We overclock the AMD Ryzen 7 8700F to 5250 MHz with the ASUS ROG Crosshair X670E Hero motherboard and custom loop water cooling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9edR7PJwnY

This will be the fourth Ryzen 8000 processor I overclock on this channel, following the 8700G, 8600G, and 8500GE. However, this is the first Ryzen 8000 processor which doesn’t have integrated graphics, despite it being a Hawk Point APU.

This will be a relatively quick guide but I hope you enjoy the blog post nonetheless.

AMD Ryzen 7 8700F: Introduction

The Ryzen 7 8700F is part of AMD’s Zen 4-based Ryzen 8000F desktop processor product line codenamed “Hawk Point.” The original Hawk Point processors were introduced on January 8, 2024. The two -F SKUs, the Ryzen 7 8700F and Ryzen 5 8400F, were quietly announced a couple months later at the AMD AI Summit in China. They are similar as their -G counterparts but don’t have integrated graphics.

Hawk Point is the successor to the Ryzen 5000 Cezanne APUs launched in 2021. There are more than a few differences between these chips. Here’s the shortlist:

• The CPU architecture moves from Zen 3 to Zen 4 and Zen 4c cores, depending on the SKU
• Hawk Point comes with an integrated XDNA AI accelerator
• The chips are produced using the TSMC N4P process
• Hawk Point supports DDR5 (but not PCIe Gen 5)
• The integrated graphics is based on the RDNA 3 architecture.

The Ryzen 8000 series APUs come to market in two distinct configurations. APUs with the Phoenix 1 die only have Zen 4 cores while the APUs with the Phoenix 2 die come with a mix of Zen 4 and Zen 4c cores.

A lot has been said about the difference between Zen 4 and Zen 4c cores. I won’t regurgitate everything here, but the point is that the core architecture is identical while Zen 4c cores have a smaller footprint. The benefit is that you get more compute per area, but the tradeoff is that you also have higher hotspot temperatures and lower frequencies.

The Ryzen 7 8700F has eight Zen 4 cores with 16 threads. The base frequency is 4.1 GHz, and the listed maximum boost frequency is 5.0 GHz. The TDP is 65W, and the TjMax is 95 degrees Celsius.

In this video, we will cover three different overclocking strategies:

• First, we enable Precision Boost Overdrive 2 and enable EXPO.
• Second, we undervolt and overclock using the Precision Boost Overdrive 2 toolkit.
• Lastly, we try to maximize performance with a manual overclock.

However, before we jump into overclocking, let us quickly review the hardware and benchmarks used in this video.

AMD Ryzen 7 8700F: Platform Overview

The system we’re overclocking today consists of the following hardware.

Item	SKU	Price (USD)
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 8700F	400
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Crosshair X670E Hero	640
CPU Cooling	EK-Pro QDC Kit P360	750
Fan Controller	ElmorLabs EFC-SB	50
Memory	G.SKILL Trident Z5 DDR5-6400	120
Power Supply	Antec HCP 1000W Platinum	250
Graphics Card	ASUS ROG Strix RTX 2080 TI	490
Storage	AORUS RGB 512 GB M.2	75
Chassis	Open Benchtable V2	200

ElmorLabs EFC-SB SkatterBencher Edition

The EFC-SB is a customized version of the original ElmorLabs Easy Fan Controller. It has the same functions and features are similar to the original EFC, with a tiny improvement here and there. The most obvious difference is that this EFC version comes in the SkatterBencher color scheme: yellow, white, and black.

I use the EFC-SB to monitor the ambient temperature (EFC), water temperature (EFC), and fan duty cycle (EFC). I also use the device to map the radiator fan curve to the water temperature. The main takeaway from this configuration is that it gives us a good indicator of whether the cooling solution is saturated.

AMD Ryzen 7 8700F: Benchmark Software

We use Windows 11 and the following benchmark applications to measure performance and ensure system stability.

