profile to activate or not.

Another important parameter is the reaction speed of the HYBRID OC CTR to the load. This value is constant and equals 250 ms. That is, the CTR checks the system status four times per second before taking action. I think this is quite an adequate value in order not to create an additional load on the system with the background activity of the CTR program itself.

Regarding the background CTR activity, there have also been many important changes, and the most important thing is the CTR sleep mode when the utility is in the notification area of ​​the taskbar or in a minimized state. At this point, the graphical shell update is disabled, but all processes remain active. This keeps the CTR unaffected by single-threaded boost, latency measurements, and other benchmarks. It also keeps the cores in deep sleep (C6) mode while the system is idle.

Theory is theory, but let's look at an example of the Ryzen 5 5600X with the CTR HYBRID OC.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

In the illustration, the standard boost frequency is marked in red in relation to the number of used cores. It also marked the P1 and P2 profiles, which I received in the process of diagnostics and tuning. For the all-thread load, we managed to get a gain of 200 MHz, and for the 6-thread load, the gain was about 200 MHz with the same power consumption. The actual performance in Cinebench R20 increased for 12 threads from 4289 to 4616 points (+ 8%), and for six threads - from 2842 to 3144 (+ 10%), while single-threaded performance did not suffer. Looks impressive, doesn't it? In any case, this is for you to evaluate.

The next innovation in today's hit parade is the new PHOENIX mode. Looking at the name, it is not difficult to guess that the meaning of revival is where, it would seem, everything is already lost. At every step, CTR saves information about the current state of tuning or diagnostics, and in case of BSOD or system reboot within 90 seconds, it allows you to automatically recover and complete the tuning or diagnostics process without user intervention.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

Monitoring. Now CTR is independent of AMD drivers or other third-party applications. This allowed us to achieve unprecedented performance, while the load on the SMU did not increase, and the background CTR activity was reduced relative to CTR 1.1. The processor has an average sensor polling rate of just 900 microseconds, 400 times faster than the Ryzen Master SDK. Also, thanks to the new monitoring, CTR is able to assess FIT, stretching state and other important parameters. This allows more precise configuration of the initial parameters for tuning in order to shorten its time. In this regard, IFSO has been improved and the starting values ​​for tuning have become more accurate, which reduces the tuning time. Let me remind you that this technology is only available for Threadripper and Ryzen 9.

The logging system has been significantly improved and does not lose information in the event of a system reboot or BSOD. The CTR LOGS folder contains all custom experiments, and the date in the filename makes it easy to sort the files.

I remember very well that for some users PROFILE MANAGEMENT created a kind of barrier that did not allow effective use of CTR and the advantage of auto-loading profiles. In CTR 2.0, I simplified PROFILE MANAGEMENT. FILL P1 / P2 PROFILE allows you to transfer tuning results from the CTR buffer to a profile. I think you won't have any problems with the rest of the buttons. I also want to note that SAVE P1 / P2 PROFILE initiates the instant saving of all program settings and profiles (previously, this happened only by pressing the EXIT button).

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

And the last thing. Probably the most important thing that should be present in programs that interfere with processor settings is security. Moreover, security must be ensured both at the hardware level and at the physical level. And, fortunately, CTR 2.0 has a number of new protective mechanisms against any software that performs operations via the PCI bus, while CTR does not block the work of other monitoring programs like HWINFO. As for the physical layer, CTR, after sending a command to the SMU, checks not only the validity of the command, but also the result obtained from the sensors. That is, the user, for example, will not be able to receive a dangerous voltage for the processor. In addition to the above, there is another level of protection for the processor and motherboard - the protection system works with a response of 250 ms and cannot be disabled or broken. The maximum allowable voltage is now 1,45 V, but with a number of warnings (if the threshold of 1,35 V is exceeded), which the CTR reports and allows the user to make an informed decision (whether to start the process or not) within 10 seconds. The main cause of the maximum voltage shift was LLC. Unfortunately, most users were unable to find or configure the LLC value in UEFI, so in addition to the new LLC AUTO recommendation, we have a new limit.

