CPU is throttling and I don't know why

[RDGnome]

Hi,
I got a new cpu today, the FX 8350, because my 8320 kept giving me no end of issues. One of them being that it would randomly throttle when doing certain things. For instance if I stream a game, dota 2 for example and have my stream open on my other monitor (I realise this isn't necessary), the cpu throttles to 1.4GHz from 4GHz even when the thermal margin is well within the safety parameters, at least 25 degrees usually. This causes the game I'm playing to drop to below 10fps for about 10 seconds while the CPU is throttled. I even turned off CPU throttling in the bios to attempt to stop this but apparently to no avail. It occasionally does this even when I just have a stream open on my 2nd monitor and a game open on my primary and things like that.
Any ideas why it might do this?
Thanks

Specs:
FX 8350 stock
Gigabyte Windforce GTX 660
Hyper 212+ evo cooler
Asrock 970 Extreme3
Corsair CXM 500W
8GB Corsair Vengeance RAM
1080p and 720p monitors

 

[migronesien]

If this doesnt cause any laggs or bottleneck...why bother?

 

[RDGnome]

Oh sorry, I forgot to mention, my fps in game drops from 60 to about 5 fps during this throttle period for about 10 seconds. Kind of irritating. I have edited the original post

 

[TofuLion]

could be the PSU. how long have you had it?

 

[bmacsys]

Hi,
I got a new cpu today, the FX 8350, because my 8320 kept giving me no end of issues. One of them being that it would randomly throttle when doing certain things. For instance if I stream a game, dota 2 for example and have my stream open on my other monitor (I realise this isn't necessary), the cpu throttles to 1.4GHz from 4GHz even when the thermal margin is well within the safety parameters, at least 25 degrees usually. This causes the game I'm playing to drop to below 10fps for about 10 seconds while the CPU is throttled. I even turned off CPU throttling in the bios to attempt to stop this but apparently to no avail. It occasionally does this even when I just have a stream open on my 2nd monitor and a game open on my primary and things like that.
Any ideas why it might do this?
Thanks

Specs:
FX 8350 stock
Gigabyte Windforce GTX 660
Hyper 212+ evo cooler
Asrock 970 Extreme3
Corsair CXM 500W
8GB Corsair Vengeance RAM
1080p and 720p monitors

It has nothing to do with thermal margin or the temp of your cpu. Or your power supply. It has everything to do with the crappy mosfets ASRock uses on their low end and mid range AMD boards. Plus its only 4+1 phase power. A good board will be 8+2. They are throttling the cpu to keep from burning up.

 

[bmacsys]

You got rid of perfectly good 8320 and bought an 8350 for no reason. Google "Asrock 970 Extreme 3 thermal throttling". That board even throttles with 6 and 4 core cpu's.

 

[RDGnome]

If this doesnt cause any laggs or bottleneck...why bother?

could be the PSU. how long have you had it?

Only about 2 years, fairly confident it isn't that

 

[RDGnome]

It has nothing to do with thermal margin or the temp of your cpu. Or your power supply. It has everything to do with the crappy mosfets ASRock uses on their low end and mid range AMD boards. Plus its only 4+1 phase power. A good board will be 8+2. They are throttling the cpu to keep from burning up.

I was worried it might be this. I guess there's nothing I can do if this is the issue

 

[bmacsys]

If this doesnt cause any laggs or bottleneck...why bother?

Uh, because a cpu that is throttling isn't working properly. "facepalm". Thats like saying my car will only do 30 mph for some reason but its ok because I don't drive on the highway.

 

[RDGnome]

You got rid of perfectly good 8320 and bought an 8350 for no reason. Google "Asrock 970 Extreme 3 thermal throttling". That board even throttles with 6 and 4 core cpu's.

Nah AMD replaced my 8320 under warranty so that's not a problem. I guess I made a mistake getting this board then, no point ever considering overclocking then...

 

[bmacsys]

You got rid of perfectly good 8320 and bought an 8350 for no reason. Google "Asrock 970 Extreme 3 thermal throttling". That board even throttles with 6 and 4 core cpu's.

Nah AMD replaced my 8320 under warranty so that's not a problem. I guess I made a mistake getting this board then, no point ever considering overclocking then...

This is what you do. Run it at stock. Undervolt the cpu .05 volts That way the board will be under much less duress, run cooler and not throttle. Two more things you could do that would REALLY help. If your motherboard has a cpu cutout double sided tape an 80 mm fan over the backplate to cool the socket. The most important mod you could do would be placing any old fan over the vrm heatsink with either double sided tape or zip ties. This would work wonders for your board. Lots of guys do with lesser boards and these things help a ton. maybe even allow you to overclock a smidge. But you would have to increase your vcore.

 

[RDGnome]

This is what you do. Run it at stock. Undervolt the cpu .05 volts That way the board will be under much less duress, run cooler and not throttle. Two more things you could do that would REALLY help. If your motherboard has a cpu cutout double sided tape an 80 mm fan over the backplate to cool the socket. The most important mod you could do would be placing any old fan over the vrm heatsink with either double sided tape or zip ties. This would work wonders for your board. Lots of guys do with lesser boards and these things help a ton. maybe even allow you to overclock a smidge. But you would have to increase your vcore.