BENCHMARK	LINK
Pyprime 2.0	https://github.com/mbntr/PYPrime-2.x
7-Zip 19.0	https://www.7-zip.org/
Geekbench 6	https://www.geekbench.com/
Cinebench 2024.1	https://www.maxon.net/en/cinebench/
CPU-Z	https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
V-Ray 5	https://www.chaosgroup.com/vray/benchmark
Corona Benchmark	https://corona-renderer.com/benchmark
AI-Benchmark	https://ai-benchmark.com/
3DMark CPU Profile	https://www.3dmark.com/
3DMark Night Raid	https://www.3dmark.com/
Returnal	https://store.steampowered.com/app/1649240/Returnal/
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	https://store.steampowered.com/app/750920/Shadow_of_the_Tomb_Raider_Definitive_Edition/
Final Fantasy XV	http://benchmark.finalfantasyxv.com/na/
OCCT	https://www.ocbase.com/

AMD Ryzen 7 8700F: Stock Performance

Before starting overclocking, we must check the system performance at default settings. The default Precision Boost 2 parameters for the Ryzen 7 8700F are as follows:

• PPT: 87.8 W (Fast Limit, Slow Limit, APU Only Limit)
• TDC CPU: 75 A
• EDC CPU: 110 A
• TDC SOC: 30 A
• EDC SOC: 45A
• THM: 95 C (Core, GPU, SOC)
• VID: 1.46 V
• FMAX: 5050 MHz
• FIT: 3111.8

Here is the benchmark performance at stock:

• PYPrime 32B: 262.182 seconds
• 7-Zip: 105,233 mips
• Geekbench 6 (single): 2,688 points
• Geekbench 6 (multi): 13,624 points
• Cinebench 2024 Single: 105 points
• Cinebench 2024 Multi: 1,010 points
• CPU-Z V17.01.64 Single: 689.9 points
• CPU-Z V17.01.64 Multi: 7,255.7 points
• V-Ray 5: 12,643 samples
• Corona 10: 5.603 MRays/s
• AI Benchmark: 4,140 points
• 3DMark Night Raid: 71,851 marks
• Returnal: 108 fps
• Tomb Raider: 173 fps
• Final Fantasy XV: 179.14 fps

Here are the 3DMark CPU Profile scores at stock

• CPU Profile 1 Thread: 1,017
• CPU Profile 2 Threads: 2,032
• CPU Profile 4 Threads: 3,974
• CPU Profile 8 Threads: 6,785
• CPU Profile 16 Threads: 8,016
• CPU Profile Max Threads: 8,037

When running the OCCT CPU AVX2 Stability Test, the average CPU core effective clock is 4284 MHz with 1.106 volts. The average CPU temperature is 76.3 degrees Celsius. The average CPU package power is 87.8 watts.

When running the OCCT CPU SSE Stability Test, the average CPU core effective clock is 4497 MHz with 1.191 volts. The average CPU temperature is 80.7 degrees Celsius. The average CPU package power is 87.8 watts.

Of course, we can increase the maximum power consumption limit using Precision Boost Overdrive. That’s what we’ll do in our first overclocking strategy.

However, before we get going, make sure to locate the CMOS Clear button. Pressing the Clear CMOS button will reset all your BIOS settings to default, which is helpful if you want to start your BIOS configuration from scratch. The Clear CMOS button is located on the back I/O of the motherboard.

OC Strategy #1: PBO + EXPO

In our first overclocking strategy, we simply take advantage of enabling AMD Precision Boost Overdrive 2 and AMD EXPO.

Precision Boost Overdrive 2

With the launch of Zen 3, AMD introduced an improved version of the Precision Boost Overdrive toolkit, allowing for manual tuning of the parameters affecting the Precision Boost frequency boost algorithm. Precision Boost Overdrive 2 builds on the PBO implementation of Zen 2. In addition to the overclocking knobs from Zen+ (PPT, TDC, EDC) and Zen 2 (Boost Override and Scalar), Precision Boost Overdrive 2 also introduced Curve Optimizer.

There are essentially 3 levels of Precision Boost Overdrive

1. AMD’s stock values, which can be set by disabling PBO
2. The motherboard vendor values, which are programmed into the BIOS to match the motherboard VRM specification and can be set by enabling PBO
3. Custom values, which can be programmed by the end-user

I most recently took a deep dive into the Precision Boost Overdrive 2 toolkit in my Ryzen 7000 launch content. If you want to learn more about the impact of each of these settings, I suggest you check out that post.

