Overclocking The AMD Ryzen APUs: Guide and Results
by Ian Cutress & Gavin Bonshor on April 16, 2018 2:30 PM ESTHow to Overclock With ASUS UEFI BIOS
Depending on which ASUS motherboard that is being used, whether that’s one such as the ASUS Prime X370-Pro (featured here) or a more gaming focused Republic of Gamers branded option, the only real differences come through the GUI and theme. The settings themselves remain the same and the ASUS BIOS offers both basic and advanced modes.
After entering the BIOS, the basic mode splash screen will appear. Here users can enable XMP (DOCP, Direct Overclock Profile), adjust fan profiles, and apply some 'EZ Tuning' for automatic overclocks that can be hit or miss. Pressing F7 enters the advanced mode.
Once into the advanced section of the BIOS, all the overclocking related settings can be found in the AI Tweaker section. One interesting thing that was found within this particular BIOS was when XMP was enabled, it would remove access to the iGPU settings. Unfortunately we weren't able to determine if this was an isolated issue or whether it’s a more widespread across the entirety of the ASUS AM4 board range.
Changing the 'CPU Core ratio' to 39.00 will translate to 3.9 GHz. Due to the removal of the iGPU options when XMP enabled, the memory was changed manually within the BIOS; the easiest way to do this is to set the frequency and leave the sub-timings on auto, then manually adjusting the sub-timings to fit the module's rating.
To open up the integrated graphics options, setting the GPU Boost option to manual mode is required. This gives the GFX clock frequency option (note the lack of capital letters, perhaps this option was rushed in), while the voltage options are further down the list.
All the the voltage options further down. ASUS makes it a little confusing here, by not having the standard names for a few of these options - ASUS calls the CPU core voltage 'VDDCR CPU Voltage', for example. In each case for this sub-section, the manual mode option needs to be selected to offer the manual input for voltages. It is worth remembering to set the DRAM voltage if the timings were set manually.
Once all the settings are entered, pressing F10 will bring up the save and reset box where the user can evaluate and comb over the changes made.
Many thanks to Lawrence Timme - due to not having an appropriate ASUS AM4 motherboard to hand (we somehow ended up with no ASUS boards with video outputs), he kindly provided the screenshots for this section.
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JoeyJoJo123 - Monday, April 16, 2018 - link
You pay more for the MiniITX formfactor, in both case cost, SFX PSU cost, and motherboard feature compaction costs. Check out PcPartPicker to organize a parts list. I'd recommend just sticking with whichever X370 or X470 board is cheapest and well rated, and choosing a cheap (~$60 or less) but well rated case to go along with that. 80+ Bronze ~400W PSUs from a reputable manufacturer are cheap.With the savings you can splurge a bit on faster/more memory or a FreeSync enabled or high refresh rate display, or nicer peripherals, all of which at the end of the day provide a more meaningful impact on a day-to-day basis than just having a "tiny" PC.
Alexvrb - Wednesday, April 18, 2018 - link
There are tons of mITX cube cases that are affordable and use standard PSUs. You also get WiFi included, and if you choose your board carefully you get GOOD WiFi included.Alexvrb - Monday, April 16, 2018 - link
I just built a system using the board you just linked, for my dad. Using the 2200G too. It's a peppy little system. The board has been solid (I bought it in March and it was already 2000-ready, but flash it anyway as the newer BIOS has fixes and better RAM support). BIOS seems decent. It also has pretty good Intel WiFi preinstalled, and a decent antenna. Installed the latest driver straight from Intel. A lot of ITX boards use CRAP wifi that is unreliable with poor drivers. This saved me from having to swap wifi chips.I also got a good deal on a 2 x 8GB kit. Team T-Force Dark 3000 kit, CL16.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N...
It's overkill since he doesn't game but I got it on sale and faster RAM is never a bad thing. All I did was kick on the XMP profile and it works flawlessly. Even faster RAM shouldn't be a problem either for Raven Ridge but once you get above a certain point you have to start thinking about what memory dies and configuration you're looking at. If you're planning on running integrated for a bit you could overclock the IGP and get somewhat faster RAM.
Lolimaster - Tuesday, April 17, 2018 - link
I would get a new X470, the memory managament seems to be better.Asus X470-Pro
Lolimaster - Tuesday, April 17, 2018 - link
For PSU Seasonic S12-II 520w Bronze, a champ of efficiency at low loads (80%+ at 10% load were even platinum PSU's fail hard).Alexvrb - Wednesday, April 18, 2018 - link
He's obviously building a budget rig. Until B450 mITX boards show up, you're in a different league entirely in terms of price.mr_tawan - Tuesday, April 17, 2018 - link
I am looking at this mainboard as well. I'm aiming for SkyReach 4 mini for case and HDPlex 160W, which are quite expensive but it's quite attractive (at least for me). I'd put the Ryzen 3 2200g and a pair of DDR4 (not decided yet) and call it a stelth rig :).That said, I am actually thinking about getting a laptop instead, but laptop is not as stelth-ey as a small pc form factor IMHO :).
mr_tawan - Tuesday, April 17, 2018 - link
oh and a stick of M.2 Samsung 860EVO for storage. 120GB maybe ...Amandtec - Tuesday, April 17, 2018 - link
The integrated video scales almost linearly with memory speed so try to buy faster memory and get 2x4gb rather than 1x8gb. Also, one video showed a $20 fan vastly outperforming the standard one for overclocking. So for about an extra 10% cost or $40 you can get up to 30% performance improvement.Lolimaster - Tuesday, April 17, 2018 - link
You can reuse the heatsink on basically any other build or future APU.CM Hyper 212X is the champ. Also silent operation, totally worth it.