Finally: Overclocking EPYC Rome ES

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yoship90

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Nov 12, 2023
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Looking to modestly and safely OC two 7742s (ES) on a H11DSI-NT. I was on BIOS v2.1 and seemed to be getting better performance than I am now on v2.5. I'm pretty sure the clocks were at 2500mhz when CPU was pegged at 100% on v2.1 but now it's 2450mhz. So I guess the first question is can I force the CPU to run at a higher clock when CPU is pegged at 100%? Maybe 2600mhz or so. And does that seem right by the way (2450mhz @ 100% CPU)?

Also, are there any particular BIOS settings I can change to maybe turn some things off that aren't needed and may reduce CPU performance with them on? For example, can turning off certain CPU features/ports/interfaces allow you to get better performance? Someone mentioned in a post here to turn off some decoding level or something like that - I'm not sure for what reason though.
 
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mirrormax

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Apr 10, 2020
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theres a few different settings to play around with, a lot of it documented here https://www.amd.com/content/dam/amd...amd-epyc-7002-tg-bios-workload-56745_0_80.pdf

also depending on cooling, VRM temps are gonna be the limiting factor, if its in a high airflow rack case then you are probabaly fine, if not throw some smaller 40mm fans directly on the vrm.(thats for over stock speeds, the es can easily be set to stock speeds)

of the settings i remember of the top of my head , set the link speeds to 18gbps. disable power states or p0. NPS1 (depending on workload)

determinism to power not performance(performance is confusingly slower as its tries to sync speed between all cpus) TDP to 280 power limit to 280

theres also some memory enctryption settings you can disbale if you dont specifically need it.

think you can easily hit 2.87ghz that i think is stock allcore max. on air ive done around 3ghz , highest ive ever ran was 1.18v 32.5 multi, but that was for benchmarking and watercooled vrm+cpu. its been a few years since i played with this but that same system is still running solid at just stock speeds.
 
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yoship90

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Nov 12, 2023
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Very helpful, thanks! Do I need to do anything to push the speeds up, or after making some of these setting changes will it automatically boost to higher clocks?

Oh and it looks like I should set cTDP and power limit to 240 for the 7742, not 280. But let me know your thoughts on 280 if you think that's still an option and is safe.
 
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shpitz461

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Sep 29, 2017
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I don't think messing with BIOS, especially with ES chips, will gain you anything. Is there a reason why you updated the BIOS?
What happens if you downgrade? Do you get the performance back?
 
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yoship90

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Nov 12, 2023
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shpitz461 said:
I don't think messing with BIOS, especially with ES chips, will gain you anything. Is there a reason why you updated the BIOS?
What happens if you downgrade? Do you get the performance back?
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According to the release notes, downgrading isn't possible after installing the latest version that I did.

There were a lot of fixes and Rome microcode updates between the BIOS version I originally had and the latest one that I installed. I assume that one of those slightly reduced performance to trade for stability.
 
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shpitz461

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Sep 29, 2017
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But I don't think any of these fixes apply to you since you have an ES chip.
You could go back if you had an CH341a BIOS flasher, can be had cheap so worth a shot.
Which chips do you have? ZS? 2S?
 
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mirrormax

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Apr 10, 2020
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yoship90 said:
Very helpful, thanks! Do I need to do anything to push the speeds up, or after making some of these setting changes will it automatically boost to higher clocks?

Oh and it looks like I should set cTDP and power limit to 240 for the 7742, not 280. But let me know your thoughts on 280 if you think that's still an option and is safe.
Click to expand...
This whole thread is about the overclocking tool for these ES/QS cpus. so yes to have it run faster you need to use the OC tool found in this thread, theres both a windows and linux version(linux one abit finickier to use)
you wont damage the cpu by setting tdps higher, there are limits in the cpu itself. so even setting it to 500wont make it run faster than the cpu allows, but if i remember right the 7742 qs at least can go up to 280w
 
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berbasor

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Feb 14, 2019
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On the OEM EPYCs that work, are these only models that have only the OPN on the IHS, or is it all of the OEM variants (7B12, 7R12, 7V12, etc.)?
 
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shpitz461

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Sep 29, 2017
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It is my understanding that OEM parts end with a -03, -04, -05 from what I've seen. The photo you are showing above doesn't have that postfix, so I assume it is a production/retail variant and should work in any motherboard. There could be a BIOS compatibility issue, does the seller recommand a specific motherboard that the CPU was tested in?
 
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berbasor

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Feb 14, 2019
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Got it, that makes sense.

To clarify, I don't yet have a 7R12 in hand. The reason I brought this up is mention in a couple different sale listings for the 7R12 (including from the legendary tugm4470) that they have enabled PBO available, but noone seems to run them (or at least mention they run them). I was hoping someone had some insight to confirm or deny that oddity.
 
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RolloZ170

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Apr 24, 2016
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berbasor said:
Got it, the OEM custom are unlocked then? (7K62, 7B12, 7R12, 7V12, etc.)
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sorry, unknown to me. have not tested all for that option.
attention, some seller state unlocked and mean just "not vendor locked to..."
 
pututu

pututu

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May 7, 2016
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berbasor said:
What are the OEM parts that are unlocked, then?
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I only know of the pre-production QS sample designated for retail part number specifically the 7502 QS (32-core) with -04 and 7740 QS (64-core) with -04 suffixes are two popular choices discussed in this thread for rome overclocking, at least from what I can remember. None of those "retail" QS rome with suffix -05 or -03 can be overclocked. I can't say for sure that ALL -04 suffix retail part numbers can be overclocked since I only researched these two closely two years ago before I decided to setup my first epyc server.
 
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berbasor

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Feb 14, 2019
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RolloZ170 said:
sorry, unknown to me. have not tested all for that option.
attention, some seller state unlocked and mean just "not vendor locked to..."
Click to expand...
Keith Myers said:
I run a 7V12. There is no overclocking, just like a standard retail OEM tray model.
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pututu said:
I only know of the pre-production QS sample designated for retail part number specifically the 7502 QS (32-core) with -04 and 7740 QS (64-core) with -04 suffixes are two popular choices discussed in this thread for rome overclocking, at least from what I can remember. None of those "retail" QS rome with suffix -05 or -03 can be overclocked. I can't say for sure that ALL -04 suffix retail part numbers can be overclocked since I only researched these two closely two years ago before I decided to setup my first epyc server.
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Appreciate the insights y'all.

This originally started from finding a few sources that mention open PBO on 7R12 (not unlocked, specifically PBO). There's no evidence beyond the claim, so I was curious if this was typical of the custom SKUs or if this is something potentially unique to the 7R12, or more likely false claims by resellers. They've started showing up in droves on ebay, but I've yet to see evidence someone has ever actually run one.
 
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