Athlon 3000G CPU Core Overclocking
CPU core overclocking is straightforward on the Athlon 3000G. There is only one relevant voltage: the CPU core voltage (“Vcore”). In order to overclock we simply set a voltage and a speed.
At stock our Athlon 3000G runs at 3.5GHz with a voltage of 1.26V. We picked a lower voltage of 1.2V as a starting point, and used Prime95 Small FFTs to test the settings. Initially these were short 10 minute runs, with longer tests used as we homed in on more stable settings.
Test Log
| Speed | Vcore | Test Result | Max Temp | Core Only Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stock (3.5GHz) | Stock (1.26V) | Pass | 53C | 20W |
| 3.5GHz | 1.2V | Pass | 49C | 18W |
| 3.6GHz | 1.2V | Pass | 50C | 18W |
| 3.7GHz | 1.2V | Pass | 51C | 19W |
| 3.8GHz | 1.2V | Pass | 52C | 19W |
| 3.9GHz | 1.2V | Fail | – | – |
| 3.9GHz | 1.23V | Fail | – | – |
| 3.9GHz | 1.25V | Fail | 54C | 23W |
| 3.9GHz | 1.26V | Pass | 55C | 24W |
| 4.0GHz | 1.3V | Fail | – | – |
| 4.0GHz | 1.31V | Fail | 57C | 26W |
| 4.0GHz | 1.33V | Fail | 57C | 26W |
| 3.95GHz | 1.3V | Pass | 56C | 25W |
Safety is a consideration with increases in voltage like this. The Athlon 3000G is made with 14nm silicon – we think it’s probably repurposing the recent “Dali” chip for low-end laptops. This means the expected safe voltage would be up to 1.425V if the chip is kept below 75C. However, we’re conscious that heat from the CPU cores may make it harder to push the integrated graphics. We could almost certainly stabilise 4GHz on our chip with more voltage, but we decided instead to back off.
A related concern is that the CPU will get hotter in gaming loads that stress the integrated graphics. Hotter chips are normally less stable. Because of this, even though 3.95GHz seemed stable, we went with settings of 3.9GHz at 1.3V.
<3
I’m amazed by the fact that you got to DDR4 3800 CAS 18 on this combination of RAM CPU and Motherboard. I wonder if even faster RAM (if even possible) would make it go further.
I’m interested in this chip not because I need a cheap PC, but cause I want a fun overclocking rig outside of my main PC.
Although it wouldn’t make much sense monetarily, I was thinking on paring it with a mid range board, mostly for the SOC VRMs which might not be as stable as a 2 phase and would probably get quickly overloaded with higher power targets, also cause I’d like to use it with a Zen 3 APU down the line.
I managed DDR4-4000 CL18 using an MSI B450I GAMING PLUS AC with Crucial Ballistix Sport rated for 3000 CL15 (Micron “E-die”). Normally older gen AMD CPUs top out around 3600 with good memory so I’d be (even more) surprised if it has more in it than that.
It’s a really fun CPU for overclocking and tweaking, but check compatibility carefully – sadly most X570 and B550 boards choose not to support the 3000G. This seems to be because it uses the older Zen 1 cores and is therefore classed as a “first generation” product – despite being numbered in the 3000 series!
Unfortunately this creates a bit of a quandary when it comes to the upgrade path. I’ve written a bit about the compatibility situation at https://play3r.net/news/articles/b450-zen-3-compatibility-amd-bow-to-community-pressure/ but generally, a B450/X470 board fully supporting the 3000G has a lot of caveats when it comes to future processors. Hopefully that doesn’t put you off though, because it really is a fun chip to play around with.
I’m forever grateful to this guide and review! You sir are an amazing tech guru for helping a novice like myself and I wish the best and the best for you.
Setup
ASUS B450M DRAGON 4400MHz(OC)
AMD Athlon 3000G
GSKILL 8GB 3000MHz CL16 DDR4 x2
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AMD Ryzen Master application is used
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CPU Clock Speed: 4.000 MHz
CPU Voltage: 1,3 Volt
APU GFX Clock Speed: 1.650 MHz
APU GFX Voltage: 1.3 Volt
CPU Max Temp: 62°C
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it works stably…
maybe an aio would help?