Clock Frequencies and Boost Clock Analysis

Most modern processors feature a capability called "Boost" or "Turbo" that automatically overclocks the CPU beyond the nominal clock frequency provided certain conditions related to thread count, power draw, and temperatures are met. Our testing on this page investigates what actual real-life frequencies can be achieved in such scenarios. The data below presents the minimum, maximum, and average clock frequency of a given core/thread-count combination for a typical heavy workload. We start with one thread and go all the way up to the CPU's maximum thread count while at the same time measuring the average clock frequency for these timed testing runs.


The Ryzen Threadripper 2970WX sustains its maximum boost state of 4.20 GHz for up to three threads. Beyond that clocks immediately drop by sizable amount, down to around 4 GHz, from which they slowly go down as the number of active cores increases. With all cores loaded, the processor still runs a very respective 3.55 GHz all-core frequency.

It's surprising to see the big drop after three threads, which isn't happening with the other Zen 2 processors we tested before. We have no explanation for it at this time, but it's consistent through several test runs.

When not loaded at all, the processor's idle clock is 2000 MHz.