FX-8350 Temps and Cooling Options

mattenthehat

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Jun 16, 2012
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Hello all,

So I upgraded to an FX-8350 from an FX-4100 last September when the prices dropped with the announcement of the 8370 and 8370E.

The first thing I did when I slapped it in my motherboard was to run Prime95 small FFTs to get a baseline off of which I could overclock. I use a Hyper 212 Evo for cooling. With stock voltage (1.275V according to CPU-Z) and frequency (4GHz) settings (turbo off), my CPU got up to 66°C. I had read that 61°C is the maximum for the 8-core chips, so I was fairly disappointed. So seeing that high temp, I started lowering my voltage to try to get to an acceptable temp (found it at 1.253V, 4GHz @57°C). Not to be deterred, I figured I would try to squeeze out a couple hundred MHz more, and was eventually able to get it stable at 1.2375V, 4.2GHz, 60°C. So there is the background, here are the questions:


    ■Is that the correct maximum temperature? AMD doesn't seem to list one, but it seems weird that their stock cooler would not meet the requirements, much less a Hyper 212 Evo (I'm assuming the the stock cooler is not better than a Hyper 212 Evo)...
    ■Are these temps crazy for a Hyper 212 Evo? They seem pretty high to me, as I've seen other people claiming much higher clocks and voltages with similar temps. Furthermore, if my Hyper 212 Evo can only keep it at 66°C on stock settings, surely the stock cooler would fail miserably? That doesn't seem to make sense to me...
    ■If my temps are abnormal, does anyone have any idea what could be wrong? I'm positive my cooler installation is correct (I've re-installed it with new thermal grease twice with no change to temps). I am using a single CM Jetflo fan in push, which I realize is more optimized for airflow than pressure, but I would think it wouldn't be horrible? I did try two Jetflo 120s in push-pull and temps actually went up a few degrees... Anyone have any ideas?
    ■I am considering upgrading to water cooling (probably the Swiftech H220-X, but I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any), but am concerned that it may not actually help much if I just got unlucky with my chip. Do you think it would help significantly? Any estimation of changes in temperature would be much appreciated.


In case anyone is interested, here is an Excel spreadsheet of the settings I have tried and their results (make sure you're looking at the 8350 page, not the 4100 one).
Also, all of this is happening on an MSI 890FXA-GD70 motherboard (who's vrm temps are holding up like champs at around 30°C).

Thanks a ton for any advice!

Edit: fixed bbcode for list
 
The maximum FX temperature is 67C, not 61. It is recommended to stay below 61, but it's not the maximum. The FX-8350 turbo boost is 4.2, so overclocking to that manually is pointless. At stock voltage you could probably get it to 4.6 GHz, try it. Their stock cooler does meet the requirements, your ambient temperature is too high, or- thermal paste/cooling installation is wrong. For a 212 EVO, yes you shouldn't be able to pass 50, 40 without stress testing just normal 100% load. AMD FX temps are usually not accurate, even under load. As for water cooling, get the H100i, and you'll most likely get it to 4.8 GHz or above, provided you know what you're doing. The proper way of overclocking FX processors is to increase the voltage by 0.006250 at a time, and never change the multiplier and voltage at the same time.

"I am using a single CM Jetflo fan in push, which I realize is more optimized for airflow than pressure, but I would think it wouldn't be horrible?"

Correct, this is nothing but a marketing gimmick. SP will cool just as well as AF. Their numbers are very questionable, and are being tested in a lab, not 'real world'. And the fact that radiators fin density simply aren't dense enough to benefit from one, at most probably 1C difference between the two different fans.
 


Do you have a source for that 67°C maximum temp?
Also, as I understand, turbo only kicks in when only a few cores are being used heavily, versus manually overclocking to 4.2, which forces all 8 cores to stay at 4.2 GHz all of the time.
As for ambient temps, it varies from day to day (no air conditioning in my apartment), but it was probably around 22°C on the day I tested it, certainly not above 27°C or so, so I wouldn't think that would be the reason for the high temp.
As for overclocking with stock voltage, yes, I could probably reach significantly higher clocks, but as I mentioned in the original post, I am reaching 64°C with stock voltage and frequency, so my problem is not stability but temperature.
 


