Athlon 3000G Memory Overclocking
For memory, we picked out a set of old OEM sticks rated for only DDR4-2400. We fully expected these to be unimpressive. After all, not many users are likely to spend £200 on memory for their sub-£50 APU. To our surprise, the Athlon 3000G and Gigabyte B450M-DS3H still managed to push them to DDR4-3800. This speed is likely limited on the memory controller side. We still think most modern memory should do at least as well, taking timings into account.
There’s an awful lot to say about memory tuning, but for this article we’ll stick to sharing our test log. If you want to learn more about memory overclocking, we recommend the extensive guide by integralfx on github.
Test Log
| Speed | Timings (CL-RCD-RP-RAS-RC) | Voltage | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2400 | 17-17-17-39-56 | 1.2V | Stable (stock) |
| 3200 | 26-26-26-60-84 | 1.2V | Stable (short test) |
| 3400 | 26-26-26-60-84 | 1.2V | Memtest errors |
| 3400 | 26-26-26-60-84 | 1.3V | Stable (short test) |
| 3466 | 26-26-26-60-84 | 1.3V | Stable (short test) |
| 3533 | 26-26-26-60-84 | 1.3V | Stable (short test) |
| 3600 | 26-26-26-60-84 | 1.3V | Stable (short test) |
| 3666 | 26-26-26-60-84 | 1.3V | Stable (short test) |
| 3733 | 26-26-26-60-84 | 1.3V | Stable (short test) |
| 3800 | 26-26-26-60-84 | 1.3V | Memtest crash |
| 3800 | 26-26-26-60-84 | 1.35V | Stable (short test) |
| 3800 | 18-24-16-24-62 (tRCDWR 10) | 1.35V | Stable (long test) |
| 3800 | 18-24-16-24-62 (tRCDWR 10, GDM OFF) | 1.35V | Crash on boot |
| 3800 | 18-24-16-24-56 (tRCDWR 10) | 1.35V | Boot fail |
| 3800 | 18-24-16-24-60 (tRCDWR 10) | 1.35V | Crash on boot |
| 3800 | 16-24-16-24-62 (tRCDWR 10) | 1.35V | Boot fail |
| 3800 | 18-22-16-21-62 (tRCDWR 8) | 1.35V | Memtest errors |
Because almost all DDR4 can hit DDR4-3200, we started out jumping to that speed. Since this is 50% higher speed, we set 50% higher primary timings. However because this left us close to the limits we then kept the timings the same as we raised speed. We ended up needing a voltage bump for DDR4-3800, and decided to stop there for speed as this was already way above all of our expectations.
For timings… we cheated. These same sticks were tested at DDR4-3333 before the author joined play3r. Since DDR4-3800 is 14% faster, we took those results and loosened the timings by around 14%, rounding up, to get a good set of timings for these specific sticks at DDR4-3800. Dropping timings individually in small steps would have got similar results but taken a full day. We did try to tweak them a little more, but didn’t get anywhere past the calculated settings.
<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?