In this overclocking strategy, we’re just enabling Precision Boost Overdrive, whereas, in the following strategies, we’ll explore tuning the parameters. By enabling Precision Boost Overdrive, we rely on the motherboard pre-programmed PBO parameters. We find that the following values have changed:

Increasing the PPT and, to a lesser extent, the TDC and EDC limit will help unleash the frequency in multi-threaded workloads previously limited by the PPT.

EXPO – Extended Profiles for Overclocking

EXPO stands for AMD Extended Profiles for Overclocking. It is an AMD technology that enables ubiquitous memory overclocking profiles for AMD platforms supporting DDR5 memory.

EXPO allows memory vendors such as G.SKILL to program higher performance settings onto the memory sticks. If the motherboard supports EXPO, you can enable higher performance with a single BIOS setting. So, it saves you lots of manual configuration.

BIOS Settings & Benchmark Results

Upon entering the BIOS

• Go to the Extreme Tweaker menu
• Set Ai Overclock Tweaker to EXPO I
• Enter the Precision Boost Overdrive submenu
  • Set Precision Boost Overdrive to enabled

Then save and exit the BIOS.

We re-ran the benchmarks and checked the performance increase compared to the default operation.

• Geomean: +1.71%
• PYPrime 32B: +7.70%
• 7-Zip: +5.74%
• Geekbench 6 (single): +1.38%
• Geekbench 6 (multi): +0.61%
• Cinebench R23 Single: +3.81%
• Cinebench R23 Multi: +3.86%
• CPU-Z V17.01.64 Single: +0.28%
• CPU-Z V17.01.64 Multi: +0.84%
• V-Ray 5: +6.00%
• Corona 10: +6.49%
• AI Benchmark: +3.96%
• 3DMark Night Raid: +1.87%
• Returnal: +0.93%
• Tomb Raider: +5.20%
• Final Fantasy XV: +1.08%

Here are the 3DMark CPU Profile scores:

• CPU Profile 1 Thread: +0.49%
• CPU Profile 2 Threads: +0.25%
• CPU Profile 4 Threads: +0.23%
• CPU Profile 8 Threads: +1.21%
• CPU Profile 16 Threads: +3.61%
• CPU Profile Max Threads: +3.45%

Surprisingly, despite increasing the power consumption headroom from 87.8W to 1000W, we only get little to no performance improvement in most benchmark applications. The Geomean performance improvement is +1.71%, and we get a maximum improvement of +7.70% in PYPrime.

When running the OCCT CPU AVX2 Stability Test, the average CPU core effective clock is 4537 MHz with 1.184 volts. The average CPU temperature is 95.1 degrees Celsius. The average CPU package power is 119.1 watts.

When running the OCCT CPU SSE Stability Test, the average CPU core effective clock is 4646 MHz with 1.244 volts. The average CPU temperature is 95.1 degrees Celsius. The average CPU package power is 110.1 watts.

The boost frequency at 1 active thread is about 5050 MHZ and the average boost frequency gradually trails off to 4723 MHz when all cores are active. All cores can boost to over 5 GHz in single-threaded workloads.

OC Strategy #2: PBO Tuned

In our second overclocking strategy, we tune the CPU’s Precision Boost dynamic frequency technology using the Precision Boost Overdrive 2 toolkit and optimize the memory subsystem performance.

PBO 2: Fmax Boost Override

Fused maximum frequency, or Fmax, is one of the Precision Boost infrastructure limiters constraining the CPU performance. The limiter determines the maximum allowed processor frequency across all CPU cores inside your CPU.

Boost Clock Override or Fmax Override is one of the overclocker tools available in the PBO 2 toolkit. It allows the user to override the arbitrary clock frequency limit between -1000 MHz and +200 MHz in steps of 25 MHz.

