Are my mosfets throddling my cpu?

[Gamestarninja]

so i have an asus m5a97 le r2.0 that has no vrm heatsinks, I also have a fx-8320 4.0ghz that's at 1.248v .

so when i run prime95(max heat setting) after about 5 min. and when my cpu is at 56c. My temps just drops to like 50c as that happens my cpu is still at 100% usage but the clock speed goes from 4000mhz to 1400mhz after a couple a seconds the clock speed goes back to normal and the temp rise again then the cycle starts all over.
So I'm asking are my mosfet throttling my cpu? Also i have no physical way of finding out how hot the mosfets gets but that's the only logical answer i can think of right now.

 

[bgunner]

OK to test for this Download AMD Overdrive. Do not use this program to change anything as it is best done in the bios But look at the Thermal Margin read out. This actually work in reverse and tells you how many degrees till you get thermal throttling from the CPU being to hot.

If throttling occurs and the Thermal margin is still in the green numbers then it would be your VRM causing the throttling.

To help this there are only a few ways and none Guaranteed to work except a board change. You can add small heat sinks to the mosfets and add a fan to blow across them to help cool them down. Any motherboard that does not have factory heat sinks on the VRM/mossfets are no good for 8 core CPU's. the 6 cores even push them to the max. This is due to the amount of current that need to pass through them to feed the power hungry CPU's. The extra current causes more heat causing throttling.

 

[Gamestarninja]

what does thermal margin mean in amd overdrive? and why does it say my voltage is 1.375 when it's clearly 1.248v.

 

[bgunner]

Thermal margin is just like it sounds. It is the margin that is left before overheating. Once it gets down to 0°C and then turns red the CPU will start throttling because the CPU is to hot.

Where are you getting your 1.248 Volts from? You can also try CPU-Z to read the correct voltage.

 

[Gamestarninja]

so im good the cpu is way below that limit and i used cpu-z to get the voltage reading. I also manually set it to 1.248

 

[Gamestarninja]

I swear that board is a curse at first i got the wrong motherboard then it does this, i may just consider to get a new one, if not i'll get some heat sinks i guess...

 

[FALC0N]

I swear that board is a curse at first i got the wrong motherboard then it does this, i may just consider to get a new one, if not i'll get some heat sinks i guess...

Well, this board just isn't really designed for what your using it for. I would OC a FX 4000 or 6000. With an FX 8000, I wouldn't go beyond 4.2 ghz with it.

 

[bgunner]

OK then you are getting throttling caused by your VRM/mosfet's. your 2 choices are trying to cool them or change the board to one that has sufficient VRM cooling.

You can put something similar to these on them: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835708011&cm_re=mosfet_heatsinks-_-35-708-011-_-Product and add a small fan like an 80mm fan to blow across them to draw some heat away to help stabilize them. This is not a guaranty that it will cure the issue because of the current going through them but it will help some.

As for the voltage, Even if you set the bios for 1.248 the board may, and most do, go over this. For my voltage to stay stable-ish I had to turn on the Digi+ options and set it to ultra high to stop the overvolting from what I set it to. MY settings are 1.3875v but under full load I still hit 1.3925v. Was going from 1.3875v up to 1.4200v before restricting it. All boards do this so don't worry to much about this but do keep an eye on the max it hits so you don't go over what the CPU is designed for.

 

[Gamestarninja]

ok thanks I'll think on what i should do with my current motherboard.