AMD FX-8350 Only running at 2100MHz max

[Marshy11]

Just today I upgraded from an AMD FX-6300 to my FX-8350 (new) and I'm already having problems.

Besides a minor hiccup (I got a little thermal paste on the connectors, but cleaned it as best as I could), I felt that installation was pretty smooth.

However, after playing one match of CSGO...I immediately ran into a problem. My frames randomly dropped from around 250+ to 80ish twice during the game. Tabbing back in and out of the match fixed it immediately.

Afterwards, I ran a Prime95 stress test (blend) and watched it on HWMonitor. I noticed that my frequency randomly dropped for a few seconds. It would dip from about 4000MHz down to 1400MHz. It's temp ran pretty high, at about 64C before it would drop.

After that test, I restarted my PC and to my surprise...I can no longer get the frequency above 2100MHz. Even during Prime95 stress tests, it just stays at 2100MHz.

I have no idea what to do or where to go from here. Please help.

Here's what's in my PC:

AMD FX-8350
Cooler Master Hyper TX3
Sapphire Radeon R9 270X Dual-x 2GB
MSI 970 Gaming Mobo
EVGA 500W Bronze 80+
Seagate 1TB HDD
8GB RAM

EDIT: After attempting to play CS again later, my game semi-crashed (screen froze, audio distorted, etc) for a few seconds and during this time I noticed HWMonitor reported the temps in the 70C range.

 

[1LiquidPC]

Maybe try a CMOS clear. CPU correctly identified by Windows?

 

[zheyizhu]

How are your temperatures? It is possible that it is thermal throttling.

Did you try to overclock it? Restore the BIOS settings to default to see if that does anything.

How is the CPU usage when you're not doing anything?

 

[Marshy11]

How are your temperatures? It is possible that it is thermal throttling.

Did you try to overclock it? Restore the BIOS settings to default to see if that does anything.

How is the CPU usage when you're not doing anything?

CPU when idle is about 1-3% in task manager. HWMonitor doesn't list a core going over 10%

I haven't tried to overclock it.

Temps when idle and it's running at the correct speed is at around 40-45C range. After a bit of run time, it goes into the 50s.

I turned it on again after letting it stay off for about an hour or so, and now it's running at 4000MHz like it's supposed to. This confirm thermal issues?

 

[Marshy11]

Maybe try a CMOS clear. CPU correctly identified by Windows?

I can try to clear the CMOS a little later. Will get back to you.

And yep, it was immediately identified as an AMD FX-8350 and the drivers installed.

 

[1LiquidPC]

Might be to much under stress for your cooler. Its MAX rating is about the same as you TDP of your CPU.

 

[Marshy11]

Might be to much under stress for your cooler. Its MAX rating is about the same as you TDP of your CPU.

Then would you happen to have any recommendations on switching it out?

I was gonna try and add in some case fans to improve airflow, since I'm pretty lacking there.

 

[1LiquidPC]

You may want to try further tests to be sure before spending money on a new cooler. Any kind of budget in mind? Air or watercooling? Also, better case airflow would help if yours is lacking as mentioned.

 

[zheyizhu]

A chip is not supposed to thermal throttle at 50 degrees Celsius though.

Try re positioning the fans so that they are all exhaust fans.

 

[Marshy11]

You may want to try further tests to be sure before spending money on a new cooler. Any kind of budget in mind? Air or watercooling? Also, better case airflow would help if yours is lacking as mentioned.

It's pretty lacking, as in I don't really have any other fans atm.

I was thinking I'd go for a Corsair H60 and just go ahead and watercool it. Basically it's either the corsair, or a bunch of case fans.

It runs pretty damn hot sometimes.

 

[Marshy11]

A chip is not supposed to thermal throttle at 50 degrees Celsius though.

Try re positioning the fans so that they are all exhaust fans.

I actually don't have any other case fans besides the one in the case.

And it runs pretty hot sometimes, it's regularly hitting 65 and getting as high 75C right now...and it seems pretty random.

Was thinking I'd try and get a Corsair H60 or something and hope that does the trick.

 

[1LiquidPC]

I have an H60 in my X58 system cooling a 980X @ stock. Never had temp problems w/ it that I noticed. It's also a 130W TDP CPU. Even so, if you don't have any case fans, you should be able to pick up a few cheap ones for 3-4 dollars each.

 

[Marshy11]

I have an H60 in my X58 system cooling a 980X @ stock. Never had temp problems w/ it that I noticed. It's also a 130W TDP CPU. Even so, if you don't have any case fans, you should be able to pick up a few cheap ones for 3-4 dollars each.

If the problem is for sure thermal throttling, then I'll probably go the H60 route. That's all I need to buy right, just the H60 itself?

Sorry, I've never watercooled or attempted it, so I'm not sure.

 

[1LiquidPC]

If the cooling system you have is your problem, then yes the H60 should work if that's your choice. It's an AIO cooler than requires a 120mm fan mount in your case to mount. It comes w/ a 120mm fan to attach to the radiator and your case.

 

[Marshy11]

If the cooling system you have is your problem, then yes the H60 should work if that's your choice. It's an AIO cooler than requires a 120mm fan mount in your case to mount. It comes w/ a 120mm fan to attach to the radiator and your case.

Just to make sure, if I didn't clean the connectors properly and there was still a tiny bit of thermal paste on one of the connectors, that wouldn't be causing this, right? The more I think about it, the more I'm worried I didn't get everything.

