I am running an older FX 8350 and a 970A-UD3P board, I have a Corsair H70 Cooler, and in all honesty, i've never overclocked, but my old GPU RX 560 I am going to upgrade to a RX 580 , I don't do much modern gaming, but apparently i'll get a nasty bottleneck with the 580 , which can be solved if I OC the CPU a bit. So, being new to OC'ing, i'd like to push it to around 4.5 if possible, maybe a little less purely for stability, I am not going to push it really hard, there's no need. I've done a lot of video watching, and reading about OC'ing, and I am confused if I am honest. From what I understand I can OC using AMD overdrive or from in my BIOS , so which is preferable ? Having been in the BIOS I can adjust the CPU multiplier from 20, I would assume it's going to need to be around 22-24 Depending on stability. I assume i'll need to increase VCore too ? 1.44 has been "thrown" around on forums for my board and chip, but I am not sure how to gauge that, I assume its a case of prime95 and benchmarks to stress test after the CPU Multiplier is changed ? Also, the options in the BIOS, I am not sure if I need to alter them or not. Cool & Quiet etc, C6. (Not 100% sure what they are anyway) If I could get to 4.4 I'd be happy, and if the system was nice and stable. Thanks for any advice, really appreciate it.
Solution
Darkbreeze
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What is the model of your power supply? EXACT model?
What is the model of your memory kit, and just to verify again, you DO have them in the 2nd and 4th slots over from the CPU, right? Not the 1st and 3rd slots over from the CPU. Sorry, I know I probably asked this before but it's quicker to simply ask again then to go back through everything when it gets to be three pages long.
And, you might have only bought that board four years ago, but I guarantee you it is much older than that. That board was released in December of 2013 which means that at BEST, it is probably about 6 years old. Not terribly old, but more than old enough to have a capacitor failure or a weak CMOS battery. And just because you replaced it 8 months ago doesn't mean you replaced it with one that was any better than what you took out. Did you TEST the replacement battery with a volt meter before you swapped it out? Probably not, because most people wouldn't suspect that an off the shelf or just-bought battery might be weak, but with battery models that don't move as fast as the more common AA and AAA or C and D batteries, they OFTEN are. I've had to return four packages of CR 2032 batteries to Amazon this year alone, and three out of five packages that I bought from Walmart had weak state of charge below 3v. So it is worth it to CHECK just to be sure. If you don't HAVE a volt meter, go buy one. You can get them very cheaply from Walmart or Harbor Freight. Even Lowe's or Home depot.
Since you are in the UK, I'm sure you have something similar there as far as stores are concerned.
It would also be a really good idea to LOOK closely at the motherboard for any signs of capacitor failure or other obvious "not right" type visual clues.
What is the model of your memory kit, and just to verify again, you DO have them in the 2nd and 4th slots over from the CPU, right? Not the 1st and 3rd slots over from the CPU. Sorry, I know I probably asked this before but it's quicker to simply ask again then to go back through everything when it gets to be three pages long.
And, you might have only bought that board four years ago, but I guarantee you it is much older than that. That board was released in December of 2013 which means that at BEST, it is probably about 6 years old. Not terribly old, but more than old enough to have a capacitor failure or a weak CMOS battery. And just because you replaced it 8 months ago doesn't mean you replaced it with one that was any better than what you took out. Did you TEST the replacement battery with a volt meter before you swapped it out? Probably not, because most people wouldn't suspect that an off the shelf or just-bought battery might be weak, but with battery models that don't move as fast as the more common AA and AAA or C and D batteries, they OFTEN are. I've had to return four packages of CR 2032 batteries to Amazon this year alone, and three out of five packages that I bought from Walmart had weak state of charge below 3v. So it is worth it to CHECK just to be sure. If you don't HAVE a volt meter, go buy one. You can get them very cheaply from Walmart or Harbor Freight. Even Lowe's or Home depot.
Since you are in the UK, I'm sure you have something similar there as far as stores are concerned.
It would also be a really good idea to LOOK closely at the motherboard for any signs of capacitor failure or other obvious "not right" type visual clues.
I'm not home ATM but it's a seasonic 620W . Can't remember RAM off hand either Corsair Vengeance 16Gb , surely if the board was on the fritz it wouldnt work correctly with the CPU at stock either ? Stock voltage is 1.42 V to get to 4.2mhz turbo , so if it needs that kinda power to get to 4.2 4.4 would need around 1.44 or more ? Unless I'm not understanding how the turbo works . I'll get exact info when I'm back home . But I'm going to reseat heatsink anyway , looks like it needs doing .
