Overclocking The AMD Ryzen APUs: Guide and Results
by Ian Cutress & Gavin Bonshor on April 16, 2018 2:30 PM ESTHow to Overclock With ASRock UEFI BIOS
The ASRock BIOS design and layout is consistent throughout the AM4 motherboard range. Everything was present on our motherboard, except the ability to change the settings of the integrated graphics. The only options for overclocking the graphics were in the way of SoC voltage, and even then, it could only be set as an offset value, not a true value. This is a little disappointing given that the ASRock X370 Gaming-ITX/ac hasn’t got any hard issues within the BIOS for the graphics, but on the plus side, everything else is done well.
Upon entering the BIOS, the initial menu screen offers information about the board including the installed components including the processor. It is not an easy mode, and the information is very limited. Everything needed for overclocking is in the OC Tweaker menu.
In the OC Tweaker menu, changing the 'CPU Frequency and Voltage Change' from auto to manual opens up the frequency and voltage options. At the top is the frequency, while down the bottom is the voltage. Starting with frequency, rather than offer a CPU ratio, ASRock just offers a plain frequency, and clearly does the multiplier manually.
When it comes to applying the XMP profile, unlike the MSI board in our data testing in this article, the ASRock board only opens up a single XMP profile, the standard DDR4-3600 CL16 that the sticks are rated for. Enabling XMP and then changing the memory frequency to the setting that’s required is easy enough, as the value goes up in increments and can be adjusted using the + or – keys on a numpad. Alternatively, if the user presses enter a long list via a drop-down menu appears.
Further down the same page, options are present for changing the offset values to the SoC voltage or VDDCR. Just below these is the DRAM voltage, which when we enabled XMP automatically set the value to 1.4 volts, rather than 1.35 for which our kit is rated, which was a little odd.
Pressing F10 and selecting yes saves the settings and reboots the system. Unfortunately the options changed to not appear as in some other vendors Save and Exit popups.
Note – To overclock the integrated graphics on this board, users will need to install the AMD Ryzen Master overclocking utility within Windows. We go into Ryzen Master on the next page.
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jjj - Monday, April 16, 2018 - link
Yet to fully read the article but P-state OC and baseclock OC are nice if you can avoid entering OC mode that way, at least with Ryzen. No idea what works and what doesn't with RR, haven't kept up on it but do care about that with Pinnacle Ridge.RarG123 - Monday, April 16, 2018 - link
Look at this: https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3251-raven-ridg...So SoC (seemingly 2D clocks) voltage should be left at ~1.1V, and GFX (seemingly 3D clocks) voltage should be at ~1.2V max in order to remain within safe limits in all scenarios. This might have changed with the latest BIOSs but until such time that it's tested, it's better to err on the side of caution.
Also for anyone with HWMonitor, if some data points aren't getting displayed correctly, give HWInfo a shot it's more Ryzen friendly.
Lolimaster - Tuesday, April 17, 2018 - link
For true OC check techepiphany on youtube.eastcoast_pete - Monday, April 16, 2018 - link
Good and informative article. I had planned to build an HTPC setup around the 2400G, alas both the 2200 and 2400 seem to be falling short on the home theater side (4K HDR playback at 60p using MPC-HC with madVR). If this has changed, please correct me, with the link to the source showing that they are now able to do so - Thanks!Somewhat related: I would be interested to see how far one can undervolt the 2400G CPU and GPU and still get stable sort-of stock performance. [yes, I know - there's always at least one who has to be contrarian - still chasing the quiet setup]
JoeyJoJo123 - Monday, April 16, 2018 - link
I'd recommend just using MPV. The visual gains that the MadVR scaler uses can be extremely taxing on the GPU, depending on the settings used. With good MPV settings it literally looks 95% as good as MPC-HC + MadVR looks, at a fraction of the computational intensity, ie: less fan noise while playing back media, which you'll hear when playing back content.Lolimaster - Tuesday, April 17, 2018 - link
You always need to config the fans rpm, I lock my CM Hyper 212+ to 600-800rpm, dead silent.Lolimaster - Tuesday, April 17, 2018 - link
Undervolt helps achieving that without worrying about load temps.Lolimaster - Tuesday, April 17, 2018 - link
There's a reddit post (just google it)2400G system stock 105w
undervolted 75w
:D
eastcoast_pete - Tuesday, April 17, 2018 - link
Thanks! According the pictures posted on reddit, undervolting a 2400G resulted in almost stock performance (less than 5% difference vs. stock, and only one benchmark, but still, promising) and an almost 25% reduction in Wh drawn for the entire setup; he used a kill-a-watt Wattmeter.Just like some people here and on reddit, I wonder if the new MoBo chipsets could allow fine-tuning, so for GPU-limited games, undervolt the CPU, and use the ~ 10-25 Wh thermal headroom gained to overclock /overvolt the GPU. Doing so might even work just with the stock cooler. Has anybody tried? Ian, can you try it?
eastcoast_pete - Tuesday, April 17, 2018 - link
Sorry, meant to address both of you: Ian, Gavin, can you try it?