HardwareProcessorsMSI’s PBO Enhanced Modes take Ryzen 9000 series chips off the leash, giving you up to 15% extra performanceWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
HardwareProcessorsMSI’s PBO Enhanced Modes take Ryzen 9000 series chips off the leash, giving you up to 15% extra performanceWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Future)
AMD’s Ryzen 9000-series processors are out and about. In general, the family’s power efficiency is a highlight, and they’ve rightfully taken some places on our list ofbest CPUs, but there are those out there that wish for a little more on the performance side of things. Enabling AMD’s own PBO2 setting will give you a bit of a boost, but MSI’s engineers have been hard at work too, and the company is releasing new motherboard BIOSes with what it callsPBO Enhanced modes, which take things a step further.
MSI’s PBO Enhanced features three modes, simply named 1,2 and 3, with Mode 3 being the most aggressive. According to MSI, theRyzen 9 9950Xcan gain nearly 10% in the Cinebench R23 multithreaded test when Mode 3 is enabled. Not a bad gain at all.
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MSI didn’t release single threaded or gaming results, but since such workloads typically don’t continually demand full power like a longer term multithreaded workload does, performance gains are sure to be smaller.
Efficiency is a hallmark feature of Zen 5, and I’m a fan of MSI’s thermal limit settings. There are three settings, allowing you to limit the maximum temperature of your chip to 65, 75 or 85 degrees Celsius. According to MSI, setting a 9950X to 85C won’t significantly impact performance, and in some cases, may actually increase performance. A natively cooler running chip like theRyzen 5 9600Xloses a mere 1% of performance when set to the 65C limit.
Your next upgrade(Image credit: Future)Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the rest.
Your next upgrade
(Image credit: Future)Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the rest.
(Image credit: Future)
Best CPU for gaming: The top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the rest.
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It’s good to see end users being given some options to tune Ryzen 9000-series systems to suit their requirements. We can expect other vendors to follow suit with their own PBO enhancements, but for now, only those with MSI AM5 motherboards will have access to these settings.
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More about processorsIf you’re a content creator and gamer looking for a CPU upgrade, this Ryzen 9 9900X deal will get you $90 offAMD accuses Intel’s Arrow Lake of being a ‘horrible’ product and implies a lack of options for consumers has caused the Ryzen 7 9800X3D shortageLatestToday’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11See more latest►
More about processorsIf you’re a content creator and gamer looking for a CPU upgrade, this Ryzen 9 9900X deal will get you $90 offAMD accuses Intel’s Arrow Lake of being a ‘horrible’ product and implies a lack of options for consumers has caused the Ryzen 7 9800X3D shortage
More about processors
If you’re a content creator and gamer looking for a CPU upgrade, this Ryzen 9 9900X deal will get you $90 offAMD accuses Intel’s Arrow Lake of being a ‘horrible’ product and implies a lack of options for consumers has caused the Ryzen 7 9800X3D shortage
If you’re a content creator and gamer looking for a CPU upgrade, this Ryzen 9 9900X deal will get you $90 off
If you’re a content creator and gamer looking for a CPU upgrade, this Ryzen 9 9900X deal will get you $90 off
AMD accuses Intel’s Arrow Lake of being a ‘horrible’ product and implies a lack of options for consumers has caused the Ryzen 7 9800X3D shortage
AMD accuses Intel’s Arrow Lake of being a ‘horrible’ product and implies a lack of options for consumers has caused the Ryzen 7 9800X3D shortage
LatestToday’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11See more latest►
Latest
Today’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11
Today’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11
Today’s Wordle answer for Saturday, January 11
See more latest►
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Team Fortress 2 just had the single biggest trade in its history, with ‘the absolute best hat you can get’ going for around $40K
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Elden Ring: Nightreign is getting a closed network test, and I’m totally not fuming because PC players aren’t invited to the party, or anything
If you’re a content creator and gamer looking for a CPU upgrade, this Ryzen 9 9900X deal will get you $90 off
AMD is now reportedly making all-American Ryzen 9000 CPU dies at TSMC’s Arizona fab
I tried a sim racing rig that generates ‘wind’ at CES 2025 and it’s claimed to help keep VR nausea at bay
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