Darkbreeze
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If it's 620w then it's either an S12II or M12II, both of which are group regulated and rather old platforms, although they are still sold today. Should be good enough for that hardware and there are no concerns with the group regulation for C6/C7 compatibility as there would be if it was an Intel platform that was Haswell or newer.
Lot's of motherboards with issues work "fine" at the stock configuration but are sketchy when overclocking. It's the very nature of overclocking, which puts more stress, more voltage, amps, heat, etc. into play, that can cause the issues that don't occur at the stock configuration. It just isn't true that if it works at default settings then it must be ok. Totally not true. There are MANY variables and many instances where that does not hold true. And yet, in THIS case, it might NOT be a problem with the motherboard. I don't think that has been determined yet. But I wouldn't get comfortable with the idea of "it works fine with default settings so can't be the motherboard".
Stock configuration ALWAYS uses way more voltage than what's necessary when manually configuring things. Always.
For a 4.5Ghz OC you should not need more than 1.36-1.37 volts unless you have a REALLY crappy piece of silicon or something else is going on.
Lot's of motherboards with issues work "fine" at the stock configuration but are sketchy when overclocking. It's the very nature of overclocking, which puts more stress, more voltage, amps, heat, etc. into play, that can cause the issues that don't occur at the stock configuration. It just isn't true that if it works at default settings then it must be ok. Totally not true. There are MANY variables and many instances where that does not hold true. And yet, in THIS case, it might NOT be a problem with the motherboard. I don't think that has been determined yet. But I wouldn't get comfortable with the idea of "it works fine with default settings so can't be the motherboard".
Stock configuration ALWAYS uses way more voltage than what's necessary when manually configuring things. Always.
For a 4.5Ghz OC you should not need more than 1.36-1.37 volts unless you have a REALLY crappy piece of silicon or something else is going on.
OK well as I said, i'm going to reseat the heat sink with better thermal paste and make sure stock doesn't overheat like it is. Then i'll worry about OC'ing, or maybe i'll just leave it, I have a new RX580 coming too , so should deal with 1080p stuff better.
Im going to add this, I am getting extreme high temperatures under load, yet idling around 32 degrees, Vcore is 1.42 V by default, using stock values. I can see that this isn't ideal anymore, and I think not really an overclock but setting a Vcore around 1.35 and getting a stable CPU at 4.2 would actually benefit the system. Really confused how these Vishera chips work tbh, one day I will own a Ryzen, but due to me being skint at the moment, the stable 4.2-4.4 OC with a lower Vcore should help with the temperatures. But I am reseating it tomorrow, and hopefuly bring down ambient temps enough to video render without fear. I have 4 120mm case fans + the ones on the radiator, so air flow isn't an issue. The room i'm in does get hot in the summer, but thats not an issue now. I have been researching a lot, and the BIOS settings are the issue here and potentially vdroop. So I need to find the exact BIOS settings for the likes of HPC, APM, etc etc that work better with overclocking. Really interesting learning about all this though. One thing I will never do is buy a cheaper CPU again for the sake of convenience.
Darkbreeze
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1.42v is ridiculous. VID on that CPU is 1.325v. Something is wrong with your BIOS ROM, BIOS image or motherboard.
When you were overclocking it, were you using offset mode or manual mode voltage?
I would try doing a COMPLETE full HARD reset of the BIOS, before going any further.
BIOS Hard Reset procedure
Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.
Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.
During that five minutes, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 30 seconds. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.
If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.
Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.
Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.
In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.
It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.
Trying a different monitor as well, if possible, is also a good idea if there is a lack of display. It happens.
When you were overclocking it, were you using offset mode or manual mode voltage?
I would try doing a COMPLETE full HARD reset of the BIOS, before going any further.
BIOS Hard Reset procedure
Power off the unit, switch the PSU off and unplug the PSU cord from either the wall or the power supply.
Remove the motherboard CMOS battery for five minutes. In some cases it may be necessary to remove the graphics card to access the CMOS battery.
During that five minutes, press the power button on the case, continuously, for 30 seconds. After the five minutes is up, reinstall the CMOS battery making sure to insert it with the correct side up just as it came out.
If you had to remove the graphics card you can now reinstall it, but remember to reconnect your power cables if there were any attached to it as well as your display cable.
Now, plug the power supply cable back in, switch the PSU back on and power up the system. It should display the POST screen and the options to enter CMOS/BIOS setup. Enter the bios setup program and reconfigure the boot settings for either the Windows boot manager or for legacy systems, the drive your OS is installed on if necessary.
