AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs come excruciatingly close to a major clock speed milestone. The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is the fastest and able to push a core or two up to 4.9GHz but (officially) nothing more at stock speeds. But what if I told you that 5GHz was within reach and that you'd have to do next to nothing to hit it? That's what ClockTuner for Ryzen creator Yuri Bubliy is promising with an upcoming update to the CPU tuning app.
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ClockTuner for Ryzen is an automated overclocking application that first launched for Zen 2 CPUs last year. It uncovers which of the core complexes on Ryzen CPUs are prime candidates for overclocking and applies a profile of tweaks and changes that push performance while balancing temperature and voltage requirements.
With version 2.1, which is currently in beta and available to Bubliy's Patreon subscribers ahead of a full release, you'll be able to apply a new Hybrid OC setting to Zen 3 chips, too, complete with a new high-performance 'PX Profile'.
This new profile will see the effective frequency reach over 5GHz on AMD's latest high-end Ryzen processors, Bubliy says, and it does so with less voltage at 1.45V compared to the standard 1.475V.
How it goes about that will depend on the processor you own and its core count, but it'll offer up anything from two to six 'best' cores prime for juicing. The application will then set the frequency for all these cores while running the remaining at a reduced speed for greater stability.
You can dive into the specifics in the slides posted by Bubliy in the tweet below, but to over-simplify: a constant measure of power and temperature data with effective on-the-fly profile switching ensures the processor runs at an optimal speed at all times and for the given workload.
CTR 2.1 & 5000MHz! (announcement)And available in a few hours for Patreon subscribers!@AMDRyzen @AMD @LisaSu pic.twitter.com/MrEoXhAtPOFebruary 15, 2021
The update will bring with it some changes to the application UI, too, which are said to make it easier for beginners to get started.
All in all a promising piece of software for AMD Ryzen CPU owners, then, or something to consider if you're still waiting in line for your chance to purchase one. There's not a great deal of overclocking performance in the latest Zen 3 chips, so a system that takes care of all that for you for, what are claimed to be, effective gains might be a handy alternative.
Bubliy hasn't announced a public release date just yet, so watch out for the full release in the near-future or sign up to their Patreon for early access and help support development. You can download the current version of ClockTuner for Ryzen here. It also supports Zen 3, but doesn't yet offer the full sweep of features listed above.
