Overclocking My System Advice for CPU, RAM, and GPU

[serein]

Hi everyone,
I’m looking to overclock my system, but I’m not sure where to start. Here are the details of my current setup:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• Cooling: ID-Cooling SE-234
• GPU: Gigabyte RX 6600 Eagle 8 GBRX 6600 Eagle
• Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE
• RAM: Patriot Viper Steel Dual 16 GB (2X8) 3200 MHz
• Case: BeQuiet! 500DX
• PSU: 600W 80+Gold
  

I know my motherboard (B450 Aorus Elite) supports up to 3600 MHz for RAM, so I’m wondering if I should push my RAM closer to that limit or keep it at 3200 MHz for stability and low latency. What settings would you recommend for stable overclocking?

Also, I’m interested in overclocking my GPU (RX 6600 Eagle). What parameters should I adjust for a safe and stable overclock? Any suggestions for increasing the performance of both my CPU and GPU without running into issues like instability? As for temperatures, even when gaming under high load my GPU doesn’t go beyond 60°C, so heat doesn’t seem to be an issue for me. Still, I’d like to make sure my overclocking settings are safe.


Any advice or settings you could provide would be really helpful. Thanks in advance!

Spoiler: Extra Info

 

[ShrimpBrime]

The best way to OC the processor is by utilizing PBO (performance boost overdrive) and adding cpu frequency up to 200mhz increase. The cpu will adjust all parameters and would be the safest most stable OC for you.

Memory clocking 3200 to 3600mhz doesn't yield enough benefits to bother chancing instability. Yes you can get some single digit performance increase with memory intensive tasks, but may not be worth the headache if you run into a problem.

RX 6600 you could just let the Radeon software automatically find a good Core overclock and try that. Typically this is the safest way, but the best way to gain fps in you games. It's quick and easy, leaves less fuss, but good results.

Of course these suggestions are for beginner use. But it is the best way to ensure a stable system with OC.

GL!

 

[serein]

The best way to OC the processor is by utilizing PBO (performance boost overdrive) and adding cpu frequency up to 200mhz increase. The cpu will adjust all parameters and would be the safest most stable OC for you.

Memory clocking 3200 to 3600mhz doesn't yield enough benefits to bother chancing instability. Yes you can get some single digit performance increase with memory intensive tasks, but may not be worth the headache if you run into a problem.

RX 6600 you could just let the Radeon software automatically find a good Core overclock and try that. Typically this is the safest way, but the best way to gain fps in you games. It's quick and easy, leaves less fuss, but good results.

Of course these suggestions are for beginner use. But it is the best way to ensure a stable system with OC.

GL!

Thanks for your reply! By the way, do you think it’s possible to get CL14 or CL12 timings on 3200MHz RAM instead of going for 3600MHz? Also, I noticed something my GPU supports 4.0, but since my motherboard doesn’t support 4.0, it should be running on 3.0. But why is it running on x8 instead of x16? Theoretically, PCIe 3.0 x16 and 4.0 x8 provide the same bandwidth, so could there be an issue with that?

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Thanks for your reply! By the way, do you think it’s possible to get CL14 or CL12 timings on 3200MHz RAM instead of going for 3600MHz? Also, I noticed something my GPU supports 4.0, but since my motherboard doesn’t support 4.0, it should be running on 3.0. But why is it running on x8 instead of x16? Theoretically, PCIe 3.0 x16 and 4.0 x8 provide the same bandwidth, so could there be an issue with that?

You have to test memory settings. CL12, no. Not with that hardware. CL14 maybe.

When GPU is idle at desktop, it may go down to x8 mode during 2D operation. It should go 16x with a 3D load. Would do better in a newer motherboard, but thats a purchase you have to make, and you'd leave this platform (AM4) behind for AM5 and ddr5.

 

[serein]

You have to test memory settings. CL12, no. Not with that hardware. CL14 maybe.

When GPU is idle at desktop, it may go down to x8 mode during 2D operation. It should go 16x with a 3D load. Would do better in a newer motherboard, but thats a purchase you have to make, and you'd leave this platform (AM4) behind for AM5 and ddr5.

How can I test and oc memory can you help me? There was a ram test that you boot on bios is it something like that??

