Which overclock is better for gaming?

breathe3asy · 28 Apr 2022 at 12:45

3800mhz 16-16-16-32
or
3600mhz 14-15-14-30

I'm on the X370 chipset using a 3900x with PBO enabled and everything else default.
Memory is samsung b die.

Either overclock seems to make no difference in games vs stock XMP 3200mhz 14-14-14-34 so I'm wondering if its even worth it, or if frequency vs timings makes a difference.

Armageus · 28 Apr 2022 at 12:48

Are you changing the infinity fabric speed (Fclk) as well? If not then it's unlikely you will see that much difference

breathe3asy · 28 Apr 2022 at 12:55

No I'm leaving all CPU values default apart from enabling PBO as said. Does the higher RAM frequency not make the IF run faster as a result?

Armageus · 28 Apr 2022 at 13:03

Depends on what the Fclk/Infinity Fabric divider is set to - it may be correct on Auto, but worth checking

Ideally the Infinity fabric should run at 1/2 the RAM speed. I.e. 1800Mhz for 3600Mhz. Anything above 3733 will by default use a different divider potentially reducing performance (unless set manually e.g. to 1900 for 3800Mhz RAM, which may require e.g. voltage tweaks for stability)

breathe3asy · 28 Apr 2022 at 13:15

Its on Auto and just having looked at hwinfo64 the IF is at 1800mhz which is half the current speed I am running.

Any idea on differences between the two frequencies/timings in OP?

Tetras · 28 Apr 2022 at 13:17

ceaton88 said:
Either overclock seems to make no difference in games vs stock XMP 3200mhz 14-14-14-34 so I'm wondering if its even worth it, or if frequency vs timings makes a difference.

Most of your games are probably GPU-bound, especially if you play at higher resolutions.

Armageus · 28 Apr 2022 at 13:25

Very little in it I would imagine outside of synthetic benchmarks.

breathe3asy · 28 Apr 2022 at 13:31

Thanks guys. Out of the options below which would you pick:

1. Set to XMP (3200mhz 14-14-14-34), leave default and live a happy life
2. Set to XMP, tighten timings to 14-13-13-26 and leave alone
3. Set to 3600mhz 14-15-14-30 for seemingly no difference and more voltage
4. Set to 3800mhz 16-16-16-32 for seemingly no difference and more voltage

Haz123 · 28 Apr 2022 at 14:33

ceaton88 said:
Either overclock seems to make no difference in games vs stock XMP 3200mhz 14-14-14-34

Looks like you answered your own question in your OP.

I vote for 1

breathe3asy · 28 Apr 2022 at 14:37

Be interesting to see results if I wasn't GPU bound, just wondered what settings were best on paper is all

alec · 28 Apr 2022 at 14:55

Out of these choices 3. (3600 14-15-15) should be fastest. Could confirm in aida64 latency test.
But as you already found out, all 4 would be fairly similar. maybe geekbench could appreciate the difference.

JollyJamma · 30 Apr 2022 at 10:00

alec said:
Out of these choices 3. (3600 14-15-15) should be fastest. Could confirm in aida64 latency test.
But as you already found out, all 4 would be fairly similar. maybe geekbench could appreciate the difference.

Agreed. OP if you can measure your 1% lows, you'd probably see a difference with the RAM overclocked to 3600CL14-15-15.

breathe3asy · 30 Apr 2022 at 11:37

I'm confused as to why you have both come out with 14-15-15 after I had said 14-15-14? I thought lower was better?

JollyJamma · 30 Apr 2022 at 11:53

ceaton88 said:
I'm confused as to why you have both come out with 14-15-15 after I had said 14-15-14? I thought lower was better?

The second number in the timings (TCL) impacts your performance waaaay more.

When people say that they have CL14 and their running 14-16-16-36, it’s not really CL14.

14-14-14-36 is quicker than 14-15-14 -36.

Also, as your speed improves, your latency drops.

You are doing more per second, even if you’re doing it slightly slower.

3600 is also ideal as it runs the FCLK at 1800 in a 1:1 ratio with the ram.

Wing-Man · 30 Apr 2022 at 12:19

JollyJamma said:
3600 is also ideal as it runs the FCLK at 1800 in a 1:1 ratio with the ram.

this... but you need the FCLK at 1800 to match

breathe3asy · 30 Apr 2022 at 12:38

My BIOS automatically sets FCLK to half of speed of RAM, even at 3800 RAM speed the FLCK will be 1900

Wing-Man · 30 Apr 2022 at 12:40

ceaton88 said:
even at 3800 RAM speed the FLCK will be 1900

can you confirm its running at that speed in windows with cpuz? if yes then run that speed

breathe3asy · 30 Apr 2022 at 12:45

Yeah cpuz confirms but I can only get 16-16-16-32 at 3800

Wing-Man · 30 Apr 2022 at 12:46

ceaton88 said:
Yeah cpuz confirms but I can only get 16-16-16-32 at 3800

Nope. Dose cpuz confirm fclk speed

breathe3asy · 30 Apr 2022 at 12:54

Oh sorry my mistake, I've just set my RAM to 3800 and the IF is showing 1800