Gigabyte Releases AMD Ryzen 3000 Zen 2 Per CCX Overclocking Beta BIOS
Gigabyte has made available a beta BIOS update for its X570 Aorus Master motherboard, and with it comes new support for per-CCD overclocking on AMD's Ryzen 3000 series processors. While we have not tested this ourselves, the firmware update should make it easier to achieve higher and more stable overclocked frequencies in some instances.
This is a desirable feature because of the way AMD's latest generation Ryzen processors are designed. Depending on the specific model, a Ryzen 3000 series CPU can have one or two core chiplet dies (CCDs). In turn, each of those dies has two CPU complex or core complex (CCX) clusters.
To give an example, the Ryzen 9 3950X has two CCDs, each with two CCX clusters. Within each of those CCX clusters are four physical processor cores, so you're looking at eight cores per CCD, and 16 cores (and 32 threads) total.
This arrangement can make overclocking somewhat tricky. Some cores inevitably perform better than others, in terms of being able to boost to a certain frequency, and/or go beyond. So, the weakest link in the chain can affect the overclocking ceiling, even if it's just one core that struggles.
CCX overclocking is sort of a micromanagement scheme. Equipped with this beta BIOS, X570 Aorus Master owners can overclock each cluster separate from one another. Overclocking results are still limited to the weakest CPU core in each cluster, but at least this way, it won't impact all of the clusters.
The usual caveats still apply—cooling plays a role, as experience and plain old luck of the draw. In addition, bear in mind that this is a beta BIOS.
"Because this is a test BIOS it may break other functions. Please do not use this as a daily driver. Its for people who want to experiment with a new feature only," Gigabyte states.
If you want to experiment with it, hit the link in the Via field below.