Save settings and exit. If the system will POST and boot then you can move forward from there including going back into the bios and configuring any other custom settings you may need to configure such as Memory XMP, A-XMP or D.O.C.P profile settings, custom fan profile settings or other specific settings you may have previously had configured that were wiped out by resetting the CMOS.
In some cases it may be necessary when you go into the BIOS after a reset, to load the Optimal default or Default values and then save settings, to actually get the hardware tables to reset in the boot manager.
It is probably also worth mentioning that for anything that might require an attempt to DO a hard reset in the first place, IF the problem is related to a lack of video signal, it is a GOOD IDEA to try a different type of display as many systems will not work properly for some reason with displayport configurations. It is worth trying HDMI if you are having no display or lack of visual ability to enter the BIOS, or no signal messages.
Trying a different monitor as well, if possible, is also a good idea if there is a lack of display. It happens.
I have a feeling you are right. I can reflash the BIOS if needed. But when I did the OC i manually set the system to 1.35 @ 4.2 and it was reasonbly stable (seemingly) no blue screens or issues, but workers failed during the P95 small FFT No AVX test. I set the VCore to 1.35V . I am wondering if Vdroop is the issue ?> What % should the LLC be set to ?
Also, when I am done reseating everything and resetting the CMOS. I will set Vcore to 1.32V and leave the multiplier at 20 and see if I have any stability issues running a torture test at 4Mhz. If something goes wrong there, I know the chip isn't going to OC.
Also, just watching the Vcore altering in HWMonitor, min 1.26V Max 1.42V and its jumping around, I assume that's the Turbo boost in action, so to get it to 4.2mhz it is drawing 1.42V ?
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Darkbreeze
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Set it at 1.325 or whatever is closest, if you have to go a LITTLE bit higher (Set 1.325 and then hit enter, it should auto adjust to the next highest possible increment, or use the + key to adjust up and down). Don't set to 1.32 because that .005v COULD be the difference between stable and not stable AND even at 1.33v you would STILL be WAY below that 1.42v configuration. Honestly, you could probably just set it at 1.36v, with your multi set to whatever you want to start at, then test with Prime for thermals (15 min max) and Realbench (1 hour max for this phase, 8 hours for final testing)(Use setting of half of installed memory on the stress test option) and each time you are able to pass thermal test and one hour stability, increase multiplier and re-test until you get to an overclock that is no longer stable at that voltage. Then back off the OC by 100mhz and do the final test. If it passes thermal for 15 min and Realbench for 8 hours, call it a day, week or month, whatever, and move on with gaming.
That's actually sort of in reverse of how we normally do it, but it will tell you the same thing AND it will keep you in a voltage range that is a lot less likely to be unstable or thermally irresponsible.
You can also use my quick and dirty OC technique.
Quick and dirty overview of overclocking validation procedure.
Set CPU multiplier and voltage at desired settings in BIOS. Do not use presets or automatic utilities. These will overcompensate on core and other voltages. It is much better to configure most core settings manually, and leave anything left over on auto until a later point in time if wish to come back and tweak settings such as cache (Uncore) frequency, System agent voltage, VCCIO (Internal memory controller) and memory speeds or timings (RAM) AFTER the CPU overclock is fully stable.
Save bios settings (As a new BIOS profile if your bios supports multiple profiles) and exit bios.
Boot into the Windows desktop environment. Download and install Prime95 version 26.6.
Download and install either HWinfo or CoreTemp.
Open HWinfo and run "Sensors only" or open CoreTemp.
Run Prime95, either version 26.6 OR the latest version WITH the AVX and AVX2 options disabled in the settings menu that pops up when you start up Prime95, and choose the "Small FFT test option". Run this for 15 minutes while monitoring your core/package temperatures to verify that you do not exceed the thermal specifications of your CPU.
(This should be considered to be 80°C for most generations of Intel processor and for current Ryzen CPUs. For older AMD FX and Phenom series, you should use a thermal monitor that has options for "Distance to TJmax" and you want to NOT see distance to TJmax drop below 10°C distance to TJmax. Anything that is MORE than 10°C distance to TJmax is within the allowed thermal envelope.)
If your CPU passes the thermal compliance test, move on to stability.
Download and install Realbench. Run Realbench and choose the Stress test option. Choose a value from the available memory (RAM) options that is equal to approximately half of your installed memory capacity. If you have 16GB, choose 8GB. If you have 8GB, choose 4GB, etc. Click start and allow the stability test to run for 8 hours. Do not plan to use the system for ANYTHING else while it is running. It will run realistic AVX and handbrake workloads and if it passes 8 hours of testing it is probably about as stable as you can reasonably expect.