It’s important to note that the Fmax override only adjusts the upper ceiling of the frequency and doesn’t act as a frequency offset. Ultimately, the Precision Boost 2 algorithm still determines the actual operating frequency.

PBO 2: Curve Optimizer

Curve Optimizer is an important new feature of Precision Boost Overdrive 2.

Curve Optimizer allows end-users to adjust the factory-fused VFT or voltage-frequency-temperature curve for each CPU core separately. The VFT curve is a unique curve for each core inside your CPU that defines the required voltage for a given frequency at a given temperature. Higher frequencies or higher operating temperatures require higher voltage.

Curve Optimizer adjusts the VFT curve by offsetting the voltages of the factory-fused VFT curve. By setting a positive offset, you increase the voltage point. Conversely, you decrease the voltage point by setting a negative offset.

You can offset the entire curve by up to 50 steps in a positive or negative direction. Each step represents approximately 5mV.

The traditional overclocking approach for AMD Ryzen CPUs is to set a negative curve optimizer. Two things happen when you adjust the VFT curve with a negative point offset.

1. First, we effectively undervolt the CPU and tell it needs less voltage for a given frequency. And, as a consequence, at a given voltage, it can apply a higher frequency.
2. Second, the CPU temperature will be lower because you use less voltage at a given frequency. That extra thermal headroom will also encourage the Precision Boost algorithm to target higher voltages and frequencies.

Like in the past, per-core tuning offers a real benefit as it provides some cores with a lot more frequency headroom.

Curve Optimizer Tuning Process

The manual tuning process for Curve Optimizer can become quite convoluted since it affects the CPU core voltage in all scenarios ranging from very light single-threaded workloads to heavy all-core workloads.

Usually, I spend a lot of time on per-core curve optimization. For this guide, I wanted to rely on the OCCT toolkit to find the right Curve Optimizer settings. Here’s my broad approach.

1. I started with a negative curve optimizer of -15 for each core.
2. Then, I used the OCCT CPU Stability test with small data set, extreme mode, and steady load type. I corecycle through each core for 60 seconds with 2 operating threads and AVX2.
   1. I increased the negative curve optimizer magnitude by 5 steps for the cores that didn’t crash.
   1. I reduced the negative curve optimizer magnitude by 5 steps for the cores that did crash.
3. Once all cores were dialed in, I ran another OCCT AVX2 and SSE stability test intending to pass for 30 minutes without any core failing or clock stretching. Again, when a core fails, I reduce the negative curve optimizer magnitude by 5 steps.

Once all that’s done, I run through the usual benchmark suite and stability tests used in this guide. If there are no instabilities I consider my Curve Optimizer settings as stable.

Memory Subsystem Performance Optimization

On AMD Hawk Point processors, the memory subsystem consists of three major parts: the infinity fabric, the unified memory controller, and the system memory. They’re more commonly referred to as the FCLK, UCLK, and MCLK.

First-generation Ryzen overclockers know that these parts used to be tightly coupled together, but on modern Ryzen processors like the Ryzen 7 8700F, we can tune them independently.

There are two things I wanted to address with the memory subsystem optimization.

1. First, I wanted to fix the downclocking of the FCLK and UCLK.
2. Second, I wanted to run the UCLK and MCLK in sync

To solve the first problem, we simply enable SoC/Uncore OC mode in the AMD Overclocking submenu. This disables all power-saving technologies affecting the clock frequencies of the memory subsystem.

To address the second problem, we simply set UCLK DIV1 Mode to UCLK=MEMCLK. The memory controller frequency is tied directly to the system memory frequency. It can run either at the same or half its frequency.

You’d usually prefer to run the memory controller and system memory at the same frequency for performance reasons. However, if your memory can run very high frequencies, then it’s possible running the memory controller at half the frequency still provides better performance.

We run the memory controller frequency in sync with the system memory for this OC Strategy. At DDR5-6400, the memory controller frequency is then 3200 MHz.

