6 GHz AIO Cooled Ryzen 7 9700X
In this brief follow-up to SkatterBencher #78, I overclock the Ryzen 7 9700X to 6 GHz and run some more benchmarks.
This particular Ryzen 7 9700X is a surprisingly good overclocker! With the right BIOS settings and finetuning, I could surpass 6 GHz effective clock on two out of the eight available cores. That beats the 6 GHz I was able to achieve when the Ryzen 7000 launched.
Table of Contents
BIOS Setup
The basis of the 6 GHz overclock is OC Strategy #5 from SkatterBencher #78. In that OC Strategy, I leverage asynchronous eCLK to push the Precision Boost algorithm beyond its limits. In the OC Strategy, I increase the reference clock from 100 MHz to 104.3 MHz. Together with the Fmax Override of +200, that yields a maximum theoretical clock of 5997.25 MHz (5750 x 1.043).
To aim for 6 GHz, I increase the eCLK frequency to 105 MHz. Although this is not a stable overclock, it is good enough to boot into the operating system. At least, if we first also disable the Fmax boost override.
After saving these settings, I boot into the operating system.
Overclocking Tools
In the operating system, we will use a couple of tools to monitor and validate our overclock:
- HWiNFO: To check effective and core clock frequencies.
- CPU-Z XOC: A special version of CPU-Z that skips the benchmark load during validation and only captures the operating frequency.
- Shamino’s Work Tool: To fine-tune the Precision Boost settings like Fmax Boost Override and Curve Optimizer
- NOPBench: A simple application from ElmorLabs that runs NOP instructions repeatedly, tied to a specific core, to give us an indication of the effective clock.
Overclocking Process
- Open Hardware Info: Here, you will see the core clocks and the effective clock. The core clock shows the frequency the cores are set to, while the effective clock shows the actual clock cycles.
- Launch CPU- Z XOC: This will help create a validation file without running stress tests.
- Run NOPBench: This will provide a real-time look at the effective clock on different cores.
- Overclock with Shamino’s Work Tool: Start by increasing the Fmax Boost Override to 5750 MHz. We immediately see the frequency jump to about 5.9 GHz when idling.
- Undervolt with Shamino’s Work Tool: Adjust the Curve Optimizer to various levels. For example, try -5, -8, and -10. This helps in finding the optimal voltage settings for the highest stable frequency.
- Validate with CPU-Z: After adjusting the OC settings, validate the frequency using CPU-Z. Pressing F7 will create a validation file which we can later upload to the CPU-Z database.
Fine-Tuning and Validation
After some trial and error, you might hit the 6 GHz mark. Here’s some additional tips:
- Initial Adjustments: If you encounter instability (e.g., crashing), revert to the BIOS and fine-tune the reference clock slightly. I reduced it to 104.9 MHz for better stability.
- Check Different Cores: You might find that some cores are better at reaching 6 GHz than others. For instance, core 2 and core 3 achieved 6 GHz, while other cores lagged behind.
- Validate multiple times: the CPU-Z software might not always validate at the exact frequency you are seeing in the application. Try validating multiple times to ensure you have captured the highest frequency.
I ended up achieving an 6037.28 MHz on Core #3, the maximum achievable with 104.9 MHz eCLK and 5750 Fmax boost override (5750 x 1.049 = 6031.75 MHz).
Final Thoughts
Reaching 6 GHz with the Ryzen 7 9700X involves careful BIOS adjustments, precise tuning, and iterative testing. Although it is not always straightforward, the results can be quite rewarding. I hope this quick run-through helps you achieve similar results with your Ryzen 7 9700X.
Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more overclocking tips and guides!
Here are some other benchmark scores with the Ryzen 7 9700X:
- 7-Zip: 139,930 (https://hwbot.org/submission/5615583)
- CPU-Z Frequency: 6037.25 MHz (https://valid.x86.fr/hha544)
- Cinebench R11.5: 44.72 (https://hwbot.org/submission/5615585)
- Cinebench R15: 3820 (https://hwbot.org/submission/5615586)
- Cinebench R20: 9741 (https://hwbot.org/submission/5615615)
- PyPrime 2B: 8.637sec (https://hwbot.org/submission/5615589)
- PyPrime 32B: 2min 39.15sec (https://hwbot.org/submission/5615592)
- OCCT AVX Single 251.93 (https://www.ocbase.com/benchmark/cpu/66b4db14d97be318684310d4)
- OCCT AVX Multi: 1975.55 (https://www.ocbase.com/benchmark/cpu/66b4ccb1cf05d99866dbaec0)
- OCCT SSE Single: 117.64 (https://www.ocbase.com/benchmark/cpu/66b4ccb1cf05d99866dbaebd)
- OCCT SSE Multi: 955.87 (https://www.ocbase.com/benchmark/cpu/66b4ccb1cf05d99866dbaebe)
PS: check out the OCCT AVX Single result! It’s only a few points off the record I achieved with the 7.1 GHz LN2-cooled Intel Core i9-14900KF a couple of months ago. This really shows off Zen 5’s strength in AVX workloads.