If you wish to check stability further you can run 12-24 hours of Prime95 Blend mode or Small FFT.
You do not need to simultaneously run HWinfo or CoreTemp while running Realbench as you should have already performed the thermal compliance test PLUS Realbench will show current CPU temperatures while it is running.
If you run the additional stability test using Prime95 Blend/Small FFT modes for 12-24 hours, you will WANT to also run HWinfo or Core Temp alongside it. Monitor HWinfo/Core Temp periodically to verify that no cores/threads are showing less than 100% usage. If it is, then that worker has errored out and the test should be stopped.
If you find there are errors on ANY of the stability tests including Realbench or Prime95, or any other stress testing utility, you need to make a change in the bios. This could be either dropping the multiplier to a lower factor or increasing the voltage while leaving the multiplier the same. If you change voltage or multiplier at ANY time, you need to start over again at the beginning and verify thermal compliance again.
That's actually sort of in reverse of how we normally do it, but it will tell you the same thing AND it will keep you in a voltage range that is a lot less likely to be unstable or thermally irresponsible.
You can also use my quick and dirty OC technique.
Quick and dirty overview of overclocking validation procedure.
Set CPU multiplier and voltage at desired settings in BIOS. Do not use presets or automatic utilities. These will overcompensate on core and other voltages. It is much better to configure most core settings manually, and leave anything left over on auto until a later point in time if wish to come back and tweak settings such as cache (Uncore) frequency, System agent voltage, VCCIO (Internal memory controller) and memory speeds or timings (RAM) AFTER the CPU overclock is fully stable.
Save bios settings (As a new BIOS profile if your bios supports multiple profiles) and exit bios.
Boot into the Windows desktop environment. Download and install Prime95 version 26.6.
Download and install either HWinfo or CoreTemp.
Open HWinfo and run "Sensors only" or open CoreTemp.
Run Prime95, either version 26.6 OR the latest version WITH the AVX and AVX2 options disabled in the settings menu that pops up when you start up Prime95, and choose the "Small FFT test option". Run this for 15 minutes while monitoring your core/package temperatures to verify that you do not exceed the thermal specifications of your CPU.
(This should be considered to be 80°C for most generations of Intel processor and for current Ryzen CPUs. For older AMD FX and Phenom series, you should use a thermal monitor that has options for "Distance to TJmax" and you want to NOT see distance to TJmax drop below 10°C distance to TJmax. Anything that is MORE than 10°C distance to TJmax is within the allowed thermal envelope.)
If your CPU passes the thermal compliance test, move on to stability.
Download and install Realbench. Run Realbench and choose the Stress test option. Choose a value from the available memory (RAM) options that is equal to approximately half of your installed memory capacity. If you have 16GB, choose 8GB. If you have 8GB, choose 4GB, etc. Click start and allow the stability test to run for 8 hours. Do not plan to use the system for ANYTHING else while it is running. It will run realistic AVX and handbrake workloads and if it passes 8 hours of testing it is probably about as stable as you can reasonably expect.
If you wish to check stability further you can run 12-24 hours of Prime95 Blend mode or Small FFT.
You do not need to simultaneously run HWinfo or CoreTemp while running Realbench as you should have already performed the thermal compliance test PLUS Realbench will show current CPU temperatures while it is running.
If you run the additional stability test using Prime95 Blend/Small FFT modes for 12-24 hours, you will WANT to also run HWinfo or Core Temp alongside it. Monitor HWinfo/Core Temp periodically to verify that no cores/threads are showing less than 100% usage. If it is, then that worker has errored out and the test should be stopped.
If you find there are errors on ANY of the stability tests including Realbench or Prime95, or any other stress testing utility, you need to make a change in the bios. This could be either dropping the multiplier to a lower factor or increasing the voltage while leaving the multiplier the same. If you change voltage or multiplier at ANY time, you need to start over again at the beginning and verify thermal compliance again.
A more in depth but general guide that is still intended for beginners or those who have had a small amount of experience overclocking can be found here:
*CPU overclocking guide for beginners
*CPU overclocking guide for beginners
Darkbreeze
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Motherboards have several different "ways" they express the LLC. Some have percentages. Others have a numerical value from 1 to 5 or even 1 to 10. Others simply say regular or standard, high, very high, extreme, etc.