BIOS Settings & Benchmark Results

Upon entering the BIOS

• Go to the Extreme Tweaker menu
• Set Ai Overclock Tweaker to EXPO I
• Switch to Advanced menu
• Enter the AMD Overclocking submenu and click accept
• Enter the DDR and Infinity Fabric Frequency/Timings submenu
  • Enter the Infinity Fabric Frequency and Dividers submenu
    • Set UCLK DIV1 Mode to UCLK=MEMCLK
  • Leave the Infinity Fabric Frequency and Dividers submenu
• Leave the DDR and Infinity Fabric Frequency/Timings submenu
• Enter the Precision Boost Overdrive submenu
  • Set Precision Boost Overdrive to Advanced
  • Set PBO Limits to Motherboard
  • Set CPU Boost Clock Override to Enabled (Positive)
    • Set Max CPU Boost Clock Override to 200
  • Enter the Curve Optimizer submenu
    • Set Curve Optimizer to Per Core
    • For every Core, set Curve Optimizer Sign to Negative
    • Set Core 0 Curve Optimizer Magnitude to 35
    • Set Core 1, 4, 5, 6, and 7 Curve Optimizer Magnitude to 20
    • Set Core 2 Curve Optimizer Magnitude to 25
    • Set Core 3 Curve Optimizer Magnitude to 15
  • Leave the Curve Optimizer submenu
• Leave the Precision Boost Overdrive submenu
• Enter the SoC/Uncore OC Mode submenu
  • Set SoC/Uncore OC Mode to Enabled

Then save and exit the BIOS.

We re-ran the benchmarks and checked the performance increase compared to the default operation.

• Geomean: +5.60%
• PYPrime 32B: +14.80%
• 7-Zip: +10.97%
• Geekbench 6 (single): +4.91%
• Geekbench 6 (multi): +5.89%
• Cinebench R23 Single: +7.62%
• Cinebench R23 Multi: +8.22%
• CPU-Z V17.01.64 Single: +2.36%
• CPU-Z V17.01.64 Multi: +6.31%
• V-Ray 5: +11.25%
• Corona 10: +11.83%
• AI Benchmark: +7.85%
• 3DMark Night Raid: +4.71%
• Returnal: +1.85%
• Tomb Raider: +8.09%
• Final Fantasy XV: +2.82%

Here are the 3DMark CPU Profile scores:

• CPU Profile 1 Thread: +3.34%
• CPU Profile 2 Threads: +1.23%
• CPU Profile 4 Threads: +2.11%
• CPU Profile 8 Threads: +6.97%
• CPU Profile 16 Threads: +10.09%
• CPU Profile Max Threads: +9.69%

Undervolting with Curve Optimizer is an overclocker’s best friend for Ryzen 8000 APUs as it provides a nice frequency and performance bump. The Geomean performance improvement is +5.60%, and we get a maximum improvement of +14.80% in PYPrime.

When running the OCCT CPU AVX2 Stability Test, the average CPU core effective clock is 4644 MHz with 1.158 volts. The average CPU temperature is 95.1 degrees Celsius. The average CPU package power is 126.3 watts.

When running the OCCT CPU SSE Stability Test, the average CPU core effective clock is 4771 MHz with 1.220 volts. The average CPU temperature is 95.1 degrees Celsius. The average CPU package power is 117.2 watts.

The boost frequency at 1 active thread is about 5162 MHZ and the average boost frequency gradually trails off to 4874 MHz when all cores are active. Three out of eight cores can boost to over 5.1 GHz in single-threaded workloads.

OC Strategy #3: Manual Overclocking

In our third and last overclocking strategy, I will try manual overclocking. At first, I wanted to maximize the performance in my worst-case stress test: OCCT AVX2. However, I found that the maximum clock was only 4850 MHz with 1.185V. This would yield benchmark results which are mostly worse than stock.

So, I decided to forego all-core OCCT AVX2 stability and try to improve the frequency for the all-core OCCT SSE stress test instead. But first, let’s have a look at the Hawk Point frequency and voltage topology.

CPU Core Clocking Topology

The clocking of Hawk Point is similar to other AMD Zen 4 CPUs.

The standard Hawk Point platform has a 48 MHz crystal input to the integrated CGPLL clock generator. The CGPLL then generates a 48 MHz clock for the USB PLL and a 100 MHz reference clock for the FCH, which contains the CCLK PLL for the CPU cores and several SOC PLLs.

