FX-8320 Overclocked Limit With MSI 970 Gaming Motherboard?

pigeoncracker

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Hello,

In my build, I have an MSI 970 Gaming motherboard that has served me very well and I very much love it, and my 8320 which I've kept at an overclock of 4.5GHz for about a year or so. I knew the motherboard was worse than others when overclocking CPU as the VRM's weren't the best quality and the motherboard itself doesn't want to handle a lot of voltage, either, but I'm stuck with it. I currently have an H55 cooler stuck on it with two fans in a push-pull configuration keeping my CPU a frosty 40C while gaming.

I'm looking to overclock this further, however. I tried a few times; there seems to be a massive jump in voltage requirements from 4.5GHz to 4.6GHz. I am running 4.5GHz with 1.472V, about a 0.1V increase. Is this massive jump okay with it, or is it the warning to stop with this motherboard?

Or should I just move on to overclocking my GPU?

Thanks
 
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ugh, you have a high bleed cpu. a very high bleed cpu. I'm assuming with 1.47V when you do a prime burn the cpu temps don't spike much over 50C. If that's the case then you have plenty of leeway to try to overclock a bit more. The cpu runs into trouble when it hits 65C-70C or so... at 72C if it doesn't heat crash the motherboard will throttle it. Generally speaking if you can run it under a prime burn <65C you're probably ok with...

PotatoHead32

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Looks like u (somewhat) lost the silicon lottery. Your CPU is on it's limits rn, not your motherboard. You should start OC'ing your GPU now for more performance.
 

The_Man12

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MSI doesn't have the best boards out there, especially when it comes to VRM. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the motherboard what's limiting you. IMO I'd get another board, those FX CPUs (I have an FX-8370 myself, it's on my computer that I use as my daily driver) can overclock fairly well with a good board and good cooling. If you can't change any of your components (or simply dont' consider it necessary), then it would be a good idea to O'C your GPU :) Good luck!
 


ugh, you have a high bleed cpu. a very high bleed cpu. I'm assuming with 1.47V when you do a prime burn the cpu temps don't spike much over 50C. If that's the case then you have plenty of leeway to try to overclock a bit more. The cpu runs into trouble when it hits 65C-70C or so... at 72C if it doesn't heat crash the motherboard will throttle it. Generally speaking if you can run it under a prime burn <65C you're probably ok with whatever overclock/voltage you're on.

As to your question, around 4.6-4.8Ghz piledriver cpus hit what's referred to as a "voltage wall" and every 100mhz of cpu frequency gained past that point typically requires a LOT more voltage then it previously required. So your CHIP is normal in that aspect. High bleed cpus are pretty normal for the 8350, it's rare to find a 8320 that's a high bleed chip. High bleed chips typically require MORE voltage to gain higher clocks then other chips, but they also don't get all that warm from all that extra voltage either. My old 8320 was a "low bleed" chip, and pretty much topped out at 1.5V, at that point no cooling solution on the planet could keep the cpu cool. Day to day I kept it at 1.45V and 4.8ghz overclock. notice? lower voltage higher clock, hotter temps, as it was a bit of an effort to keep that chip cool even at 1.45V.

In piledriver chips, generally the high bleed chips will "average" the highest clocks, however if you put the effort into cooling one, the low bleed chips can reach some insane clock speeds as well. The worst overclocking chips in the piledriver lineup are the "average bleed" chips. those typically max out about 4.5-4.6ghz and won't go an inch past it.

The MSI gaming is an ok motherboard, so i would try to push your chip higher. it probably will take a lot of voltage to do it, but as long as the temps don't go up, i wouldn't be worried.
 
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pigeoncracker

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Jeez, well, didn't realise that. CPU stays around 50C as you had said. You learn new things every day. I'll certainly overclock plenty more. Thanks for all that information. It helps greatly!

 


i've been overclocking CPUs a long time. My last two AMD cpus were a phenomII x965be and a fx8320, both of which I overclocked the shot out of; Piledriver works a little bit differently from phenom, but many of the basics are the same.

generally you can treat piledriver like you could treat the old P4s when overclocking, which is basically shove all the voltage your cpu cooler can cool into it. As long as the chip isn't overheating it can go further. Intel's and the old phenomII didn't work like that, my current i5-4690k pretty much topped out at 4.2ghz, and no amount of vcore will get me past it, no temp issues at all, the cpu just isn't stable past that point. figure the problem is either the motherboard or ram, but i'm not buying a new motherboard and ram to overclock an i5-4690k which is clocked up fine and does a good job for me.

Sometimes you win the lottery sometimes you lose. this cpu was a dud, my old fx8320 was a gem. That thing overclocked like a beast. I suspect you probably will replace your corsair h55 with something better and that cpu (if the motherboard can take it) will hit 4.8-5ghz. Not with the h55, but with something better it should.
 

pigeoncracker

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H55 is crap. Got it from a friend. Noisy as nothing else I've used, but works. Used to be using a Hyper 212 Plus and still wondering if it was an upgrade or not. I mean, looks "cooler" at least.

It doesn't really seem to like 4.6GHz. I'm at 1.54V and still trying to get it stable. I swear I had gotten it at a lower point before, or maybe it's just a setting I have somewhere on the motherboard that's being finicky. Just recently, however, I had an odd moment where the computer just stopped, turned off and then the power led started blinking like it went into hibernate. Wouldn't turn on until I unplugged it for a bit. I doubt this is normal, but is there anything that I should be worried about that with?

Regarding computer programs. Is using MSI Command Center more accurate than, let's say OpenHardwareMonitor or AIDA64?
 


I would use the bios to overclock, back your voltage down. too much voltage can destabilize a chip as effectively as too little.

here is a great guide for overclocking piledriver via the bios, it's written for an Asus motherboard, but many of the principles of overclocking via the bios are all legit in it.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1348623/amd-bulldozer-and-piledriver-overclocking-guide-asus-motherboard