 

[Zach_01]

Hi everyone,
I’m looking to overclock my system, but I’m not sure where to start. Here are the details of my current setup:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• Cooling: ID-Cooling SE-234
• GPU: Gigabyte RX 6600 Eagle 8 GBRX 6600 Eagle
• Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE
• RAM: Patriot Viper Steel Dual 16 GB (2X8) 3200 MHz
• Case: BeQuiet! 500DX
• PSU: 600W 80+Gold

I know my motherboard (B450 Aorus Elite) supports up to 3600 MHz for RAM, so I’m wondering if I should push my RAM closer to that limit or keep it at 3200 MHz for stability and low latency. What settings would you recommend for stable overclocking?

Also, I’m interested in overclocking my GPU (RX 6600 Eagle). What parameters should I adjust for a safe and stable overclock? Any suggestions for increasing the performance of both my CPU and GPU without running into issues like instability? As for temperatures, even when gaming under high load my GPU doesn’t go beyond 60°C, so heat doesn’t seem to be an issue for me. Still, I’d like to make sure my overclocking settings are safe.


Any advice or settings you could provide would be really helpful. Thanks in advance!

Spoiler: Extra Info

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What exactly is the goal here?
Do some OC for the fun of it or gain some real performance?
Because this is "low" grade hardware and its OC potential is minimum if exists at all.

I had an R5 3600 for 3 years and tried with it a lot for the first year with PBO and DRAM. Marginal gains in performance at real apps (games) and mostly next to nothing.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

How can I test and oc memory can you help me? There was a ram test that you boot on bios is it something like that??

No, you don't need to run memtest from bios. Can do that in windows but use OCCT or Prime95 burn in apps. But also use the games you play for testing also.

I would leave timings as they are and increase the frequency until unstable. This will reduce latency along the way too. You leave xmp enabled and just manually set 3200 to 3300 or w/e in between selections and test.

 

[MAG]

Thanks for your reply! By the way, do you think it’s possible to get CL14 or CL12 timings on 3200MHz RAM instead of going for 3600MHz? Also, I noticed something my GPU supports 4.0, but since my motherboard doesn’t support 4.0, it should be running on 3.0. But why is it running on x8 instead of x16? Theoretically, PCIe 3.0 x16 and 4.0 x8 provide the same bandwidth, so could there be an issue with that?

Regarding Gigabyte's website it looks like that your GPU supports in general only 8 lanes regardless if the mainboard supports PCIe 4.0 or 3.0.

How can I test and oc memory can you help me? There was a ram test that you boot on bios is it something like that??

To prevent the possibility of a corrupted Windows installation and a following reinstallation of Windows you should always do at first a basic memory test using a tool which is e.g. started from a bootable USB stick like the well known MemTest86. You'll directly see if there is any chance with your OC settings for stability without corrupting any of your drives including the Windows one.
After a successful test using MemTest86 and booting into Windows you need further and more demanding stability tests like the already mentioned tools above (e.g. Prime95, OCCT, ...).

 

[WhenMusicAttacks]

Hi everyone,
I’m looking to overclock my system, but I’m not sure where to start. Here are the details of my current setup:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• Cooling: ID-Cooling SE-234
• GPU: Gigabyte RX 6600 Eagle 8 GBRX 6600 Eagle
• Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE
• RAM: Patriot Viper Steel Dual 16 GB (2X8) 3200 MHz
• Case: BeQuiet! 500DX
• PSU: 600W 80+Gold

I know my motherboard (B450 Aorus Elite) supports up to 3600 MHz for RAM, so I’m wondering if I should push my RAM closer to that limit or keep it at 3200 MHz for stability and low latency. What settings would you recommend for stable overclocking?

Also, I’m interested in overclocking my GPU (RX 6600 Eagle). What parameters should I adjust for a safe and stable overclock? Any suggestions for increasing the performance of both my CPU and GPU without running into issues like instability? As for temperatures, even when gaming under high load my GPU doesn’t go beyond 60°C, so heat doesn’t seem to be an issue for me. Still, I’d like to make sure my overclocking settings are safe.


Any advice or settings you could provide would be really helpful. Thanks in advance!

Spoiler: Extra Info

View attachment 377463
View attachment 377464
View attachment 377465
View attachment 377466

Getting the memory to 3600 is the best thing you can do in that system, performance in realtime or memory bound tasks will improve a lot. You have to find what memory chips you have using some tool like thaiphoon burner and then find how good it is and some scaling informations - like here https://www.reddit.com/r/overclocking/wiki/ram/ddr4/

RX6600 is a 8x card, will never run at 16x

I suggest people that know very little about a given topic not to answer in the first place.