The CCLK PLL 100MHz reference clock drives the 200 MHz VCO, which is then multiplied by an frequency ID, or FID, and divided by a divider ID, DID. As a whole, this provides a CPU clock frequency granularity of 25 MHz.

Each CCX has its own PLL, with the cores within that CCX running at the same frequency. In a typical operation, all cores within a CCX will run at the same frequency. Since each CCX contains all eight Zen 4 cores, all cores run the same clock. The effective clock will differ if the core is in a different P-state.

The SOC PLLs include a wide range of PLLs. The ones most relevant for overclocking are:

• FCLK for the data fabric
• UCLK for the memory controller
• MCLK for the system memory
• GFXCLK for the integrated graphics
• IPUCLK for the inference processing unit

The SOC PLLs are not particularly relevant for manual CPU Core overclocking.

CPU Core Voltage Topology

AMD Hawk Point’s voltage topology is similar to that of previous Ryzen processors.

As usual, the processor relies on an internal and external power supply to generate the processor voltages. There are four primary power supplies from the motherboard VRM to the processor: VDDCR, VDDCR_SOC, VDDCR_MISC, and VDDIO_MEM.

The VDDCR voltage rail provides the external power for three internal voltage regulators: VDDCR_CPU, VDDCR_VDDM, and the VDDCR_GFX.

VDDCR_CPU provides the voltage for the CPU cores within the CCX. The voltage rail can work in either regular or bypass mode, but it is always in bypass mode on Hawk Point. That means the voltage of the cores is always equal to the VDDCR external voltage. The end user can change the voltage in the BIOS.

VDDCR_VDDM provides the voltage for the L2, L3, and, if present, 3D V-Cache on a CCX. This rail cannot work in bypass mode; therefore, it is always internally regulated from the VDDCR external voltage rail. We can also not adjust this voltage.

The VDDCR_SOC voltage rail provides the external power for multiple internal voltage regulators on SOC for the various IP blocks, including but not limited to the memory controller, SMU, PSP, etc. It is essential to know that the VDDCR_SOC voltage must always be lower than VDDIO_MEM_S3 + 100mV. The default VDDCR_SOC voltage is 1.05V and can be set to 1.30V under ambient conditions. Again, we need LN2 mode enabled for higher voltages.

The VDDCR_MISC voltage rail provides the external power for the internally regulated VDDG voltage rail. VDDG is the voltage supply for the infinity fabric data path. Previously, you could manually tune the voltages for each infinity fabric connection. However, this doesn’t seem to be available for Hawk Point.

The VDDIO_MEM voltage rail provides the external power for the VDDP_DDR internal voltage regulator. VDDP is the voltage for the DDR bus signaling or DRAM PHY. So it can help achieve higher memory frequencies. As a rule, the external VDDIO_MEM should always be higher than the internal VDDP_DDR + 100mV. Furthermore, the external VDDCR_SOC voltage rail should be lower than the external VDDIO_MEM + 100mV. When memory overclocking, you may need to manually increase the VDDP voltage as it does not automatically adjust when changing the VDDIO_MEM voltage.

CCX Frequency Tuning Process

On many-core processors like the Ryzen Threadripper, per-CCX tuning can be a very tedious task as there are many CCXs to tune independently. However, on this Ryzen 7 8700F, we only have one. So, the tuning process can go much faster.

Our limiting factor will ultimately be the cooling solution as power consumption increases exponentially with operating voltage and temperature scales (somewhat) linearly with power consumption.

The maximum voltage will be determined by the application we’re tuning for. So, the first step in our tuning process would be to set a fixed CPU ratio and check the maximum temperature when running our workload. If there’s thermal headroom left, increase the operating voltage.

Once we know the maximum voltage, we can tune the CCX. Simply increase the ratio until the application shows signs of instability, then back off. No more, no less. In our case, we reach near TjMax temperatures with a voltage of around 1.25V. That gives us sufficient headroom to push the CPU core clock frequency to 5075 MHz.

