Ryzen balanced

[mategrave]

Hello

Just wondering if it's better to leave things balanced or use bitsum high performance. I was curious how accurate AMD's statement that their processors are meant to function at balanced profile is, and if pushing high is truly damaging things. At least for Windows 11. They advise leaving it as Windows balanced because it is 5800x and there is no Ryzen balanced.

[Jeremy Collake]

Using a more aggressive power plan like BHP is definitely not damaging anything, the loss is in energy efficiency.

No matter how well-tuned a processor is for the Balanced power plan, there is some performance cost to the ramp-up/down of processor states. For that reason, we recommend BHP while gaming.

That said, it's not impossible that some user workloads do better in the Balanced power plan, but we aren't aware of any specific cases. You can switch which power plan Performance Mode uses in 'Options / Power / Performance Mode / Select Power Profile...'.

[oductivefor]

Balanced power plan: This prioritizes energy efficiency and keeps the CPUbasketball legends at a lower clock speed most of the time. Performance might be slightly lower, but it reduces heat generation and power consumption.
High Performance power plan: This prioritizes maximum performance and allows the CPU to run at higher clock speeds more often. This can be beneficial for demanding tasks but can also lead to increased heat and power consumption.

Previously, I was a bit worried about performance when using BHP to play games. But after listening to you, I feel much more secure.

[tapfrazzled]

Hello

Just wondering if it's better to leave things balanced or use bitsum high performance. I was curious how accurate AMD's statement that their processors are meant to function at balanced profile is, and if pushing high is truly damaging things. At least for Windows 11. They advise leaving it as Windows balanced because it is 5800x and there is no Ryzen balanced.

I recently purchased a 5600X as an upgrade for my old CPU.  I purposely chose the "X" version since I wanted something that would last a long time, and I'm hoping that the overclocking flexibility will allow me keep it at least livable in the future. I became quite concerned since I was seeing temperatures in the lower 80s during heavy usage (mainly Prime95, but occasionally for a few moments in gaming), and in Prime95 it could even reach 90 and stay there if I didn't stop it.

[Richardsa2]

What are the potential benefits and drawbacks of using a high-performance profile versus a balanced profile for AMD processors like the 5800X and 5600X, and how can users effectively manage temperatures during intensive workloads like Prime95?

[Jeremy Collake]

When the CPU is fully loaded the difference between a balanced and high-performance power plan is minimal. Thermal management under those conditions will come down to the hardware. Balanced power plans come in handy for additional power savings when the CPU is less than fully loaded, and there is a ramp-up penalty to that, however small. The flip side is that, theoretically, temperatures could be marginally lower during less than full loads in a balanced power plan, and thus allow for more Precision Boost headroom for any short-lived bursting CPU load that emerges. However, we've not been able to document any cases of the latter occurring, while the former is certainly true.

[ranko]

On Desktops: for optimum performance and low DPC latencies you should enable High Performance energy profiles.
This has nothing to do with overclocking, this is all withing the specs. So do not be too shy using it if you need performance and an agile system.

For Laptops: you might need to stay on balanced so that you do not get a heat problem where the CPU would throttle.
For that reason the high performance profile is even not show on most if not all Laptops, so that you can't even select it.

When aiming for maximum performance on a Windows PC, you should opt for the "High Performance" power profile, especially for gaming and audio processing. In the "Balanced" mode, the system focuses on saving energy, which can lead to delays.

No parked CPU cores: In Balanced mode, the system often parks CPU cores to save power. In High Performance mode, all cores remain active. This is crucial because waking a core from its parked state takes time before it is fully operational again.

No downclocked CPU: In Balanced mode, the CPU often downclocks during low loads. Switching from lower to higher clock rates introduces a small delay. In High Performance mode, the CPU runs at its maximum clock speed continuously, allowing faster responses to load changes. This is especially important for applications with irregular CPU demands.

Lower DPC latencies: Deferred Procedure Calls (DPCs) are critical for real-time applications, especially in audio production. High DPC latencies can cause audio dropouts. In High Performance mode, DPC latencies remain consistently low, ensuring stable audio playback.

Better power supply for PCIe cards and USB devices: In High Performance mode, the power supply to connected PCIe cards and USB devices is not throttled. This is important to ensure constant data transfer for audio interfaces or gaming peripherals, for example.

Avoiding audio dropouts: Near-realtime requirements in audio processing need consistent and stable CPU performance. In Balanced mode, energy-saving measures could lead to dropouts or latency issues. High Performance ensures constant processing power, preventing dropouts.

Better FPS in gaming: Games require constant high performance, especially for high frame rates (FPS). In Balanced mode, the CPU might not always run at full capacity due to clock rate changes. High Performance keeps CPU power stable, leading to smoother FPS and a better gaming experience.

In summary: High Performance provides a more responsive system without delays from CPU "parking" or clock rate switching. The constant performance helps keep latencies low and ensures smooth performance in demanding tasks like gaming and audio processing.

Regarding Process Lasso Pro. Fantastic product, I utilize it in the best possible way for me by:
- starting with "Balanced" as default energy profile
- I use IDLE saver to automatically fall back to energy saving after 15s of inactivity (mouse keyboard)
- depening on applications I let process lasso pro automatically switch to high performance
- for applications that need the high performance also when I am away from keyboard
  (digital audio workstation, backup programs, foto and video editing)
  I engage "performance mode" additionally so that IDLE saver does not lower the enery profile

Additionally I did some tweaks in my Energy profiles:

Balanced - set number of cores to be parked to 50% and set CPU clock to a little higher value so that the system feels still performant (non-sluggish) for office work and internet browsing. For USB and PCIe I disabled power saving.
Energy saving - everything down. CPU core parking to max, CPU frequency to lowest. But still for USB and PCIe power saving disabled.

In the BIOS I set
- C-States to C0/C1 to not allow lower energy states
- Turbo to allow a little bit higher CPU frequency, this brings me +200 MHz over Base clock, but all within specs
- Speed step activated, then Windows can take care of cpu clock (by energy profile, which you can tweak to your demand)
- I disable Spread Spectrum to be sure that CPU clock is constant.This is to prevent any potential EMI problems. As I have no EMI problems I disable it to be on the safe side in terms of constant clock to achieve lowest DPC latencies for audio related applications with near-realtime requirements.(**)

(**) Chat GPt tells (but you can't trust answers from AI): "Unlike mechanisms like CPU Core Parking or dynamic frequency scaling, where the CPU shifts between different power states and needs time to stabilize, Spread Spectrum is much gentler and affects the clock generator, not the CPU itself."
So .. if you want to be on the safe side to not get EMI emissions, keep it on.