Which type does yours have? What are the options and how many options are there from the least to the most?
Which type does yours have? What are the options and how many options are there from the least to the most?
Darkbreeze
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I would stick with medium then. Middle of the road should be good. Some vdroop isn't a bad thing necessarily. You just don't want enough to cause instability. Try medium for now. Extreme and 100% are too much. Standard is probably too low.
I will try it as soon as the thermal paste arrives and I can reseat the heatsink. I was interested to read that the FX series of chips has a max thermal value of 62 degrees. Which is probably what AMD Overdrive is using for tjmax , so my chip is actually running at 59 degrees underload, which is actually not that bad, but still too close to the limit. Hopefully the reseat and better thermal paste will give me a couple more degrees on the margin. Is 62 degrees the limit before it throttles ? Or is that the max before damage begins. AMD specs are hard to find tbh.
It seems Covid is more effective of stalling progress now, as the mailman didn't deliver my thermal paste, but I did pick up my new graphics card, so I will have fun tomorrow reseating the heatsink and installing the card, and then getting a stable once I am happy the temps are good. WIth a hangover too probably, friends B'day party later. Current have the system at 1.33V at 4Mhz no turbo boost nothing, APM on auto, cool & quiet on the rest is off. Thermal Margin is around 20 degrees running P95 small FFT (No AVX) < actually as I type this the thermal margin dropped under 18 and still dropping, this is not good for temperatures. I can see this cooling is not good enough. Hoping the reseat helps but I doubt it. I will attempt tomorrow to get a stable 4.2mhz but I dont hold much hope.
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Darkbreeze
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"62 degrees" doesn't mean much at all when talking about this platform. That's why I linked you to the article earlier regarding thermal margin on AMD. You read that, right?
AMD thermal sensors are not even remotely accurate in terms of what is reported to monitoring software. There is a specific algorithm used to determine the ACTUAL thermal margin and while in some manner it is relevant to numbers and thermal readings, it's probably not something that the average person could accurately convert to be able to say "Ha! So this reading of X actually means Y". It just doesn't work that way.
In truth, using AMD overdrive or Core Temp and simply looking at the thermal margin is all you need to, or CAN, do. Any measurement of an actual thermal reading is not going to be accurate. TJmax on Piledriver CPUs, based mostly on some comparative reviews done by Buildzoid and a few others, is that what passes for 70°C core temp pretty much translates as 0 thermal margin. Ten degrees less than that, which is only a recommendation to retain a safe distance from any unsafe operating temperature, is in fact about 60°C but the 60°C direct reading you are going to see from any monitoring software is NOT going to accurately be actually the same.
AMD thermal sensors are not even remotely accurate in terms of what is reported to monitoring software. There is a specific algorithm used to determine the ACTUAL thermal margin and while in some manner it is relevant to numbers and thermal readings, it's probably not something that the average person could accurately convert to be able to say "Ha! So this reading of X actually means Y". It just doesn't work that way.
In truth, using AMD overdrive or Core Temp and simply looking at the thermal margin is all you need to, or CAN, do. Any measurement of an actual thermal reading is not going to be accurate. TJmax on Piledriver CPUs, based mostly on some comparative reviews done by Buildzoid and a few others, is that what passes for 70°C core temp pretty much translates as 0 thermal margin. Ten degrees less than that, which is only a recommendation to retain a safe distance from any unsafe operating temperature, is in fact about 60°C but the 60°C direct reading you are going to see from any monitoring software is NOT going to accurately be actually the same.
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Once you get near 1.40v that is heat zone right there and not recommended. Honestly 4.2Ghz or 4.4Ghz you won't tell a difference my friend, not on that dated CPU using Windows 10 and what not.🤷♂️💯🙏🙈
Well all hell broke loose here this morning. I started an overclock at 4.2mhz , all was running, I did a small values stress test using OCCT 5 minutes in, the thermal margins were fine, everything was OK, then the system just shut off. I powered back up, but it wouldn't POST. Fans running, all was fine apart from it not going to POST. so I then stripped it all down, reseated the heatsink, new thermal paste (Kryonaut) reseated the RAM, in slots 2&4 changed from RX560 to RX 580 , and cleaned all fans, changed the fan direction for CPU from exhaust to input, so CPU cooling will be better and with 2 giant intake and one giant exhaust fan I cant see interior heat being an issue. I also removed the CMOS battery and let the BIOS reset. The system booted fine now, running on stock, thermal margins are WAY better now, I am going to game on it , see how that is, and then run a stress test. See how the heat is. But I was worried for a while, I thought something had given up.