Now that we know the ins and outs of the Ryzen 7 8700F manual overclocking, let’s jump into the BIOS.

BIOS Settings & Benchmark Results

Upon entering the BIOS

• Go to the Extreme Tweaker menu
• Set Ai Overclock Tweaker to EXPO I
• Enter the CPU Core Ratio (CCX) submenu
  • Set Core VID to 1.250
  • Set CCX0 Ratio to 50.75
• Leave the CPU Core Ratio (CCX) submenu
• Switch to Advanced menu
• Enter the AMD Overclocking submenu and click accept
  • Enter the DDR and Infinity Fabric Frequency/Timings submenu
    • Enter the Infinity Fabric Frequency and Dividers submenu
      • Set UCLK DIV1 Mode to UCLK=MEMCLK
    • Leave the Infinity Fabric Frequency and Dividers submenu
  • Leave the DDR and Infinity Fabric Frequency/Timings submenu
  • Enter the SoC/Uncore OC Mode submenu
    • Set SoC/Uncore OC Mode to Enabled

Then save and exit the BIOS.

We re-ran the benchmarks and checked the performance increase compared to the default operation.

• Geomean: +3.90%
• PYPrime 32B: +11.33%
• 7-Zip: +10.58%
• Geekbench 6 (single): +1.67%
• Geekbench 6 (multi): +4.22%
• Cinebench R23 Single: +4.76%
• Cinebench R23 Multi: +10.40%
• CPU-Z V17.01.64 Single: +0.96%
• CPU-Z V17.01.64 Multi: +7.03%
• V-Ray 5: +14.07%
• Corona 10: +14.69%
• AI Benchmark: +4.54%
• 3DMark Night Raid: +4.81%
• Returnal: +0.93%
• Tomb Raider: +7.51%
• Final Fantasy XV: +1.83%

Here are the 3DMark CPU Profile scores:

• CPU Profile 1 Thread: +0.29%
• CPU Profile 2 Threads: +0.44%
• CPU Profile 4 Threads: +1.61%
• CPU Profile 8 Threads: +6.59%
• CPU Profile 16 Threads: +10.95%
• CPU Profile Max Threads: +10.54%

It’s unusual for a manual overclock to outperform the stock configuration in single-threaded benchmarks because by enabling OC mode, you forego the high Precision Boost boost frequencies in single-threaded workloads. However, in this case, our manual overclock of 5075 MHz is higher than the stock maximum frequency of 5050 MHz. So, we see a performance uplift in all benchmarks, which is pretty neat. The Geomean performance improvement is +3.90%, and we get a maximum improvement of +14.69% in Corona 10.

When running the OCCT CPU AVX2 Stability Test, unfortunately, the processor is not stable.

When running the OCCT CPU SSE Stability Test, the average CPU core effective clock is 5075 MHz with 1.199 volts. The average CPU temperature is 88.4 degrees Celsius. The average CPU package power is 121.3 watts.

The boost frequency for any number of active threads and all cores is 5075 MHz across the board.

AMD Ryzen 7 8700F: Conclusion

Alright, let us wrap this up.

Overclocking this Ryzen 7 8700F confirmed a lot of my observations from overclocking the other Phoenix 1 APUs. The most important takeaway is that the Ryzen 8000 Hawk Point APUs don’t have a lot of overclocking headroom compared to the Ryzen 7000 Raphael processors. Whether that’s due to the Phoenix architecture or the TSMC N4 process node is hard to tell. But these days, a maximum overclock of not even 5.1 GHz is a bit underwhelming.

Despite the limited overclocking headroom, it’s pretty easy and fast to enhance the performance of a Hawk Point APU. By enabling EXPO, setting a couple of Precision Boost Overdrive parameters, and a little Curve Optimizing, you can easily get a 15% performance improvement in some benchmarks. That’s not too shabby.

Anyway, that’s all for today! I think this is probably the last Hawk Point processor I’ll overclock on this channel as I look forward to next-generation AM5 architectures. I want to thank my Patreon supporters for supporting my work. If you have any questions or comments, please drop them in the comment section below. 

See you next time!