JMW wrote:

I pay for 100Mb but rarely got above 50, even close to the router - now I can get at least 75, anywhere and with a signal that now goes out into my garden. So it’s not just the coverage, it’s fast everywhere too.

Internet in the garden is a lovely thing.

EvilRedEye wrote:

WHAT ABOUT A SHORT HIKE

you can't miss out a short hike

I've played it.

Hopefully you’ll be creating a thread for each one with a killer OP?

Desperados sounds good like. Might give that a shot.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/06/16/desperados-3-is-out-now-and-its-great/

Transformers! Robots in disguise!

acemuzzy wrote:

What does the MODE button mean on my PC's chassis??

Probably RGB modes.

Err there may be some sort of overclocking or turbo thing enabled by default, depending on processor and board manufacturer. Usually not though, you enable it in the BIOS or via some software such as Ryzen Master. If you want to try your hand at it let me know your specs and I can advise further.

GurtTractor wrote:

Err there may be some sort of overclocking or turbo thing enabled by default, depending on processor and board manufacturer. Usually not though, you enable it in the BIOS or via some software such as Ryzen Master. If you want to try your hand at it let me know your specs and I can advise further.

Yeah Ryzen Master looks to be my friend.  Thanks.  

So I've got a 3700X 8-Core.  The program has two profiles, but they're kinda the same, and both "default" control mode.  So I guess I change the "Game Mode" profile to be "Precision Boost Overdrive", or "Auto Overclocking" and see what happens?? And then I somehow tell it to use that profile?  And then I see if I can spot any difference?  Maybe not worth it till I'm actually playing a non-indie game

acemuzzy wrote:

Err there may be some sort of overclocking or turbo thing enabled by default, depending on processor and board manufacturer. Usually not though, you enable it in the BIOS or via some software such as Ryzen Master. If you want to try your hand at it let me know your specs and I can advise further.

Yeah Ryzen Master looks to be my friend.  Thanks.   So I've got a 3700X 8-Core.  The program has two profiles, but they're kinda the same, and both "default" control mode.  So I guess I change the "Game Mode" profile to be "Precision Boost Overdrive", or "Auto Overclocking" and see what happens?? And then I somehow tell it to use that profile?  And then I see if I can spot any difference?  Maybe not worth it till I'm actually playing a non-indie game

Ok so the first thing to check when attempting overclocking is to make sure that your voltages are at a safe level for long term use, you should check before you start and once you have applied a profile, just to make sure that it is not exceeding max recommended vcore. Apart from the high temperatures high voltage causes it can eventually degrade performance to where the CPU can no longer hold that clockspeed or even kill it in the worst case scenario. But as long as you are confident that the voltage is at a safe level it's nothing to worry about. You can even get your CPU to run more efficiently than the stock configuration by optimising the voltage to be as low as possible and still stable.

Download https://www.hwinfo.com/download/ And run it in sensors mode, then you want to look down the list of readings for the "CPU Core Voltage (SVI2 TFN)", that's what it's called on my 2700X anyway. You can right click on that and choose to bring up a graph which will be helpful for keeping an eye on it as the CPU goes under variable load in a stock/PBO configuration, and for checking vdroop when running at a fixed clockspeed.

You also want to bring up:

CPU (Tdie) - this is the temperature of the CPU

VRM MOS - this may be called something different on your board but it is the approximate temperature of the motherboard's VRM, which you don't want to get too far over 100 degrees...

SOC voltage - can also be important, though it usually doesn't fluctuate much.

And you may want to bring up some fan speeds, the CPU cooler fan, and maybe the case fans. This will help you see how they are reacting to temperatures, if necessary you may want to go into your BIOS and adjust the fan speed curves to keep on top of the heat, or just to optimise for noise/cooling.


Honestly I'm struggling to find reliable information about what the max voltage 7nm Ryzen can run at without degradation in the long term, it's really quite complicated. I'm going to go ahead and recommend that you keep the vcore below 1.29v for an all-core 100% load, ideally a bit lower just to be safe. With the stock fluctuating clock speed mode or using PBO you will see the voltages going all over the place, often waay higher. This is fine, single core loads will run at higher voltage allowing those cores to reach their maximum stable speeds, as more cores are loaded towards 100% the voltages will drop down to keep temperatures and stability in check. So you'll see it spike all over the place with out of the box settings.

With all that said, you may just not want to bother with overclocking 3rd gen Ryzen. If it's just for a bit of fun and to learn about all these things then go ahead, but if you hoping to get a substantial improvement, like more than a few percent in most games and stuff, then you will likely be disappointed. Basically AMD have really optimised these chips to extract about as much performance out of them as possible at stock settings, this is great for the consumer, but perhaps a little boring for the overclocking enthusiast. It was a similar case with 2nd gen Ryzen, but there were still some good gains to be made depending on your silicon quality.

Reading up on PBO settings might be your best bet, for my 2700X I found that you really need to lower the voltage using the offset to make it worthwhile, as too high a voltage = higher temperatures = lower clocks due to it throttling down. So it was a case of trying to find the sweet spot for voltage to get a decent bump in performance without running the cooler fans at a crazy loud speed. I think 3rd gen Ryzen might be much the same, but I would have to read up on it.

Actually I think I might recommend trying to optimise your RAM speeds first, before all of this. You can get a decent bump in performance if you can get the RAM at a higher MHz or by lowering the timings to reduce latency. It's safer than messing with the CPU/VRM anyway. You should at least check that your RAM is running at it's rated speed, out of the box DDR4 will often just run at like 2400MHz or something, 3200Mhz is a big jump from that and will make a big difference in games.

Gah, I haven't really answered your question have I? I don't have experience with 3rd gen so it's hard for me to give solid advice. Probably best to just watch some things like this -




Basically just keeping the temperatures down as much and possible and optimising your RAM will probably do more for you than messing with PBO or overclocking.

yourfavouriteuncle wrote:

Hades is fucking exceptional isn’t it?

yes it really is

Time to play wheel of Windows update! Yay.

Too late! Zing.

*Prays for facewon*

Facewon wrote:

I don't really do demos these days, but FYI there's a few new ones out via the Steam Game Festival.  I'm gonna try out Roki, Neon Abyss, Eldest Souls and Desperados III.  I shall report back.

Let's go baby. I did a bunch of demo downloading too. Different to above. Will also report back.

I tried Grounded first in fact. Looks nice, but I've no idea what I'm doing, and it's like an open world (metaphorically at least) survival thing which is like my least favourite genre I think. So I'm not.

acemuzzy wrote:

I don't really do demos these days, but FYI there's a few new ones out via the Steam Game Festival.  I'm gonna try out Roki, Neon Abyss, Eldest Souls and Desperados III.  I shall report back.

Let's go baby. I did a bunch of demo downloading too. Different to above. Will also report back.

I tried Grounded first in fact. Looks nice, but I've no idea what I'm doing, and it's like an open world (metaphorically at least) survival thing which is like my least favourite genre I think. So I'm not.

Eldest Souls seems to have potential... I mean it's 2D souls, with a nice sword, and minimal storytelling, so shrug really at this stage, but I feel moderately optimistic about it at this stage.  Needs some tuning though, the second boss in the demo is a bit too ridic (in its second phase), and you've not even been able to level up by then.  Maybe I just need to git gud though.

Roki looks great, but a very short and simple demo, so I'm not particularly convinced how much of a game there'll be underneath.  Kinda point and click 3D affair?  Maybe it'll be OK?  Could suit others more than me I suppose...