Let me remind those users who have just joined that a description of the functions of this or that button in the program can be found here.

How to conquer 5 GHz

With the introduction of the Zen 3 microarchitecture processor to the market, the battle of frequencies picked up again, as the new processors in automatic boost were approaching the psychological mark of 5 GHz, one could expect that the processor in the CCX overclocked mode would receive the much desired frequency. Someone believed that everything depends only on the processor, someone put four heatsinks, trying to bring down the temperature in the circuit by 0,1 degrees, and someone just stamped his foot and demanded that the B450 "top-end" overclock the flagship processors in Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 9 5950X. As a result, there was no truth for anyone, because only a certain proportion of users do not buy a motherboard for the money that remained after the purchase of all other components, rugs and candy wrappers.

Without changing our tradition, today's tests will be carried out on the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero motherboard.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

This sample is not another round of marketing fantasies, but has a number of unique features that will help me in overclocking. The ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero has eight phases with twice the number of elements, seven of which are for the CPU and only one for the SOC. The ASP1405I acts as a PWM controller.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

Schematically, it looks like this:

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

As you can see, this implementation does not contain doublers, which now like to consider as a full-fledged implementation of phases, but in fact, all doublers operate in the in-phase mode, that is, there is no time shift, which means that this is the same parallel "mode" that exists just to increase the power.

Is seven phases (14 virtual) enough for extreme overclocking? Yes, with a head, since the more phases, the more stable the power supply.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

Note the red line, minor undershoots and overshoots.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

As for cheap motherboards, it will look something like this:

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

This is not critical for factory boost in applications with fairly light instructions, but rather critical for any overclocking, since during overclocking the current also increases with increasing voltage. Also keep in mind that the AVX is a load that requires a huge amount of current at a fairly low operating voltage. In any case, the need for a large current triggers a chain reaction when the MOSFET heats up from the load and, in turn, the higher the temperature of the transistor, the less current it can provide.

The capabilities of the MOSFET play a huge role in these processes. The ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark has Texas Instruments 95410RRB, which have a calculated 90 A (!) For a temperature of 25 degrees.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

This miracle is covered with a massive aluminum heatsink, like the chipset (finally!).

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

In most cases, the operating temperature of the MOSFET will fluctuate between 30-50 degrees, which means that we will not get the theoretical 90 A, but will be content with values ​​of 45-55 A. However, the VRM is capable of providing 320-350 A. that the current thermal pads have a thermal conductivity of only 2 W / mK, which by the standards of "top-quality" is the cheapest solution that can be. For example, the common Arctic Thermal Pads have a thermal conductivity of 6 W / mK. Therefore, if you are not worried about the loss of the warranty, then I advise you to replace them.

Despite the impressive theoretical capabilities of the board, the reality is usually different, but not in this case. To check this, I used an oscilloscope.

First of all, the Load Line Calibration (LLC) operation in Auto mode was checked, since this mode will often be used by 99% of users. To do this, I manually set the VID at around 1,35 V, and the frequency - 4400 MHz. The load generator was Prime 95 in FFT 1344 mode with FMA3 enabled (I think this is quite enough for evaluating LLC performance in a typical user environment).

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

In automatic mode, LLC does a good job, showing maximum voltage peaks of 1,37 V, and an average value of 1,29 V. Software monitoring says about 1,283 V, which is slightly lower than the results from the oscillogram.

The waveform looks like this:

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

As you can see, the average voltage value is quite close to the minimum, while the transient process takes a short period of time. This allows us to conclude that LLC Auto is doing its job perfectly.

