Ryzen 7 9850X3D 6% faster than 9800X3D? - the world’s best gaming CPU? tests, comparisons and rumors

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The main thing I would watch out for on the 9850X3D are the temps of that extra boost clock - you’ll want to make sure your cooling is solid!

To get the most out of that extra boost clock, I recommend spending some time on memory timings and the often forgotten memory “subtimings”. Last summer I went down the rabbit hole of benchmarking in order to learn about the various settings and how they affect the 9800X3D CPU, and discovered:

  • EXPO enabled is a no-brainer, reducing latency by about 15%

  • But memory Subtimings have as much extra benefit - reducing latency by another 15% in benchmarking. MSFS moves a HUGE amount of data around in RAM and VRAM, so correctly setting FCLK, UCLK and MEMCLK is key, and optimizing subtimings (and testing stability of those timings) yields a lot of benefit. On my MSI X870E Carbon board, with EXPO enabled, “High Efficiency Mode” appears in BIOS with 4 presets for memory subtimings: Relaxed, Balanced, Tighter and Tightest. Even Relaxed improves benchmarks scores as much as boost clock alone (provided your memory is on QVL list and is stable)

  • PBO undervolting (all core, or per core if you have the patience) is very beneficial, because it reduces heat and creates thermal / power headroom for that extra boost. But again, modest undervolt is better than maximum undervolt, for stability. MSFS is not a steady demand, but a rapidly shifting demand.

  • Boost clock benefits from having that thermal headroom and correctly set memory timings

  • The best result is of course when the above are combined - but with MSFS a modest amount of each is more stable than maximum.

  • GPU undervolting is also really beneficial for that heat / power draw, again modest undervolt is enough. I use ASUS GPU Tweak III (Asus RTX card) and found that enabling extra voltage etc made MSFS unstable. Simply shifting the active section of the voltage frequency curve (820 to 1000 mV) up by about 200 MHz kept my GPU cool and under 500 W running 3 screens

if useful for anyone, for details on memory timings with the 9800X3D I put lots of charts in this post:

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