Ryzen overclock always runs at top speed?

donalgodon wrote: Does that mean that the cores are always running at top speed?

donalgodon wrote: I did a slight overclock of my Ryzen 5 1600 to 3.7. It was showing a 3.2 clock speed with a max of 3.4 before OC, but now, it just reads as 3.7. Does that mean that the cores are always running at top speed?

donalgodon wrote: I did a slight overclock of my Ryzen 5 1600 to 3.7. It was showing a 3.2 clock speed with a max of 3.4 before OC, but now, it just reads as 3.7. Does that mean that the cores are always running at top speed?

Your PC may be configured to have the CPU's cores set at a speed/frequency of 3.7GHz constantly, but if the cores are actually truly operating at 3.7GHz all the time depends upon other aspects of its configuration.

There are multiple things in the UEFI/BIOS and in Windows that can affect the speed/frequency of the CPU, and if it actually operates at a certain speed/frequency.

Does the monitoring program you use display the speed of all the six cores of your CPU, or do you see just one CPU speed/frequency?

Do you have Cool n Quiet and C6 C State support enabled in the UEFI/BIOS?

Which Windows power plan are you using?

If you were using the Windows High Performance, or Ryzen Balanced power plan, with C6 C State enabled, the processor core's frequency would be shown as 3.7GHz, but one of more of the processor cores could be in the C6 power saving state, which is doing nothing at all in an idle state. Cores can transition in and out of the C6 C state very quickly (in milliseconds if not less), and when in the C6 state, the core is not doing any work, and is not running at any speed.

I can't show an example of this on a Ryzen system, but HWiNFO64 can with newer Intel processors.

If you have C6 C State enabled now, check your CPU temperature and any processor power usage readings. Then disable C6 in the UEFI/BIOS, boot into Windows, and check the CPU temperature and processor power usage readings. You should find that they have increased. Since the processor cores are now never put into an idle state, they are always running at 3.7GHz, but may be doing nothing at all.

Cool n Quiet will reduce the processor speed/frequency, but the some Windows power plans will override it and keep the frequency set to 3.7GHz.

So the answer to your question is, it depends upon your UEFI and Windows configuration if the processor cores are constantly operating at 3.7GHz. Your processor speed may be configured to always be 3.7GHz, but power saving options can put cores into an idle state, so are not "running" at that time.