Are there any official comments regarding scalar 1-10x settings b850-f 9800x3d?

[scrawny_]

Hello everyone,

I've been reading mixed opinions about scalar settings in various forums. Some claim it's completely unsafe regardless of temperature or voltage, while others openly recommend using a scalar value of 10x. This left me wondering: are there any official documents or reliable sources that clarify how safe or unsafe this setting actually is, what it does, and what to watch out for? If anyone has experience with testing, I’d really appreciate your input.

From what I understand, the scalar increases the Vcore curve and extends the boost duration. But if Vcore spikes stay below 1.3V and temperatures remain well under control, how exactly is this unsafe? According to HWiNFO, current limits aren't even being approached. The only potential concern I can think of is the extended boost duration. But isn’t that what the limits are for?

In some demanding stress tests, like Core Cycler, I’ve noticed that both the effective and target clock speeds drop by about 50–100 MHz after a while. Depending on the test, clock speeds range from 5.2 to 5.4 GHz, with the most demanding workloads typically at 5.2 to 5.3 GHz. Could scalar influence this? For example, could it allow higher clock speeds even under the most heavy loads? But then again, I wonder how this can be unsafe when there are limits in place?

Also, how relevant is any of this for someone who mainly plays games? Based on my in-game temps and Vcore readings, gaming scenarios don’t seem to resemble these stress tests at all. The only time I saw behavior that came close was during shader compilation or loading screens. Helldivers 2, spiked to 1.33V and hit 82°C for just a second when launching for the first time but then never again. This was with the scalar set to 10x. I am also pretty sure I could recreate this with the shader loading when you launch CoD, but I can't test that at the moment.

I tested scalar settings at 1x, 5x, 6x, 7x, and 10x for stability and benchmarks. Performance differences were minimal, under 5% across all scores. Vcore varied by about 0.02V, and temperatures differed by maybe 1–3°C. So for now, I’ve left it at 1x. Still, I can’t shake the feeling that I might be missing out on some performance and in general I’m just curious.

Apologies if these questions sound basic. I've really tried to understand this topic based on what I found online.

In case anyone asks, here are my current settings:
EXPO I enabled
PBO enabled
Curve optimizer: -20
+200 MHz boost override
Scalar: 10x
Motherboard limits enabled

My Cinebench R23/R24 scores are in line with other similar OCs. Stability tests like OCCT and AIDA64 ran for 30–60 minutes with no issues. I’ve been gaming for the past three weeks without any crashes or instability, so I’d say it's stable.
Effective and target clock speeds range from 5.2 to 5.4 GHz depending on the task. Under full load, effective clocks are usually within 20-30 MHz of the target. In stress tests and some loading screens, Vcore very rarely spikes to 1.30V, but it averages around 1.22V. During gaming, it ranges between 1.0 and 1.2V. Temperatures in stress tests always stay below 85°C. To me, this seems stable, and I haven’t observed any signs of clock stretching. But if I’ve overlooked something, I’d appreciate any corrections or advice.
Edit: I forgot to mention the Ram and CPU Cooler, so I am using an Arctic Liquid Freezer III Pro 360 and 2x16 GB G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo at 6000Mhz CL30 (Expo I).