What exactly is the goal here?
Do some OC for the fun of it or gain some real performance?
Because this is "low" grade hardware and its OC potential is minimum if exists at all.

I had an R5 3600 for 3 years and tried with it a lot for the first year with PBO and DRAM. Marginal gains in performance at real apps (games) and mostly next to nothing.

PBO does next to nothing, as 200mhz boost suggest it's at most a 6% increase in a pure cpu clock bound scenario - something that is 100% in cache and single threaded.

Memory tuning does a lot when you are not in the sweetspot. 3600 to 3733 might be very small as you are also pushing the vsoc limit and eating away the cpu power budget, but 3200 to 3600 is going to be a lot closer to the theoretical 12% increase, wich is more than most CPU generation upgrades or going from a 6 to a 8 core on the same gen.

 

[Zach_01]

Getting the memory to 3600 is the best thing you can do in that system, performance in realtime or memory bound tasks will improve a lot. You have to find what memory chips you have using some tool like thaiphoon burner and then find how good it is and some scaling informations - like here https://www.reddit.com/r/overclocking/wiki/ram/ddr4/

RX6600 is a 8x card, will never run at 16x

I suggest people that know very little about a given topic not to answer in the first place.


PBO does next to nothing, as 200mhz boost suggest it's at most a 6% increase in a pure cpu clock bound scenario - something that is 100% in cache and single threaded.

Memory tuning does a lot when you are not in the sweetspot. 3600 to 3733 might be very small as you are also pushing the vsoc limit and eating away the cpu power budget, but 3200 to 3600 is going to be a lot closer to the theoretical 12% increase, wich is more than most CPU generation upgrades or going from a 6 to a 8 core on the same gen.

Id like too see that how interprets into +FPS in games...

Spoiler:
I know

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Getting the memory to 3600 is the best thing you can do in that system, performance in realtime or memory bound tasks will improve a lot. You have to find what memory chips you have using some tool like thaiphoon burner and then find how good it is and some scaling informations - like here https://www.reddit.com/r/overclocking/wiki/ram/ddr4/

RX6600 is a 8x card, will never run at 16x

I suggest people that know very little about a given topic not to answer in the first place.


PBO does next to nothing, as 200mhz boost suggest it's at most a 6% increase in a pure cpu clock bound scenario - something that is 100% in cache and single threaded.

Memory tuning does a lot when you are not in the sweetspot. 3600 to 3733 might be very small as you are also pushing the vsoc limit and eating away the cpu power budget, but 3200 to 3600 is going to be a lot closer to the theoretical 12% increase, wich is more than most CPU generation upgrades or going from a 6 to a 8 core on the same gen.

So much better than me!! Though I should had remembed 6600 is 8x only had 2 of them for darn sakes. Oops. Small mistake, no big deal.

But that system probably isn't going to be doing 3733mt/s and basing this on theory. He will never gain 12% .... wait...

12% what? 12% theory?

 

[WhenMusicAttacks]

You clearly read that wrong

The 12% comes from 3200 to 3600, not from 3600 to 3733. 3600 is the sweetspot for that IO Die generation. Going above that, expecially if you have a bad cooler, is tradeoff territory - your vsoc power draw eats a lo more of the total power budget.

Id like too see that how interprets into +FPS in games...

Spoiler:
I know

With good ICs that can keep reasonable CL (like, 16 21 21 38) at 3600, more than 10% gain with memory tuning.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

You clearly read that wrong

The 12% comes from 3200 to 3600, not from 3600 to 3733. 3600 is the sweetspot for that IO Die generation. Going above that, expecially if you have a bad cooler, is tradeoff territory - your vsoc power draw eats a lo more of the total power budget.


With good ICs that can keep reasonable CL (like, 16 21 21 38) at 3600, more than 10% gain with memory tuning.

12% frequency increase. OK, DDR 3200 to 3600mt/s is only 200Mhz frequency increase.

Doubt OP has good ICs on that memory.

 

[freeagent]

PBO does next to nothing,

I ran Zen 2 briefly. I found PBO was a waste, I was running a 3600XT. I found static clocks and voltage worked best.

PBO really came into its own with Zen 3 and up. People use it for undervolting, but really it is meant to be used with power limits, the curve, and boost override.

 

[Zach_01]

You clearly read that wrong

The 12% comes from 3200 to 3600, not from 3600 to 3733. 3600 is the sweetspot for that IO Die generation. Going above that, expecially if you have a bad cooler, is tradeoff territory - your vsoc power draw eats a lo more of the total power budget.


