help understanding offset voltage with ryzen 5 1600

[serpentracer]

so what does the offset voltage do exactly? why does it work best all the way on min that makes the psu noisy, and why is this setting way out of the norm where others (including asus own software) run theirs? it seems like everyone including asus's software run the voltage up around 3.8 to 4.0 and an offset around 1.2 to 2 v.
mine runs like a 13 year old cpu if I do those settings.

 

[Johan45]

so what does the offset voltage do exactly? why does it work best all the way on min that makes the psu noisy, and why is this setting way out of the norm where others (including asus own software) run theirs? it seems like everyone including asus's software run the voltage up around 3.8 to 4.0 and an offset around 1.2 to 2 v.
mine runs like a 13 year old cpu if I do those settings.

Offset is just what it says, either adds (+) or subtracts (-) from the stock voltage settings. Like I said before I think you're throttling that's why you get better scores and coil whine with one setting Vs another. The rest of your post isn't making a lot of sense to me TBH. I think you're confusing some things 3.8 - 4.0 GHz and voltage should be max at 1.45V for the CPU core. Something in your system can't handle that though which is why you get poor performance sometimes. If you're going to overclock this thing take your time and do it right.
Start at 1.3V set for core and 3.8 GHz or 38X for the multi. Boot into Windows and test with Prime95 watch the temps with HWinfo64. Take some screen shots and then post them here.
What is your "air cooler"?
Maybe take the time to create a signature with your components so we know what you're working with

 

[serpentracer]

let me be clear, with all the recommended settings, the only thing that makes it increase in performance is setting an offset v. the lowest setting makes it perform the best. which is +.00625.

I set it to all mobo defaults and it seems to be a good balance of quiet and performance. what is doing the "throttling"? it's not windows or linux so what does it? if it is windows and linux they both do it the exact same.
windows is so slow I wiped the drive clean already. didn't seem to make any difference what system i run. the performance results were the same. windows didn't do anything better except hog more resources lol and again, heat of the cpu never ever goes over 150F. no matter what tests were done or how long they ran. I can't even feel with my finger any kind of heat on the heatsink on the cpu.

but for the heck of it here is my system

Asus ROG strix B350-F mother board
AMD Ryzen 5 1600 cpu
zalman CNPS5X air cooler with arctic silver's arctic alumina ceramic polysynthetic thermal compound.
Crucial Balistix sport DDR4 2400 memory 8 gig
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050
Corsair CX750M power supply (yeah overkill but it was on sale for $69)
and a cheap SSD from inland.

like I keep saying, you guys keep telling me to use 1.3v to 1.4v with the voltage that high and no offset set, it performs way way way slower. with it turned down closer to 1.20 v the performance leaps much higher. this right here is what I don't understand. every oc tutorial recommends at min 1.3 to 1.4v. even the software for the motherboard sets the voltage to 1.38 when it did the tuning wizard thing. the results = slow computer. I repeat, if I set an offset of .00625 it leaps to a i7 level of performance. that is the only change made to get it to perform that high

again, I have the bios set on all stock default settings. the power supply is quieter and the performance is ok. much higher than any recommended settings but slower than the fastest settings I could get from it.
here is what I have found to work the best so far

cpu core v (VDDCR )set around 1.24v offset of + .00625
3.8Ghz
1.35v for the memory
tpu set to [keep current settings]
memory frequency set to D.O.C.P it shows in cpu-z on windows and linux as 2400mhz
idle temp 82F max load 150F
results = very high performance (for this system) without the .00625 offset the system doesn't perform to this level. that is the only change and the performance keeps dropping if i add more offset. also if I go over 3.8 it starts to hang during stress tests. at 4.0 it crashed the system.

recommended from a tutorial on youtube,

cpu 3.8 to 4.1 Ghz.
1.3 to 1.4v VDDCR. doesn't give a recommended offset.
target memory freq, 2400 or 2666
ram v 1.35
results= **** poor.

