AMD Ryzen Retest 1500x 1600x 1800x Review

Conclusion

Finally we’re here, we’ve done what you’ve asked – nay shouted at – us to do and returned to the AMD Ryzen CPUs with the latest BIOS and retail CPU’s, put them through their paces and discovered if an up-to-date BIOS and programs can transform the Zen performance as much as everyone claims.

To paraphrase Reverend Lovejoy, “short answer yes with an if, long answer no with a but”.

Probably the simplest answer is something that we didn’t really come here to test, but we all kinda know in our heart of hearts anyway. Namely that the faster you can get your CPU to run, the better it will perform. We know, it’s a ground-breaking conclusion at which to arrive, but it’s so obviously true. Both the Ryzen 5s – the 1500X and 1600X – were 100 MHz faster on the launch NDA CPU’s than we could squeeze from them on the latest BIOS with the retail CPU’s. It didn’t really matter which test we ran, whether you were looking at the system as a whole or merely its calculative capabilities, the faster setup won the day but it does give us an interesting angle in that it would appear these are more real world clocks that you end users should hope for with the 4GHZ number being on of those luckier CPU’s.

The one setup that consistently monstered the launch BIOS was the Ryzen 7 1800X. When it first arrived we got basically 4 GHz CPU and 2666 MHz DDR4. It just wouldn’t play ball with faster memory speeds at such a beefy overclock but we now know this is the main area that has been adressed because now you can have that same clock speed but with DDR4 speeds well past the 3000 MHz mark. Faster memory with the same CPU clock speed is better than launch speeds, hence the regular appearance of the Ryzen 7 1800X Overclock Re-Test at the top of our graphs. 3200MHz is a safe spot for those of you wanting high performance memory with minimal fuss. Some memory kits/boards may still need the memory setting up manually but it shouldnt take even the most novice user 30 minutes to set it all up including researching where to put what settings. Pushing beyond the 3200MHz marker will always be inconsistent because it will all come down to a combination of your own abilities and BIOS knowlege plus the silicone lottery will also play a large factor.

Does the latest BIOS transform your AMD Zen system? Besides memory compatibility, not really. Are there some tests that show a benefit? Yes. All of which leads us to the following inescapable conclusion:

Sometimes the results show what they show. Yes you should always try and keep your BIOS up-to-date, particularly if it brings stability and features that your present setup is lacking. Its a mixed bag when it does come to what each brand has done with and to their BIOS over time, some have made huge steps forward in some places and some have actually ended up making aspects of their BIOS worse. We could do a whole other review on the state of the BIOS’s from vendor to vendor but these can also change update to update so we would just end up constantly chasing our tail. 

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