*** AMD "Zen 4" thread (inc AM5/APU discussion) ***

[FredFlint]

After using my AM5 PC for a week (first week was just setup and stuff), I have concluded that it is fast! This is in ECO 105W mode. I did not notice at first as I was not using it for much, just installing stuff and testing it out. My 3900X is not slow, but things that take 3-5s are now < 1s or just instant, Visual Studio loads up faster, Projects that took 20s+, load in < 5s. Also, games seem to load faster using the same drive from the old PC. Overall, it might not have been the best ££ move but should last. I was going to just drop a second hand 5950X in the X370 which would have been ~£800 cheaper.

 

[rumple9]

so £200 per second, Bargain

 

[FredFlint]

so £200 per second, Bargain

A few seconds here and there does not sound like a lot, but I wait for software to load/build 1+ hour per day, that has now been reduced by at least 50%. Its definitely not a bargain but it reduces my workday stress and lets me get things done faster. My AM4 PC is now my backup PC, after 5+ years of 14 hours a day usage, hopefully AM5 will be as reliable. If you use your PC for real work, you will appreciate reduced wait times, even a few seconds.

 

[g67575]

Seen some B650 AM5 boards for ~£155 - Not a bad price (Asus PRIME B650M-A and Asrock B650M PG RIPTIDE).

 

[bakes0310]

After using my AM5 PC for a week (first week was just setup and stuff), I have concluded that it is fast! This is in ECO 105W mode. I did not notice at first as I was not using it for much, just installing stuff and testing it out. My 3900X is not slow, but things that take 3-5s are now < 1s or just instant, Visual Studio loads up faster, Projects that took 20s+, load in < 5s. Also, games seem to load faster using the same drive from the old PC. Overall, it might not have been the best ££ move but should last. I was going to just drop a second hand 5950X in the X370 which would have been ~£800 cheaper.

I've seen quite a few people putting it in eco mode, is there a not much difference in performance then if you put it on the best performance setting?

 

[Meddling-Monk]

I've seen quite a few people putting it in eco mode, is there a not much difference in performance then if you put it on the best performance setting?

Just a quick example with the 65W Eco mode, I go from 37k Cinebench with 95C at 170W. To 29k Cinebench at 48C (and no noise almost) at 65W Eco Mode.

Thats almost 1/3 the power allocated, but I only lost around 20-25% from max performance.

Not been able to try the 105W difference yet as my BIOS has that feature broken at the moment. But all indicators suggest that putting the chips on Eco mode (compared to the older chips) are a good idea; with little loss of performance for a lot of power dropped.

 

[eddiew]

Asus PRIME B650M-A

I love the Prime's m.2 slot placement, that's good thinking for an matx board!

...unfortunately they seem to have forgotten a heatsink for the upper VRMs? And the one on the side doesn't inspire confidence either, if I'm honest.

That said, I'm considering a 7900 non-X when they come out, so only a 65W cpu, and I'll probably target that TDP forever going forward. It's probably absolutely fine for that.

(Edit: where the heck are the reviews of matx B650 boards? Did manufacturers forget to send any out, or are they ashamed of something in the build quality? )

is there a not much difference in performance then if you put it on the best performance setting?

Last video I saw on the matter said the gaming difference to one decimal place often rounds down to 0% - largely because most games don't max out 12+ cores.

Not been able to try the 105W difference yet as my BIOS has that feature broken at the moment. But all indicators suggest that putting the chips on Eco mode (compared to the older chips) are a good idea; with little loss of performance for a lot of power dropped.

From what I've read on it, 105W is a great compromise on the beefy X cpus. 65W is just a bit too severe a restriction, but 105W brings them to something around 95% of full unfettered power hog mode in multi threading. Things that only use a couple of cores don't even come near 65W so they get full boost speeds and there's no difference with or without a limit. Fingers crossed you get a new BIOS soon and can give it a shot!

It kind of feels like 105W is the power rating they should ship with by default, and you'd turn it off if you really wanted to warm the room up. And to be fair, it is literally freezing this week

 

[FredFlint]

I've seen quite a few people putting it in eco mode, is there a not much difference in performance then if you put it on the best performance setting?

Think it drops around 5% when 100% loaded but single threads don’t lose much. Temps drop quite a bit though. Still gets 36.6K (multi,2K single) CineBench and 38.6K at stock 170W power.

I have dropped to ECO 65W to test it for a week, if it feels slower I will go back to 105. Its a big drop in CineBench(gets 28.8K) but everthing else seems ok so far.

