A Reddit person named Mannekino (opens in new tab) shared a publish yesterday about his expertise utilizing MSI’s new “Kombo Strike” beta BIOS on his Ryzen 7 5800X3D and MEG B550 Unify motherboard. For Mannekino, the Kombo Strike function was successful on his chip, giving his Ryzen 7 5800X3D an 11 levels Celsius drop in peak temperatures, and 19W much less energy draw whereas including barely extra efficiency concurrently.
Kombo Strike is a brand new MSI function launched two weeks in the past for AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800X3D. We nonetheless do not understand how Kombo Strike works formally, however MSI says it should enhance the CPU efficiency of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D. There are three ranges to select from, with the third possibility being probably the most aggressive setting. Proper now, this new function is simply attainable in beta BIOS updates for particular MSI 500-series motherboards.
Nonetheless, in accordance with Mannekino’s report, the person believes Kombo Strike is an automatic model of AMD’s Curve Optimizer, which is an undervolting utility designed for Ryzen 5000 CPUs. It will actually make sense contemplating the MSI unique function does enhance the Ryzen 7 5800X3D’s efficiency. Plus, Mannekino’s temperature and energy outcomes present very comparable conduct to Curve Optimizer undervolting. However do take this with a grain of salt since we do not have official affirmation on this principle.
Mannekino’s setup consists of an MSI MEG B550 Unify geared up with a Ryzen 7 5800X3D CPU and a high-speed G.Ability Trident Z Neo DDR4 3600 CL14 4x8GB reminiscence, and an MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Tremendous Gaming X Trio. Cooling is about as overkill because it will get with twin 360mm radiators, nevertheless it does make Mannekino’s temperature outcomes very stunning.
In Cinebench R23 with Kombo Strike disabled, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D averaged 14,641 factors after a second run to warmth up the system. With Kombo set to degree 1, that rating goes as much as 14,732 factors, degree 2 to 14,961, and degree 3 to fifteen,049 factors. Nonetheless, the chip netted solely a 2.7% enhance in efficiency on the highest degree.
Different benchmarks, together with Superposition, 3DMark Time Spy, Horizon Zero Daybreak, and Crimson Lifeless Redemption 2, all present very comparable conduct. However the efficiency outcomes grow to be rather more fascinating if we take a look at the facility and temperature outcomes.
With Cinebench R23 on a 10-minute loop, Mannekino’s Ryzen 7 5800X3D averaged 81.3 levels Celsius and 112.2W energy consumption. However when Kombo Strike is on degree 3, the temperature and energy decreased fairly drastically to 72.3 levels Celsius and 98.2W. It’s improbable to see, contemplating we’re getting a efficiency increase concurrently, even when it is small. The facility and thermal outcomes are round a 12% to 14% discount in wattage and temperatures.
On paper, these numbers are cool to see from considered one of AMD’s hottest chips to this point — because of the 3D V-Cache. Nonetheless, in the actual world, the effectivity features you get from Kombo Strike will not make a noticeable distinction in gaming and day-to-day use, with lower than a 3% on common efficiency bump.
Warmth and energy are additionally non-concerning points because the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is understood to hit 80 levels to 85 levels Celsius beneath all-core workloads as a result of further 3D V-Cache hindering warmth switch from the die to the IHS. So these temperatures are very common and protected for this chip.
The CPU can be closely influenced by a locked 1.35V voltage restrict solely discovered on the Ryzen 7 5800X3D (in comparison with 1.5V on a daily Ryzen 5000 chip.) Because of this, Precision Increase cannot obtain increased increase frequencies at 80 levels Celsius than if CPU temps are a lot decrease. It’s also why the Ryzen 7 5800X3D pulls much less energy than the Ryzen 7 5800X regardless of its increased thermals. Because of this, you would need to use a tiny CPU cooler or run the chip inside a thermal-constrained setting to make MSI’s Kombo Strike function a viable possibility for enhancing CPU efficiency. In case you are a {hardware} fanatic and just like the decrease numbers for the sake of it, it is a cool function to have. However for real-world efficiency features, MSI’s Kombo Strike appears to be extra gimmicky than useful.
