[SOLVED] Can I / Is it safe for me to overclock?

Oct 26, 2020
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I have a AMD FX-8350 Black, GTX 1060, just a normal SSD and HDD, 4 sticks of 4gb DDR3 RAM, my cpu cooling is the MASTERLIQUID LITE 120mm, lastly I have the 450W Thermaltake Lite power supply.
I've found that my cpu is quite lacking constantly hitting 100% and stuttering when I'm gaming and apparently its good for overclocking , should I? and how do I do it? Thank you very much.
 
Solution
Don't do it.
The cooler isn't up to the task, and depending on the make and model of the motherboard, that'll be 2 reasons not to do it.

Phaaze88

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Umm, there's like 5 boards with '970 gaming' in the name.

Could you suggest any cooling?
Scythe Mugen 5 Rev. B(154mm)
be quiet! Shadow Rock 3(163mm)
Thermalright True Spirit 140 Direct(161mm)
240mm hybrid cooler

I've just been looking at my performance today and yeah my cooling is ass cheeks, when at around 100% load it gets up to 70-73C
You're using the wrong temperature reading. Those FX chips were specced to read as thermal margin, or distance to TJ Max.
The readings get a little wonky when using traditional readings.
The FX-8350 has a thermal margin of 61C. Use AMD Overdrive: https://www.techspot.com/downloads/4645-amd-overdrive.html
What will happen is that it starts at 61C, and count down as it warms up. This means that readings of single digits, 0, and negatives - yeah, it even goes into the negatives - are bad.

So you reporting 70-73C looks a little weird right now.
 
Oct 26, 2020
21
1
515
Umm, there's like 5 boards with '970 gaming' in the name.

Oops my bad, its the GA-970-Gaming from gigabyte (G1 gaming or something)
The first link when you google "GA-970-Gaming from gigabyte G1 gaming"

Thank you for the help by the way, highly appreciated.

I downloaded AMD OverDrive and at peaks it can get to -1/-2, is that harmful?
 
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Phaaze88

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Oops my bad, its the GA-970-Gaming from gigabyte (G1 gaming or something)
The first link when you google "GA-970-Gaming from gigabyte G1 gaming"
Bummer, that's literally the worst one of the 5 models I was looking at...
Weak 4+1 phase VRM = will power throttle when overclocking the FX-8350 - heck, it can probably be triggered before doing so... Really needs an 8 phase or greater for best results.
Little heatsink on the VRMs = VRM thermal throttling. That little sink is more adequate for the 95w and lower FX models, not the 125w, and that's not even taking into account the weak VRM.

A new cpu cooler and motherboard... you're not in a good spot to be attempting this.
 
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DSzymborski

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Not to mention that the PSU is completely inadequate for overclocking as well. I certainly wouldn't want to stress a PC running a very low-end Thermaltake.

Honestly, money was spent in the wrong places here. Can you still return the cooler? That money is much better put to save towards the more effective type of overclock: upgrading to a CPU/motherboard. An overclocked disappointing CPU from 2012 is just a slightly faster disappointing CPU from 2012.
 
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Oct 26, 2020
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Sadly I cant return the cooler :disrelieved:

What would you recommend, in terms of motherboard and CPU, that's compatible with my Hyper X fury DDR3 RAM and my 1060, something to save up for but not insane.
Also If I can salvage the PSU that would be nice but it is very cheap and probably needs upgrading. I'm a uni student so I don't make much money so what ever I can salvage would be great.

Also my case is a DeepCool Tesseract bf mid-tower ATX.

Thanks guys for the help.

EDIT: I did a bit of googling is the, i5 9400F socketed in a ASRock B460 Steel Legend much of an upgrade?
 
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thefxgamingrules

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Jun 19, 2018
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Sadly I cant return the cooler :disrelieved:

What would you recommend, in terms of motherboard and CPU, that's compatible with my Hyper X fury DDR3 RAM and my 1060, something to save up for but not insane.
Also If I can salvage the PSU that would be nice but it is very cheap and probably needs upgrading. I'm a uni student so I don't make much money so what ever I can salvage would be great.

Also my case is a DeepCool Tesseract bf mid-tower ATX.

Thanks guys for the help.

EDIT: I did a bit of googling is the, i5 9400F socketed in a ASRock B460 Steel Legend much of an upgrade?
It is a major upgrade, but you'll have to ditch that RAM. You'll need a new DDR4 kit, while FX ran on a DDR3 one.
 

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