With good ICs that can keep reasonable CL (like, 16 21 21 38) at 3600, more than 10% gain with memory tuning.

What I want to say is...

3200 >> 3600 = +12% frequency
equals to
less than 10% more bandwidth and even less % low latency
equals to
a marginal increase in game FPS. Way less than 5%.
Maybe 2%...

That is why I asked previously what is the goal here.
Fun or actual, meaningful performance gain?
I can see the first but definitely not the second.

 

[Chrispy_]

I've had a few kits of that Viper Steel - both were Hynix that were hard to reduce timings on and didn't like extra clock. Just about everything I tried was unstable, and the 1usmus 'safe' timings weren't safe.
IMO, leave the RAM alone, or try dropping the CL from 17 to 16 and do a thorough stability test before you move on from that. You're unlikely to see much headroom in the RAM in my experience with that particular kit.

The CPU isn't really something you can do much with if you're using an ID SE-234. It's fine, but raising the PPT beyond about 120W is a fool's errand and your RX 6600 is the bottleneck in most games anyway.

IMO, the best thing you can do is crank the VRAM on your RX6600 all the way. It's a bandwidth-limited card and most models use 16Gbps GDDR6 chips that are still under-clocked even when you shove the slider all the way to the right. If you want more performance out of it after that, you're going to have to undervolt it to get higher boost clocks. Undervolting RDNA2 is a bit of a black art, so you're best to watch some RDNA2/RX6000-series undervolting guides on Youtube. It's been a while but I think this guy was pretty beginner-friendly for RDNA2 tips:

The basics are to set the power limit to maximum, set the max core clock to maximum, and then drop the voltage incrementally until you crash.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Oh if he's going GPU OC, he's gotta grab MPT for this card. Beginner might as well have all the necessary tooling.

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I found PBO was a waste, I was running a 3600XT.

Potato cpu. I always understood PBO was only useful for the flagship processors.

 

[freeagent]

Potato cpu.

You trained me with that CPU

I will always wuv it. Even though I sold it

 

[ShrimpBrime]

You trained me with that CPU

I will always wuv it. Even though I sold it

Right. Static OC to FIT voltage.
Prime 95 small fft unticked.
PBO enabled all else defaults.
Set load and watch the working v-core when it settles.
It is recommended to use that FIT v-core during static OC as to not damage the CPU. However that was on pretty old agesa code I would think by now. Not sure if this tactic still applies to Zen 2.

But is all this necessary for beginner OC? Not for a regular gamer dude, I think not.

 

[WhenMusicAttacks]

What I want to say is...

3200 >> 3600 = +12% frequency
equals to
less than 10% more bandwidth and even less % low latency
equals to
a marginal increase in game FPS. Way less than 5%.
Maybe 2%...

That is why I asked previously what is the goal here.
Fun or actual, meaningful performance gain?
I can see the first but definitely not the second.

There are plenty ICs that will keep CL16 at 3600 even at 1.35 - heck even at 1.33 tbh.
Therefore, the gain can be very consistent.
ICs are a lottery, I got OEM 2666 sticks - no heatspreaders - with Micron Rev E that did 3600 cl16

 

[bonehead123]

so heat doesn’t seem to be an issue for me

Start o/c'ing stuff, and heat WILL become an issue, UNLESS you have very good airflow thru the case and quality fans

I suggest you start with small increases, test, test & retest for long term stability, then if all goes well, move on to the next step, and stop & back off a bit when the instability begins

 

[serein]

RX 6600 is the bottleneck in most games anyway.

Maybe or not. When I overclock my GPU, the CPU starts to bottleneck, with usage hitting 80-90% while GPU usage drops. I need to work on that, too. Under normal conditions, though, I can't talk about bottlenecking, as GPU usage is usually around 99%, and CPU usage stays between 50-55%. That's fine, I guess.

UNLESS you have very good airflow thru the case and quality fans

I've got 3x14cm fans on the front panel, which I think should be enough. The case itself is almost entirely mesh.

I recently did a CTR test (it was popular 3-4 years ago, not sure if it still holds validity now, but it came out as a golden sample). It showed the same results when I did the test 3-4 years ago, and I haven't even reapplied thermal paste, just cleaned the heatsinks properly recently. What do you think of the given settings? 1350mV and 4500MHz would be great if we can stabilize it, but we need to see if the VRMs can handle it. Maybe I should start with 1250mV and 4350MHz, and then move up if possible.