I also experimented with LLC3, the average compensation that users love to use.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

In addition to the increased average voltage, there is a clearly noticeable increase in overshoots, which are now equal to 1,43 V. Of course, this will not kill the processor in the long term, but it will cause a slow degradation process (approximately 25-50 MHz per year). Software monitoring showed a value of 1,325 V, and the RMS was 1,34 V. The difference between undershoot and overshoot increased slightly - 0,17 V instead of 0,15 V. This allows us to conclude that LLC3 is somewhat inferior to the automatic mode.

With regard to the safe voltage and load of AVX Light, everything is simple here. I do not recommend going over 1,35V if you are using the rather aggressive LLC mode. If it is a loyal mode (Auto), the maximum safe voltage will be about 1,412-1,425 V. In any case, the CTR will tell you what to do.

Besides LLC, for ASUS motherboard users, I recommend using the phases in Extreme mode. Perhaps this is the only thing that the user can do to improve the stability of the processor's power supply.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

In the UEFI screenshot, you can also see Fixed VRM Switching Frequency (KHz) 500, this setting helps to reduce the transient time, thereby the processor receives a more stable voltage.

System requirements and preparation for work

I paid due attention to the system requirements and the operations that the user will need to do before starting work with the CTR. Now the user does not need to install Ryzen Master, any drivers, or even need to clean the Windows log to get the correct CPPC marks. The only thing you need is Windows 10 x64 with the latest update, download Cinebench R20, unpack it into the CB20 folder and run it once to accept the license agreement. That's all.

With regard to the recommended settings, the list is as follows:

  • PBO / PBO2 - Auto mode only.
  • AGESA 1.2.0.0 and newer only for Zen 3 processors and Renoir APUs. For Zen 2, it doesn't matter.
  • Core voltage / CPU voltage - Auto only. Offset is also forbidden to use.
  • CPU multiplier - Auto only.
  • Performance Enhancer - Disabled only.
  • CPU Virtualization - it doesn't matter.
  • CPPC - Enabled.
  • CPPC Preferred Cores - Enabled.
  • Global C-State - Enabled.
  • The nutritional profile does not matter.
  • VDDG CCD - 1,05-1,1 V.

All other settings, which are not listed, previously took place to be now do not matter. I also want to remind you that before doing anything, before experimenting with CTR, you must make sure that your RAM is absolutely stable, otherwise you will get abnormal results.

List of Supported Processors:

  • Zen 3: Ryzen 9 5950X, Ryzen 9 5900X, Ryzen 7 5800X, Ryzen 5 5600X.
  • Zen 2: Threadripper 3970X, Threadripper 3960X, Ryzen 9 3950X, Ryzen 9 3900X, Ryzen 9 3900XT, Ryzen 9 3900, Ryzen 7 3800XT, Ryzen 7 3800X, Ryzen 7 3700X, Ryzen 5 3600XT, Ryzen 5 3600X 5 3600X, Ryzen 5 3500, Ryzen 5 3500X, Ryzen 3 3300.
  • APUs: Ryzen 7 PRO 4750G, Ryzen 7 PRO 4650G, Ryzen 3 PRO 4350G.

What can go wrong?

Windows Defender can block CTRs because Microsoft has no CTR details. Just add the application to exceptions.
Anti-cheat can block the inpoutx64.dll library, which is used for monitoring. To solve this problem, you will need to stop the anti-cheat service, even if the anti-cheat itself is turned off.

Working with CTR

As you already understood from the previous chapters, the hardware for testing will not be easy. I will be testing on ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero (UEFI 3204 with AGESA 1.2.0.0). This tandem is complemented by the Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 7 5800X processors. Watercool MO-RA3 420 and TechN water block were used as cooling. Power supply - ROG Thor 1200W Platinum, RAM - Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 3600C16.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

Before we start tuning, we need to assess the potential of our processor. To do this, go to the TUNER page and press the DIAGNOSTIC button. Fortunately, you don't need to configure anything.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

During the diagnostics process, for processors based on the Zen 3 microarchitecture, a report on the current Curve Optimizer settings will be available. For cores 1–6 (CCD # 1), the setting ranges from 10–15. But for CCD # 2, these values ​​are much lower. This suggests that CCD # 2 does not have a lot of overclocking potential. It also says that AMD uses this wonderful architectural feature by default, thanks to which it achieves higher energy efficiency of all processors based on the Zen 3 microarchitecture, while in most cases manual user intervention will only make the boost results worse. Why? Because users don't have access to information about FIT and other core resiliency metrics.

