Ryzen 5 1600 and AMD Ryzen Balanced Power mode

[William Gaatjes]

Look for buildzoid's video on the AB350M (Pro4) VRMs on YouTube. He goes over all of that. Apparently, the VRM controller that they use, only has three channels for the CPU VRMs, but they drive a pair of MOSFETs and inductors each, so it's got the power of 6 phases, but it really only has three, so overclocking and voltage stability may suffer slightly.

I haven't had too much trouble with it, but my overclocking requires a lot of voltage to get stable, compared to some people that have motherboards with all "real" vcore phases, and LLC settings available in the UEFI.

Edit: Saw that Newegg on ebay wanted only $59.99 FS for the AB350M, and from your pics, it seems like it has similar VRMs to the Pro4, so I snagged a couple, for future Ryzen 3 builds. (Trying to decide between 1200 and 1300X. Want 3.8+Ghz on them. Heard that the 1300X is binned better.)

Yes, i have been reading about the doublers. A cheap way to increase the phases for to increase the total output current while not having to use more expensive inductors and mosfets (with higher current ratings) to get higher output currents. And the speed that the pwm controller can adjust the output voltage is still the same as with using only 3 phases. A pwm controller that has 6 outputs for 6 real phases at the same total pwm frequency (Is really 6 times higher to accommodate 6 pwm outputs all shifted 60 degrees from each other.) can respond more faster to load changes. If the 3 phase pwm controller is outputting the pwm at twice the original frequency it would have also twice the response speed. At least that is the simple explanation. It is way more complex in reality.
But i am not going to overclock, so the AB350M is fine for me.

And i was reading this about Processor degradation because i am still deciding between the 1600 and 1600x.
I wonder if this also applies to the X version of the ryzen models being clocked to the max.
For reliability, i might be better of with a 1600.

The Truth About Processor "Degradation"

Degradation - the process by which a CPU loses the ability to maintain an equivalent overclock, often sustainable through the use of increased core voltage levels - is usually regarded as a form of ongoing failure. This is much like saying your life is nothing more than your continual march towards death. While some might find this analogy rather poignant philosophically speaking, technically speaking it's a horrible way of modeling the life-cycle of a CPU. Consider this: silicon quality is often measured as a CPU's ability to reach and maintain a desired stable switching frequency all while requiring no more than the maximum specified process voltage (plus margin). If the voltage required to reach those speeds is a function of the CPU's remaining useful life, then why would each processor come with the same three-year warranty?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2468/6


edit:
I had to remove a brain fart.

 

[gr33nbits]

It's really up to you well i went for the 1600 cause it brings a 95w tdp cooler that looks awesome and does the job pretty well even with the stock thermal paste that i mounted on, i will replace it for other thermal paste in some months but for now it's going to 60º and it's summer and really hot here.
Both are great choices in my opinion 1600 or the 1600x just a matter of cost, here in Portugal i had to pay 30€ more for the 1600x and then get a 212Evo that was about 40€ so a total of 70€ more was not worth it for me so i went 1600.

 

[astrosfan315]

Just to update my post (I edited main post) I am OC'ing my CPU to 3.8ghz on stock cooler. Stress temps were under 70C and gaming newer games it is around 62C. I mainly play CSGO and SWTOR though so my CPU is in the 40s and my GPU fan never kicks in (has to be over 60 to start up). I ran a Firestrike demo and got 12002. You can see the score here:
https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/21759382

I'm pleased with everything, been stable for a month with these settings. So, who cares about the boost when all my cores are at 3.8 ghz through bios

 

[gr33nbits]

Yes true, i will bump mine too but so far no need, great buy and im sure @3.8 it performs like a champ even at 3.4/3.7 some cores.