Clock Scaling and Thermals
Gaming
In Hitman 2, both the Ryzen 7 3700X and 3800X show similar boosting behavior. The residency is mostly identical here, with both chips seeing drops in similar positions.
We decided to check the scaling graph for Assassins’ Creed Odyssey as it sees the biggest boost with the 3800X and the results were quite interesting. As you can see, the Ryzen 7 3700X sees the all-core frequency drop four times while the 3800X is much more consistent with just one drop towards the middle of the benchmark.
Cinebench R20
Similar to what we saw with Hitman 2 and Assassins’ Creed, the single-core boost residency isn’t really improved with the 3800XT. All three CPUs show a similar pattern.
As I had suspected, the multi-core boost is superior in case of the 3800XT. As you can see below, the boosting behavior is highly consistent while the 3700X and the 3900X both see drops at the beginning and end of the benchmarks.
Conclusion: Better All-Core Boosts but at a Price
As you may have already concluded, the boost residency is improved with Matisse 2. However, it’s not the single-core boost that gets an uplift, but the multi-core boost clock. Furthermore, I’d like to talk about the thermals a bit here. The reason why AMD ditched the stock coolers with the 3800XT and the 3900XT is that they run pretty hot.
With the 3800XT, I got load temps as high as 82-83 degrees in Cinebench. In comparison, the 3900XT topped out at just 76 degrees in the same test. Plus, both tests were conducted using an NZXT Kraken X73, not a cheap AIO solution. As such, I recommend nothing short of a 240mm AIO cooler for the 3600XT and a 360mm water cooler for the 3800XT/3900XT, at the very least.
