32-Core Overclock: How I Pushed the Threadripper 3970X 1 GHz Over Its Limit

[harlan4096]

I take the Cinebench world record with the Threadripper 3970X

AMD's recent CPUs are not known for their overclocking prowess. While the company ships all of its processors, including its powerful Threadrippers, unlocked, most don't have a lot of headroom for you to gain more than a few hundred MHz of clock speed. However, with the help of LN2 (liquid nitrogen) cooling and some settings tweaks, I was able to push AMD's 32-core Ryzen Threadripper 3970X as high as 5.5-GHz (5.4 - 5.5 on all cores) and set some new world records on Cinebench in the process.

I achieved a score of 23,323 points with the Threadripper 3970X, beating the previous record of 17,027 with the Threadripper 2990WX, and well over Intel's flagship Xeon W-3175X at 4.8GHz that previously set a record at 17,000 points.

The Threadripper 3970X is undoubtedly a behemoth. The PCB and integrated heat spreader (IHS) are very robust in comparison to Intel's current chips. This is something that I absolutely find importance in. I apply hundreds of pounds of pressure to the processor when I mount my liquid nitrogen pot, an eight-pound hunk of copper, and when I tighten the screws with pliers I have to trust that the components will not bend or break. Any amount of bowing will drop memory channels and cause other headaches.

With the Threadripper 3970X, I didn't experience any issues at all, even when pushing the boundaries beyond my own comfort: AMD’s socket and hold down is absolute perfection to me. It’s entirely idiot proof, kind of like loading a cassette into a tape player (what are those?).

My only niggle is AMD's choice of threading for the holes that you use to mount the cooler to the socket. AMD's socket xTRX4 uses a very rare M3.5 x 0.6mm threading, which is important because I have to buy long rods to mount my LN2 pot. A yard of the rod and four thumb nuts will set you back a hard-to-accept $85.

Enough banter, lets overclock this baby. I will give you an idea of what it will hit with an All-In-One watercooler (will it even work?), a custom watercooling loop, and then finally on liquid nitrogen. You can find a list of parts I will use below.

* AMD 3970X Processor
* Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut LHE Edition
* ASRock TRX40 Taichi Motherboard
* GSKILL NEO 8GBx4 F4-3800C14-8GTZN
* Enermax Max Tytan 1250W Power Supply
* Enermax Liqtech TR4 II Series 360 AIO
* Byski A Ryzen Tech V2 X Water Block w/ 9x120 MO-RA radiator and D5 Pumps
v8ECC Thread Ripper Ln2 Pot

I used the ASrock TRX40 Taichi motherboard, which has a 16-Phase VRM with 90-amp chokes all in a normal ATX form factor. It’s a tank that's built to handle the 64-core Threadripper 3990X that should be released soon, so it easily handles the “baby” 32-core model. I didn't even actively cool the VRM or use the included VRM cooler, but it remains cool to the touch. This board is built for extreme overclocking (XOC), so normal ambient overclocking is a joke. Consider the motherboard handled.

First off, let’s test the Enermax Liqtech TR4 II Series all-in-one water cooler. This cooler is made specifically for Threadripper so it should work, but can we actually overclock on it? The answer is, hell yes we can. The cold plate is extremely flat out of the box which meshes perfectly with AMD’s well-refined integrated heat spreader (IHS). It should also go without saying that the full-coverage cold plate, which covers the entirety of the IHS, is a must.

I blasted copious amounts of voltage to the cores with no sweat. I managed an impressive 4,450 MHz in Cinebench R20, hitting a peak of 78C on the hottest core as I blasted my way to a monsterous score of 19,600. Honestly, that is shockingly high. This chip means business.

Next, I moved on to the custom loop with a Byski waterblock, and I was quite surprised with the results. Keep in mind that the threaded rod and those thumb nuts cost me more than the water block did, which is outrageous. I reached the same frequency limit as I did with the Enermax Liqtech TR4 II Series.

The Byski did allow me to use slightly less core voltage (0.05V less) as the temps were, on average, 5C cooler, but this made no difference and 5C is nearly irrelevant to me. Bumping up the voltage further did not help me push clocks any higher, so it's clear the CPU is at the limit of ambient cooling. Let’s remove that limit.
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