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Does AMD lie about the speed of their Ryzen CPUs, is this the truth?

One of the most misconceptions about processors is the MHz to speed ratio of the same processor compared to others of different architectures. Actually by clock cycles we understand the number of pulses and instructions that the processor performs, since depending on each architecture an instruction executes faster or slower measured in said “unit of measure”. For you to understand it better, it is like saying that one car is faster than another because it has more horsepower without taking other elements into account.

So a CPU with a higher clock speed, measured in MHz or GHz, than another does not mean that it is much faster. This is because popular belief is based on it when measuring which processor is faster, something used by marketing departments such as AMD.

Does AMD lie in the Boost speed of their Ryzen CPUs?

Overclock CTR Boost AMD Ryzen

It must be understood that the Boost speed of a CPU does not work in a sustained way but for a short period of time, since the same processor cannot remain stable with the temperatures it would reach if it operated under those frequencies in a sustained manner. So the trick is to make the clock rises last short enough so that the temperature does not rise to the critical point.

In AMD CPUs to avoid this they make use of some units called SMU, which are a series of sensors that measure temperature and power consumption of the processor and vary maximum clock speed and voltage. These limits imposed by the SMUs are what make it, depending on the technical and consumption specifications of the PC a higher or lower speed is reached. So we cannot say that AMD lies in the Boost speed of its CPUs, but that it is this unit that is responsible for contradicting them.

The other part has to do with the fact that although AMD announces that a processor can reach a clock speed during the official presentation of the same (marketing), in reality not all the chips of the wafer reach those maximum clock speeds. Nor can they rule them out as they are fully functional and 99% meet the specification.

The elephant in the room, the Precision Boost Overdrive

AMD Ryzen Motherboard

The algorithm that is executed by the SMU and that decides the maximum clock speed that a CPU can achieve in Boost mode it’s called Precision Boost. Well, there is a technology called Precision Boost Overdrive, which if you have a greater amount of VRM on the motherboard, and therefore a greater range of power and energy delivery, this is responsible for supplying you with a greater flow. current. The problem? The CPU needs a margin from the thermal point of view to grow in clock speed, that is, it needs to be cool to be able to take advantage of this technology.

To finish, it is understood that if AMD has not changed node and architecture to make a leap back like Intel with Rocket Lake-S, it does not make sense that the maximum clock speed goes down. Of course, this is nothing more than a myth, fueled by rumors that a new architecture has to bring a higher clock speed. That is, if there is not a substantial change that justifies a lower clock speed, such as an increase in total cores, an internal change in architecture and buses, a new platform or type of architecture, etc … AMD cannot justify lowering the clock speed. final speed.

Likewise, the marketing team would have to be honest and set lower official Boost speeds, since only 1% of the processors sold are at these values, but being at a further distance than Intel in this regard for the average user is not profitable, since it does not understand that final speed is not everything, so for now we will continue to see this technique until the tables are even and they can be more honest and stop “lying” (with that 1% it could be classified as lie) with their processors.

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