Would undervolting it effect performance in general? I know that AMD cpus are generally overvolted anyway. Could I buy small heatsinks and place them on the mosfets?

Edit: Scratch that, it already has a heatsink. I guess modding a fan to blow on it is the only way

 

[ZENprime]

It is the motherboard , Officially it doesn't support the 8320/50 (125-140 watt) it only support the 8320e/8370e which is 95 watt
also even if you installed a 95 watt processor it requires using top-down cooler ; means it needs active cooling for the VRMs
http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/970%20Extreme3/?cat=CPU

What can you do ?
-Put the 212 fan on PULLING air from VRMs to the face of the case ( DVD place )
it will increase the CPU heat a little but it will provide air to the VRMs
also a fan in the back of the case pulling air from outside into the direction of the 212 in the PULLING direction
FAN---VRMs---->212------->DVD place , thats how air will go
- you can buy active cooling for your VRMs ( IF you found any good ones )
- buy a new motherboard that supports the 125+ watt processors
Options : Asus M5a97 r2.0 , M5A97 evo r2.0
- underclock/volt your CPU ; basically turning it into a 8320e
it hurts performance .
VRMs throttling is a very bad thing DO SOMETHING ASAP

 

[migronesien]

If this doesnt cause any laggs or bottleneck...why bother?

Uh, because a cpu that is throttling isn't working properly. "facepalm". Thats like saying my car will only do 30 mph for some reason but its ok because I don't drive on the highway.

Because a CPU never clocks down and always runs at max clock right...?
Anyway seems to be the motherboard.

 

[RDGnome]

It is the motherboard , Officially it doesn't support the 8320/50 (125-140 watt) it only support the 8320e/8370e which is 95 watt
also even if you installed a 95 watt processor it requires using top-down cooler ; means it needs active cooling for the VRMs
http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/970%20Extreme3/?cat=CPU

What can you do ?
-Put the 212 fan on PULLING air from VRMs to the face of the case ( DVD place )
it will increase the CPU heat a little but it will provide air to the VRMs
also a fan in the back of the case pulling air from outside into the direction of the 212 in the PULLING direction
FAN---VRMs---->212------->DVD place , thats how air will go
- you can buy active cooling for your VRMs ( IF you found any good ones )
- buy a new motherboard that supports the 125+ watt processors
Options : Asus M5a97 r2.0 , M5A97 evo r2.0
- underclock/volt your CPU ; basically turning it into a 8320e
it hurts performance .
VRMs throttling is a very bad thing DO SOMETHING ASAP

Well I modded a small fan to sit over the VRM heatsink and it seems to have worked apparently. The throttling wasn't occurring in the situations it was before so I guess I can consider it a fix.
Here's a picture of the solution: http://i.imgur.com/g8jqP1t.jpg

Thanks for all your help, I'll be careful about my motherboard choice when buying AMD in the future

 

[ZENprime]

It is the motherboard , Officially it doesn't support the 8320/50 (125-140 watt) it only support the 8320e/8370e which is 95 watt
also even if you installed a 95 watt processor it requires using top-down cooler ; means it needs active cooling for the VRMs
http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/970%20Extreme3/?cat=CPU

What can you do ?
-Put the 212 fan on PULLING air from VRMs to the face of the case ( DVD place )
it will increase the CPU heat a little but it will provide air to the VRMs
also a fan in the back of the case pulling air from outside into the direction of the 212 in the PULLING direction
FAN---VRMs---->212------->DVD place , thats how air will go
- you can buy active cooling for your VRMs ( IF you found any good ones )
- buy a new motherboard that supports the 125+ watt processors
Options : Asus M5a97 r2.0 , M5A97 evo r2.0
- underclock/volt your CPU ; basically turning it into a 8320e
it hurts performance .
VRMs throttling is a very bad thing DO SOMETHING ASAP

Well I modded a small fan to sit over the VRM heatsink and it seems to have worked apparently. The throttling wasn't occurring in the situations it was before so I guess I can consider it a fix.
Here's a picture of the solution: http://i.imgur.com/g8jqP1t.jpg

Thanks for all your help, I'll be careful about my motherboard choice when buying AMD in the future

Great , that is the best thing to do for your VRMs by active cooling it
Also there is nothing in amd that is stronger than the 8350 right now
except the 9370/9590 which is 8350 OC untill Zen is out .
8350 is a great cpu , not the best , but it can age pretty well , remember they were launched in 2012
So I would say save up for Zen which is the new CPU coming in late 2016
AM4 (socket) will be the new motherboards which supports APUs and CPUs on the same socket .
Much improvement is expected from Zen :
Lower TDP (up to 95w)
DDR4 support
die shrink
better core design

 

[RDGnome]

Great , that is the best thing to do for your VRMs by active cooling it
Also there is nothing in amd that is stronger than the 8350 right now
except the 9370/9590 which is 8350 OC untill Zen is out .
8350 is a great cpu , not the best , but it can age pretty well , remember they were launched in 2012
So I would say save up for Zen which is the new CPU coming in late 2016
AM4 (socket) will be the new motherboards which supports APUs and CPUs on the same socket .
Much improvement is expected from Zen :
Lower TDP (up to 95w)
DDR4 support
die shrink
better core design

I look forward to it, it's about time AMD came through with a gamechanger. Thanks for the help again