recommend staying below 85C (185F) which mine is well below for both setups never going over 150f on linux or windows. so what in the heck makes that little offset v able to increase the cpu performance so much and why does the psu seem to hate it lol? if it were not for the cpu noise I'd leave it on those settings. as it never crashed using asus realbench for several hours

 

[Johan45]

OK, for starters recommended settings, YT videos etc... be damned. You're not listening or providing any info which is what we need to get you set up and running correctly.
It's not Windows or Linux that's throttling the CPU, it's the built-in safety measures from board/BIOS/CPU that keeps you from damaging it. That Zalman cooler isn't very good and I would bet that when you set the voltage higher the system is throttling due to temperature probably so fast you don't even see it.

Set f5 defaults in BIOS then set the DOCP/XMP for the memory so it's running at 2400 rated speed (one stick you're missing out on dual channel performance)
Boot to windows and download HWInfo 64 and Prime 95. Open HWInfo then P95 answer is just testing and start the blend test. After ~ 30 minutes take a screenshot and post it here showing the temps and voltages part of HWInfo64

 

[serpentracer]

OK, for starters recommended settings, YT videos etc... be damned. You're not listening or providing any info which is what we need to get you set up and running correctly.
It's not Windows or Linux that's throttling the CPU, it's the built-in safety measures from board/BIOS/CPU that keeps you from damaging it. That Zalman cooler isn't very good and I would bet that when you set the voltage higher the system is throttling due to temperature probably so fast you don't even see it.

Set f5 defaults in BIOS then set the DOCP/XMP for the memory so it's running at 2400 rated speed (one stick you're missing out on dual channel performance)
Boot to windows and download HWInfo 64 and Prime 95. Open HWInfo then P95 answer is just testing and start the blend test. After ~ 30 minutes take a screenshot and post it here showing the temps and voltages part of HWInfo64

it is dual channel. set on the defaults it shows up in windows and linux as 2400mhz. I'll have to reinstall windows. it started showing my processor as 3 core after I installed amd's drivers. actually, windows installed it on it's own. and it all went to hell. that's why I refuse to use windows 10.

 

[serpentracer]

here is a link to the large file for easy viewing. btw, f5 defaults sets the cpu @ 3.2Ghz. if you want i can upload more pics using higher cpu frequency.

https://flic.kr/p/2cJEtd9

 

[serpentracer]

ok so there was a new bios update for performance issues. it seemed to have added a few settings to the bios also. so here it is running at 3.6ghz mem voltage set to 1.350. I notice HWinfo shows wildly different cpu temp readings.

https://flic.kr/p/2cJRrWj

 

[serpentracer]

so check this out guys, after the bios update the system is quit good on f5 defaults except I set the cpu to 3.6ghz, the memory to D.O.C.P and 1.35v. also the bios update has another option under the DOCP it's DOCP standard. I set it to just the D.O.C.P. upon start up splash screens the power supply emits it's bird chirps now but I guess i'll have to live with it. it doesn't do it while booted in windows or linux. it's only during initial boot of the system.

I'm quite happy with the results. I may look into a better cooler but it's still better than the stock wraith spire cooler the cpu came with. it appears the mobo reports a different temp than the cpu die does. it's about 20 degrees cooler. so you may have been correct about the temps Johan45. the base of the cooler doesn't feel warm to the touch. but the heat pipes feel warm.
you can see the reported max temps in the pics of the previous posts.

here is the cinebench results without any real OC on my part. just set to 3.6ghz and D.O.C.P with 1.35v for the memory. whatever they did to the bios seems to have corrected it. I was starting to suspect something wasn't right. now it's behaving more like the tutorials speak of.

https://flic.kr/p/QFVDKd

 

[Johan45]

Yeah things look OK, that 20° difference id normal AMD wants it that way . You should be able to keep upping the multi and testing now

 

[serpentracer]

for anyone that sees this thread in the future, do NOT install amd ryzen master software. it locked the cpu to 3 cores in windows. none of the instructions to fix it worked for me. had to reinstall windows.

 

[Johan45]

I had similar issues but re-flashing the BIOS cleared it for me