Here is something you don't see every day: 1usmus, an AMD Ryzen developer and author of DRAM Calculator for Ryzen, has revealed a new power plan that nets an average increase of 200-250MHz on AMD Ryzen 3000 series processors (including the upcoming Threadripper 3000 series based on the sRTX4 socket). This is absolutely insane considering turbo clocks are usually pretty much fixed across processors and AMD users will suddenly be able to get much higher performance per dollar for parts that they have already purchased.
[...] [According] to 1usmus, the mod is currently working the best on dies with at least two CCDs (i.e. more than 8 cores) such as the Ryzen 3900 and 3950X while others will notice "positive gains". This means that you can expect even higher performance boosts on the upcoming Threadripper series which features even more than two CCDs.
The AMD developer states that he has sent an official recommendation to AMD and hopes it will be made part of the official stack soon enough. Considering AMD has always been very historically open to suggestions and improvements I won't be surprised to see this upgrade rolled out officially soon enough (maybe as a setting in the control panel?).
Here is the interesting part however, the processor actually increases in energy efficiency with this new power plan. 1usmus has achieved this by using an optimized load balancer approach. While AMD's official stack loads up bad cores (cores which may not boost as high), the custom stack loads up the best cores, allowing for higher boosts and an increased power efficiency curve. The stock AMD stack also uses multiple cores with an uneven distribution of load while as 1usmus' custom plan utilizes only two "good" cores.
1usmus Custom Power Plan for Ryzen 3000 Zen 2 Processors
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AMD has announced its latest Threadripper high end desktop CPUs, along with a launch date for the Ryzen 9 3950X:
AMD is set to close out the year on a high note. As promised, the company will be delivering its latest 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X processor, built with two 7nm TSMC chiplets, to the consumer platform for $749. Not only this, but AMD today has lifted the covers on its next generation Threadripper platform, which includes Zen 2-based chiplets, a new socket, and an astounding 4x increase in CPU-to-chipset bandwidth.
Reviews of the 16-core 3950X will appear on November 14, with retail availability on November 25. The "mainstream" CPU has a 3.5 GHz base clock, 4.7 GHz single-core boost clock, and 24 PCIe 4.0 lanes. Unlike most Ryzen CPUs, the 3950X will not come with a bundled cooler, and AMD has published a list of recommended coolers instead.
All Ryzen 3000-series CPUs can now be configured to use a lower TDP using AMD's software:
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 05 2019, @03:18AM (1 child)
I wonder if there is some reason AMD didn't implement this from the start.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 05 2019, @05:21PM
Incompetence?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by aristarchus on Tuesday November 05 2019, @03:25AM (4 children)
"on Windows"? Imagine what could be done on this hardware with a real operating system!
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday November 05 2019, @03:31AM (3 children)
"on Windows" was not in my submission. If AMD implements it, it will apply to Linux.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Informative) by aristarchus on Tuesday November 05 2019, @08:06AM (1 child)
So, why is it in the Headline? Suggests that the improvement is not to be had on non-windows systems. A shill submission? Or have you lost all editorial control over subs from the marketing hive mind, takyon?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 05 2019, @08:57AM
Why no talk of Stallman, is he forgotten?
(Score: 3, Informative) by richtopia on Tuesday November 05 2019, @03:28PM
Well, it looks like the actual power plan is a batch file for the Windows Power management system:
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/1usmus-custom-power-plan-for-ryzen-3000-zen-2-processors/2.html [techpowerup.com]
It could be that Linux properly manages the CPU already, however I haven't seen any cross-OS benchmarks for these new processors.