After some time, the diagnostic mode will detect the weakest flow and provide the user with information about the sample quality and the recommended settings for the P1, P2 and undervolting profile.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

In my case, the Ryzen 9 5900X processor was not selected and its category is conditional "gold", which often crosses the border of "silver". I want to make a remark, the category can vary depending on a number of factors: DRAM stability, AGESA version, UEFI settings, CPU temperature or VRM temperature. That is, it is possible that when you run the second diagnostics, you will no longer receive “silver”, but “bronze” or “gold”. Don't panic, this is the norm, just remember what I wrote in the previous sentence.

After we have familiarized ourselves with the diagnostic results, we can start tuning. In most cases, pressing just one TUNE button is sufficient. If you are an experienced user, nothing prevents you from adjusting the starting values ​​to your liking. The tuning process can be quite lengthy, about 20-40 minutes, so be patient.

During tuning, the user will see various messages in the log, which should not be scared or looking for the answer "how to fix a bad core in the processor."

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

CTR will inform about the current state of the process, key values ​​and will also provide recommendations that can improve the result or stability in the future. Running headlong to the forum is not worth it, since the process is always monitored by the security system and in which case it itself takes action. You can also ignore these comments.

At the end of the tuning, in addition to the main result in the log:

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

The user can see the results regarding the factory boost on the BENHCMARK page:

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

The user will also be able to send his result to the public google table by clicking on the SEND STATS button. Just below this button there are a number of other buttons that will open the corresponding table with statistics.

In terms of results, we can see a significant increase in the all-core frequency, from 4175/4175 to 4700/4525 MHz, while the result in Cinebench R20 increased from 8149 to 9078 (+ 11%) with the same power consumption. My Ryzen 9 5900X was able to beat last year's flagship Ryzen 9 3950X in performance, which has eight more threads.

Our further action is to save the resulting profile. To do this, click on the PROFILE MANAGEMENT button. Before us are two slots for storing profiles. To transfer all the obtained settings during tuning to a profile, press FILL P1 PROFILE, and then press SAVE P1 PROFILE, respectively.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

Now we have a saved profile, but for the full functionality of the CTR HYBRID OC we also need a P2 PROFILE, the so-called "game" profile. To do this, we enter the recommended starting values ​​that were obtained during the diagnostic process and press the TUNE button again.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

I decided to make the P2 profile cooler, since both the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero and the cooling system allow you to achieve much more. To do this, I installed Max PPT 250, Max EDC 300, Max TDC 300 so that CTR does not worry about VRM. Max temperature I set 95 - this is the standard maximum temperature of the CPU. Reference voltage - 1375 mV (remember that I use LLC Auto and I don't have to worry about overshoot damaging the processor). Reference frequency is 4825 MHz. I did not take this number from my head, for the calculation I used the rule: if the voltage is within 1150-1275 mV, then for each step of 12 mV the frequency increases by 25 MHz (relative to the frequency value that was obtained during the diagnosis), and if voltage within 1275-1425 mV, then for each step of 25 mV the frequency increases by only 25 MHz. Example:

For profile P2, the starting frequency is 4675 MHz at 1275 mV. We get (1375-1275) / 25 = 4 steps of 25 MHz, that is, you can safely add 4675-100 MHz to the starting 125 MHz.

As a result, I managed to create a profile with a final frequency of 4900MHz for CCD # 1 and 4750MHz for CCD # 2.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

The Cinebench R20 result was an impressive 9443 (+ 15,8%), while the 3DMark TimeSpy CPU surpassed the 16000 mark (+ 28% relative to the total drain)! We must pay tribute that the overclocking of RAM has a big impact on 3DMark TimeSpy CPU.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

Despite such a solid PPT, the VRM of the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero remained cold, since such a load turned out to be trifling for him.

