Quick question about the reported iCUE/Ryzen 3000 issues

Before I go any deeper into planning my next system build, I just want to make sure I understand something correctly. In very general terms, the issue appears to be that the system polling done by the iCUE software(and potentially other system monitoring software) is making the Ryzen 3x00 think it's continually active enough that it should be boosting, resulting in the CPU never really downshifting to save power/heat/etc, yes? So all I need to know is two things:

 

1) When the system is running full-bore, such as on a multithreaded video transcoding task, the system wouldn't be trying to downshift anyway, so it's not really an issue, correct? Setting aside any concerns about how many cycles iCUE is using, I'm solely asking about the speeds the cpu would be running at.

 

2) In the talk of what voltage ranges the Ryzen 3x000 would be running at, are they still within the bounds of what's considered "normal" for that cpu running at high utilization, albeit more towards the upper end? If the voltage levels are still considered in-spec, that's one thing. If people are saying it pushes the voltage higher than what's safe, that's something else entirely.

 

Sorry if these seem like dumb questions, I'm just trying to wrap my head around the issue to decide if it's one that would matter to my build decisions.

1) True statement.

2) Yes, it's still in spec. Where it lands actually depends on the user's settings in the BIOS (e.g. overclocking, Precision Boost Overdrive, etc).

Remember there are issues with some AMD motherboards with regards to smoothness of certain lighting modes too.

I'm setting the same issues with 1st and 2nd gen ryzens too, the problem i get is that because all the cores are seen as active, i dont get single core boost

 

Voltages and so on are always in spec and safe, we're just getting problems where the CPU's dont idle properly OR boost properly (not everyone gets both)

That is not a new issue and goes back several Intel generations as well. The old days of the clocks sitting flat like pancake on the desktop are gone. Most people are going to need to set their BIOS up to respond to the turbo core frequency with more than 1 core active and/or use heavier power savings tools if they want the clocks to lie down on the desktop, with the inevitable loss in responsiveness the chip makers have worked in.

So is it safe to continue using or not? general feeling on reddit is not to use it but my rig is virtually all corsair products so id like to continue using it lol but not if it is gonna damage my cpu

So is it safe to continue using or not? general feeling on reddit is not to use it but my rig is virtually all corsair products so id like to continue using it lol but not if it is gonna damage my cpu

 

iCue is not going to damage your CPU.

1.4+ volts is still "in spec," but the CPU is not designed to run this way every second it is active. It's just not.

 

The only effective workaround is removing iCue.

 

Running at such voltages isn't recommended. The CPU is designed to ramp down to low-power and voltage states, rather than have all cores active and pushing high voltage.

Keeps my 3900x's voltage all time high. When I close iCue in windows, voltages and temps drop on my cpu.