 

[Noxia]

Not had a boot issue since I left memory default but I put the DOHC II back on and ran MemTEst86 and it came back with no errors (had no idea it took over 2h either!). I guess that is to be expected though because I was never experiencing issues using the PC, it was just when starting up. Not sure I'll ever get to the bottom of it tbh.

 

[McGraw]

Think it drops around 5% when 100% loaded but single threads don’t lose much. Temps drop quite a bit though. Still gets 36.6K (multi,2K single) CineBench and 38.6K at stock 170W power.

I have dropped to ECO 65W to test it for a week, if it feels slower I will go back to 105. Its a big drop in CineBench(gets 28.8K) but everthing else seems ok so far.

My 7700x gets nearly 21k in cinebench with a -30 undervolt. Have you tried that?

 

[g67575]

Not had a boot issue since I left memory default but I put the DOHC II back on and ran MemTEst86 and it came back with no errors (had no idea it took over 2h either!). I guess that is to be expected though because I was never experiencing issues using the PC, it was just when starting up. Not sure I'll ever get to the bottom of it tbh.

It does seem like the AM5 platform still has lots of issues with DDR5 stability. It's hard to know whether it relates to the memory controller, or compatibility with DRAM modules themselves.

 

[FredFlint]

My 7700x gets nearly 21k in cinebench with a -30 undervolt. Have you tried that?

I messed about with the allcore curve, tried 26, 20, 15, 10, 6 and 5. Most worked but not 100%, 6 was stable so settled on 5 to be 100%. I dont want to do per core as it would be a lot of work and would need to re-do it after every BIOS update. The AllCore curve is only as good as the weekest core so I must have a core that is week. That said, am now using the ECO 65W MODE with neg 5 and system performance is still very good, Idle temp = 25C and load 50-60C, it is cold in the room though.

 

[g67575]

Anyone updated to a firmware version with AGESA 1.0.0.4 (for AM5) yet? It's not available for my ASRock board yet, but I was just wondering what your impressions were?

 

[FredFlint]

Anyone updated to a firmware version with AGESA 1.0.0.4 (for AM5) yet? It's not available for my ASRock board yet, but I was just wondering what your impressions were?

Not flashed it yet as its beta, ASUS has had 2 beta's with 1.0.0.4 so far. Going to wait for the release version as things work well as is.

 

[g67575]

Not flashed it yet as its beta, ASUS has had 2 beta's with 1.0.0.4 so far. Going to wait for the release version as things work well as is.

Good idea.

 

[g67575]

I fixed my DRAM problems by setting the VDD (Misc) to 1.3v (XMP default in my case), and the VDDG to 1.2v.

I messed up, and for some reason thought it would be fine to increase both of these to 1.35v, which was causing random DDR5 instability. VDDG seems to be very sensitive setting, and I think is best left at defaults...

 

[g67575]

Do you reckon the GIGABYTE B650M AORUS ELITE is the best value B650 board at the moment?

I've seen it being sold for <£210.

Good memory support, seems reliable according to user reviews and has a PCIe5 NVME slot.

Also, there's a Asrock B650E PG RIPTIDE for just over £220.

​

 

[McGraw]

Do you reckon the GIGABYTE B650M AORUS ELITE is the best value B650 board at the moment?

I've seen it being sold for <£210.

Good memory support, seems reliable according to user reviews and has a PCIe5 NVME slot.

Also, there's a Asrock B650E PG RIPTIDE for just over £220.

​

Despite swearing I'd never pay ASUS tax, I got the TUF Gaming (barf) B650m Plus. It was £203.

I insisted on PCIe5 as I'd waited 8 years to upgrade and wanted the option in the future.

Never buying a GB board again, the last 5 I've been involved with in the family have all had annoying to serious problems.

After a bit of memory training I'm loving this ASUS board.

 

[g67575]

My 7700X doesn't seem to be 100% stable at the stock boost frequency (5.4ghz).

So far, I've found that it's more reliable running at 5.2ghz (can limit the all core clock using the PBO settings), when running AIDA64's stability test (cache and memory testing).

I'm unsure if there's a problem with my CPU, or if this issue is caused by a BIOS or motherboard problem...

My motherboard firmware is using AGESA version 1.0.0.3 A.

 

[McGraw]

My 7700X doesn't seem to be 100% stable at the stock boost frequency (5.4ghz).

So far, I've found that it's more reliable running at 5.2ghz (can limit the all core clock using the PBO settings), when running AIDA64's stability test (cache and memory testing).

I'm unsure if there's a problem with my CPU, or if this issue is caused by a BIOS or motherboard problem...

My motherboard firmware is using AGESA version 1.0.0.3 A.

Tried stock memory and one stick/different slots?