After I have saved both profiles, we need to notify the CTR that we want to use HYBRID OC. To do this, I enable CTR HYBRID OC, Autoload profile with OS and go back to PROFILE MANAGEMENT to press the APPLY P1 PROFILE or APPLY P2 PROFILE button. This will allow you to start using your saved profiles. Next, I click SAVE P1 PROFILE or SAVE P2 PROFILE, depending on which profile the activation came from. This is done in order for the CTR to retain the final settings.

Actually, that's all. Then, every time the system starts, the CTR will automatically start and hide in the tray.

Ryzen 9 5900X and undervolting

Small and energy efficient solutions are very popular these days. Undervolting is a special kind of art and CTR can also help with it. For 1V, I set the start value to 4150 MHz and pressed TUNE.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

As a result, PPT dropped by 26%, from 142 to 106 watts, while the all-core performance even increased slightly. Sometimes it's hard for me to imagine such power in a compact 100 watts.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

If you want to use it in HYBRID OC mode, then just save this profile to cell P1.

This I did, along the way I saved the P2 profile in P1.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

To test it, I ran Cinebench R20 in six threads and (drum roll) CTR only loaded CCD # 1, which contains the most powerful and energy efficient cores.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

The maximum temperature did not exceed 53 degrees at VID 1.188V, which is a record low. Comparing with the default boost, we have a difference of 18 degrees.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

A similar situation will be observed in games.

Competitors?

Historically, it so happened that automatic overclocking programs are a huge waste of resources and, in this regard, we can only be offered the "voltage to maximum" mode, and whoever offers it does not care what happens to your system. ASUS has decided that the public will not survive the next "maximum voltage", decides to release Dynamic OC Switcher.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

Moreover, this function will be available only for owners of ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero (exclusive). This solution allows switching between standard boost and profile depending on the current value. That is, you will need to test the custom profile yourself anyway before enabling this feature. From the settings, only the current threshold, hysteresis, which allows you to ignore short-term current surges and the temperature threshold, upon reaching which the profile will be turned off. Simple yet better than PBO.

Conclusions and what further plans

Despite spending time in the material on wonderful processors with the Zen 3 microarchitecture, Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2.0 is friends with Zen 2 without any restrictions. Renoir APUs have received full support. A powerful, stable tool is now available to users with a lot of tweaks that can help configure your system for maximum performance. Along the way, the tool has acquired additional automatic systems that can help beginners make tuning in a few clicks. Rebooting the system is no longer an obstacle, but only a stage that CTR will overcome even without the user's knowledge. But the evolution of CTR doesn't stop there. In the next version of CTR 2.1, I plan to add a number of new unique innovations that will allow you to get even more features and performance without compromising the processor or motherboard. New features include the ability to configure the standard boost with a number of settings.

Taking this opportunity, I want to express my gratitude to all users who took or are taking part in the development of the project. It is only thanks to you that I have the opportunity to develop the project, and I am glad that there are a lot of enthusiasts among you for whom processor optimization is an interesting and important topic.

Curve Optimizer will soon become an integral part of CTR 2.1. Overcoming the 5GHz barrier is not just for liquid nitrogen users. I'm more than confident that most Zen 3 users will be able to get this cherished value.

Along the way with the above innovations, a new alternative mode of finding the ideal frequency in a short time frame for Zen 3 processors is being developed (I know not everyone may like the 40-minute tuning). Of course, the research will take some more time, but it will also happen in February.

Clock Tuner for Ryzen 2 review and guide

But, for today, probably everything. And one more thing, share your results in the comments, I think it will be very interesting and do not forget to press the SEND STATS button sometimes, so that I could also rate your progress!

You can download the ClockTuner for Ryzen 2.0 utility here.

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