Also, what way can I be 100% sure it's thermal throttling? I'm pretty confident that that is the problem when I experienced a complete halt in performance once it reached 70C during a different game of CS sometime after this thread was made. But I don't wanna jump the gun and spend the money if that's not it.

 

[1LiquidPC]

I've seen thermal compound on CPU pins cause problems, but temps wasn't one of them. I observed hardlocks and BSODs I believe(this was a pentium 4) You would want them to be as clean as you can get though.

To check your problem, you could re-create the situation the same way you did before and note the results. Even a run of Prime95 should do the same.

 

[Marshy11]

I've seen thermal compound on CPU pins cause problems, but temps wasn't one of them. I observed hardlocks and BSODs I believe(this was a pentium 4) You would want them to be as clean as you can get though.

To check your problem, you could re-create the situation the same way you did before and note the results. Even a run of Prime95 should do the same.

Okay, I'm pretty sure then. Because I did experiment around and it seems to run pretty abnormally hot under load and it causes problems.

I definitely haven't experienced any problems like that. But I'll be picking up some rubbing alcohol to make sure.

By the way, is it normal that my frequency fluctuates from 4000MHz to 1400MHz? Everyone says it's pretty normal, but I don't think my FX-6300 did it and I'm sure all power saving stuff is off.

 

[1LiquidPC]

Alright. Seems like a thermal issue since your observing same behavior. I ended up using rubbing alcohol and a soft bristle toothbrush to clean pins. After that, it worked fine. Still, if you get a cooler, if at all possible, I'd still try to get a casefan or 2. Having no other airflow isn't good, especially with an AIO cooler. Another possibility is that your VRMs on your board are getting hot. The power draw from CPU upgrade will increase heat. Your current cooler is a tower style and not blowing air on the VRMs around CPU socket. By currently not having casefans, they're going to run hot.

 

[Marshy11]

Alright. Seems like a thermal issue since your observing same behavior. I ended up using rubbing alcohol and a soft bristle toothbrush to clean pins. After that, it worked fine. Still, if you get a cooler, if at all possible, I'd still try to get a casefan or 2. Having no other airflow isn't good, especially with an AIO cooler. Another possibility is that your VRMs on your board are getting hot. The power draw from CPU upgrade will increase heat. Your current cooler is a tower style and not blowing air on the VRMs around CPU socket. By currently not having casefans, they're going to run hot.

Okay. Will definitely look into it.

Would you have any to recommend me? I'm on a bit of tight budget and would like some reliable, but cheap fans. Also, which should be priority the fans or the cooler? I was thinking some CoolerMaster sickleflow fans or something like that.

Also, thanks a ton for all of this. You've been an absolutely amazing help to me.

 

[1LiquidPC]

What PC case do you have? What kind of budget do you have to work with, for both cooler and fans? Where are you located or where can your purchase from? Any way to upload some pics of your build? This kind of info would be helpful.

 

[Marshy11]

What PC case do you have? What kind of budget do you have to work with, for both cooler and fans? Where are you located or where can your purchase from? Any way to upload some pics of your build? This kind of info would be helpful.

I have a Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus. For both combined, probably around 75 USD. I'm located in the US and would prefer Amazon, Newegg, or NCIX US.

I could probably get some pics a little later, but that could be a while. Sorry. I'll answer pretty much anything you need though.

 

[Cryio]

I'm running an FX 6300 overclocked to 4.5 GHz (so over the 6350, which is rated at 125W, same as the 8350) on a 970 based motherboard. Using an aftermarket cooler, my CPU usually averages in the 70-78 degrees range, with rare dips to 80. Been running my setup like this for 2 years. Never had a problem.

 

[1LiquidPC]

It looks like your case has a single 120mm intake fan already which you mentioned. The H55 is on Newegg for about $60. It should be suitable for 8350 at stock. They have some basic 120mm fans as well, even 1 would be helpful as you currently have 1 intake fan in front of your case. Trying to get one cheap, you can't be to picky on colors, cables, ect. Still, as pointed out by Cryio you shouldn't really throttle at an avg. of 70C.

 

[Marshy11]

It looks like your case has a single 120mm intake fan already which you mentioned. The H55 is on Newegg for about $60. It should be suitable for 8350 at stock. They have some basic 120mm fans as well, even 1 would be helpful as you currently have 1 intake fan in front of your case. Trying to get one cheap, you can't be to picky on colors, cables, ect. Still, as pointed out by Cryio you shouldn't really throttle at an avg. of 70C.

Well, I just ordered some of the stuff. Two 120MM fans and an H60 (it was $60 too).

If it's not the heat, then I have no idea what the issue could be. I'm open to other ideas, but I just don't have any clue what else it could be. Literally all I did was change out the CPUs.

I noticed just a few moments ago it was running at full frequency after running for the first time in a while. It ran at full frequency and at a stable 60C until just a bit ago, where i noticed when the temp and wattage dropped...so did the frequency down to the 1400MHz range again.

It's probably not worth noting, but I was using UnparkCPU and it listed only three cores on the FX-6300 before I swapped, afterwards it still showed only three cores and all of them as already unparked.

 

[1LiquidPC]

I'm not familiar w/ the unpark program, so I can't comment there for your new CPU. Some boards have problems w/8-Core CPUs due to VRM quality an heat causing throttle, but your board looks pretty new w/ good size heatsink on them. What are you doing to run at full frequency? If your just web browsing, you shouldn't be running at 60C.