Darkbreeze
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It is not uncommon for the system to shut off during stress or thermal testing. If the system is unstable, it could simply error out of the utility and drop workers, or it could freeze, or it could shut down. For thermal issues it will usually just shut down though if it gets too hot.
Are you still using that H70 cooler, I can't remember.
Are you still using that H70 cooler, I can't remember.
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Darkbreeze
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Ok. So, it's good that you are getting better thermals now, but I'm going to be honest with you. You need a better cooler. That cooler is designed to be a replacement for a stock cooler, giving an entry level user an "in" to using AIO cooling, and for aesthetic reasons. It's not a capable cooler at all. Most entry level 120mm air coolers can do as well as that cooler. So, that is something to think about.
For overclocking you CAN get by with a 120mm air cooler on FX platforms, but a decent single tower 140mm cooler is a much better idea, at minimum. Or at least a 240mm AIO. But there's no reason to not see what you can achieve with what you have for now.
Also, I wanted to show you this. This is my motherboard recommendation list for AM3+ configurations that I used to use in years past. I rarely look at it anymore because the platform is so outdated, but when it was still relevant, these were the go to motherboards for anybody who wanted something high quality OR for overclocking, or even just for the 8 core FX CPUs in their stock configurations. So the board you have, is good, for a 970 chipset board. Any issues you have are not due to the board model itself.
This is verbatim how I used to post it.
(Be sure to check when looking for a motherboard that any of the models shown below are either 990fx, 990 or 970 chipsets. A Z170 Extreme6 for example, is not going to work with your FX processor, so, in this example, you want to look for the 990/990fx Extreme6.)
GA-990FXA-UD7
Extreme6
Extreme9
Fatal1ty 990FX Professional
Crosshair V Formula-Z
Sabertooth 990FX R2.0
GA-99FXA-UD5
MSI GD80V2
M5A99FX PRO R2.0
GA-99FXA-UD3
MSI GD65V2
990FX Killer
Extreme4
M5A99X EVO (R2.0 as well)
GA-990XA-UD3
990XA-GD55
GA-970A-UD3P
M5A97 or EVO or PRO (R.2 as well)
GA-970A-UD3
970 GAMING
970A SLI Krait (USB 3.1 supported)
For overclocking you CAN get by with a 120mm air cooler on FX platforms, but a decent single tower 140mm cooler is a much better idea, at minimum. Or at least a 240mm AIO. But there's no reason to not see what you can achieve with what you have for now.
Also, I wanted to show you this. This is my motherboard recommendation list for AM3+ configurations that I used to use in years past. I rarely look at it anymore because the platform is so outdated, but when it was still relevant, these were the go to motherboards for anybody who wanted something high quality OR for overclocking, or even just for the 8 core FX CPUs in their stock configurations. So the board you have, is good, for a 970 chipset board. Any issues you have are not due to the board model itself.
This is verbatim how I used to post it.
(Be sure to check when looking for a motherboard that any of the models shown below are either 990fx, 990 or 970 chipsets. A Z170 Extreme6 for example, is not going to work with your FX processor, so, in this example, you want to look for the 990/990fx Extreme6.)
GA-990FXA-UD7
Extreme6
Extreme9
Fatal1ty 990FX Professional
Crosshair V Formula-Z
Sabertooth 990FX R2.0
GA-99FXA-UD5
MSI GD80V2
M5A99FX PRO R2.0
GA-99FXA-UD3
MSI GD65V2
990FX Killer
Extreme4
M5A99X EVO (R2.0 as well)
GA-990XA-UD3
990XA-GD55
GA-970A-UD3P
M5A97 or EVO or PRO (R.2 as well)
GA-970A-UD3
970 GAMING
970A SLI Krait (USB 3.1 supported)
I think you are right about the cooler , and this chip, I'd struggle to keep it under control for even a small overclock , 4.4 is probably the most I could hope for and tbh I doubt I'd notice much improvement from 4.2 to 4.4 and tbh the reason I was going to overclock was to help with any potential bottleneck from the new GPU, seems that's not going to be an issue . Oddly enough I priced up ryzens and a new board and RAM today. Wasn't as bad as I thought , so I'll keep this in stock and get ready to build a new machine in time
Thanks for all your help , I've learned a lot doing this and feel more clear on what is actually happening in my system.
Thanks for all your help , I've learned a lot doing this and feel more clear on what is actually happening in my system.
Darkbreeze
Retired Mod
- Jun 24, 2014
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