AMD Ryzen 5 1600X and 1500X CPU Review

CPU Overclocking

Overclocking Ryzen isn't difficult, but the maximum frequency of most processors seems to be around 4.0-4.1GHz for validations and 3.9-4.0GHz for stable runs. All I had to do to overclock to set OC mode to manual and input the frequency in 25MHz increments, and either enable XMP or manually change the frequency, timings, and voltage. You can also enable XMP on this ASRock motherboard and then decrease the frequency.

For the Ryzen 5 1500X, I was able to boot into Windows at 4GHz and 1.35v, but even with 1.45v, I couldn't get it stable with the stock Wraith Spire cooler. The maximum stable overclocks I achieved are

3.9GHz on the CPU core with 1.38v, and 2933MHz on the memory (set XMP and lower multiplier).

The Ryzen 5 1600X could also boot into Windows at 4GHz, but I had to clock it down 50MHz to maintain stability at 1.35v. I was very surprised with the Ryzen 5 1600X's memory overclocking, I was able to hit 3200MHz with ease, and all I had to do was set XMP. It's the first time I was able to hit 3200MHz on the memory with a Ryzen CPU.

Ryzen Master is AMD's CPU overclocking tool similar to their WattMan CPU overclocking tool, for overclocking the CPU in Windows. Its GUI is beautiful, and options are decent. It does offer the ability to disable cores to overclock higher, which could be very beneficial in games. AMD recently updated the platform so that HEDT doesn't have to be enabled for the program to launch.

Power Consumption

The Ryzen 5 1500X has a TDP of 65W (similar to the 1700) while the 1600X has a TDP of 95W. The system has also changed between the 1700 old result and the newer 1500X and 1600X from a high-performance X370 chipset motherboard to a B350 chipset motherboard.

VRM efficiency does play a role in overall CPU power consumption numbers, a few watts here and there could be gained or lost.