If you’re an overclocker who’s pondering whether to get the Ryzen 7 5800X3D or not, the decision has just gotten much simpler, as AMD’s Robert Hallock has corroborated previous claims of the new 8C/16T chip not supporting traditional overclocking. When asked as to whether this is a hard lock or if AMD was simply providing guidance to motherboard manufacturers, Hallock clarified that it is most definitely a hard lock. “It is locked. Locked.” The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is scheduled to hit shelves on April 20 for $449.
Ryzen 6000 Zen3+ Deep Dive And More With AMD’s Robert Hallock – LIVE! (HotHardware)
So as people know, this is our first CPU with 3D V-Cache technology. Our first 3D vertically stacked processor. And that packaging technology in our space has different voltage and frequency scaling that people may be accustomed to. So I think on the desktop parts, you’ve seen us ship parts that range up to 1.45 or even 1.5 volts in boost.
And that is not the limit for the 3D V-Cache technology. The voltage limit on that is more like 1.3 to 1.35. So we are not going to allow overclocking CPU, core frequency overclocking, or core voltage adjustment because out of the box, the design of the chip already uses and ranges up to that voltage and frequency limit. On the other hand, fabric overclocking remains enabled, memory overclocking remains enabled, and we know that our parts get the most benefit from that anyway.
And we know that a 5800X part without overclocking is shocking. But at the same time, at the same time, you know, we work very hard to maximize our performance out of the box for people. And this is a very new thing we’re trying with this 3D stacking thing. Especially in the consumer space that’s never seen it before.
And we have a tough choice to make. Do we wait for that technology to mature a little bit on voltage and frequency tolerance, or do we go right now because the […] technological benefits are so good and people are always asking us, just give me the best gaming kit for my money. I mean, that’s what I want.
So we made the choice. We’re going to ship it. It doesn’t support CPU frequency overclocking. And that’s why because the technology just doesn’t scale yet. Higher, and in time it will. And when it does, we’ll bring overclocking back.