67 degrees C is the max operating temperature for any Vishera Core. That said your temps are pretty high for an EVO, I work with both your CPU and the Evo often. The issue your facing is usually cuased when the cooler is not mounted evenly, on each corner you need to tighten with 3 full turns, but close to the end do 1/4 turns at each point. Failing to do so will cause the compound to not distribute evenly.

Voltage dropping was the way to go, drop it back to 4.1GHz and your golden at those temps. And your right, not all cores operate at the same speed when they are 'turbo'.
 


Hmm, I definitely did that when installing the cooler (I was VERY careful when I did it the most recent time). That said, I did use some off-brand thermal compound, so maybe I'll try one more time with some good stuff (although I've used that compound before with no problems). Why do you say drop back to 4.1GHz? It is perfectly stable where its at now, and while 60°C is warmer than I would really prefer, it never ACTUALLY gets that warm outside of Prime95. Is there some other reason you say to drop it back? Thanks for the insight!
 
Just for the general lifespan of the CPU. I have noticed that the Thermal interface between the CPU die and cap gets worn within about 6 years on the FX series CPU. The higher the speed the quicker it goes out, I would say drop it back a tad to lower the voltage a tiny bit more. If your satisfied with where it's at and plan on upgrading it within 4 years I would say leave it be.
 
Have my FX-8350 OC at 4.6 stable on air with a Zalman 9700. Routinely see ambient temps hover around 25-30C typical load is 50-60C with peaks around 65C. I have taken mine to 68C without fault while running stable OC at 4.7 but just didn't feel it was worth it.

From what I have read your cooler is superior to the Zalmann. I would suspect a thermal paste or mounting issue. Never use off brand paste. Its only $5 and do you really want to skimp money there? lol.

I plan to go water cooling in a few months and I've decided I will be taking up the H105 water cooling unit which apparently keeps the FX-9590 cool so it will have no issue with FX-8350. Looking forward to pumping mine up to 5.0-5.2ghz.

 


Ah interesting, I did not know that. I probably won't have the CPU more than 4 years anyways, so I think I'll just keep it where it is, but thanks!



I definitely agree that there is no point cheaping out on thermal compound. Unfortuantely, I gave the last of my good stuff to a friend, and there's no stores near me that sell it, and I didn't want to wait 3 days to get it from online. I will get some new thermal compound and try installing the CPU one more time (making 100% sure it is installed correctly) to eliminate all possible variables. Thanks for the input!
 
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ukelecbm5zstfm9/FX8350%20load%20test.jpg?dl=0
fx8350 without any OC with EVO 212
32C was the Idle Temp
47C was the full load Temp
that was about 5 min full load.temp.
didn't have time to do a 24hrs run.
but if you want to know the day run. or the oc run. I can do one.

you are with the same setting. you shouldn't be off too far.
are your case fan doing about 50/50 push pull? that may help too. or if your room temp is too high?
 


With as fast as the FX ramps under full load and tops out I'd be surprised if you didn't see the same temp around an hour and again at 24 hours as you do after 5 minutes.
 


Hmm interesting, thanks for the info, its helpful to have someone with the exact same setup. I have 3 120mm case intakes and 2 exhausts: a 120mm and a 140mm. So I should theoretically have slighlty positive case pressure, with roughly the same amount of intake as exhaust. I THINK my case airflow is decent, but I'm not sure how to test it...
 
Seriously ,ignore all the 3rd party apps & just use the thermal margin in amd overdrive for under load testing.
Nothing else is guaranteed accurate ,& completely ignored idle temps - its a known fact that under 40c therevis no way of accurately measuring temps at all on any amd chip.
 
not too sure about air cooling. but I had a DD "danger den" water cooling with my old computer. the temp of the full load test will change over time. "the area of your computer air is getting warm, your water is getting warm. etc etc" so 5 min vs 60 min vs 24 hrs vs 48 hrs are not the same. but i never had the time to do the load test on my FX8350 caz i'm not doing any OC on it.

oh by the way I did add an extra fan on the EVO212 so it a push pull setting.
as long as you are close to 50 / 50 push pull you should be alright.
do keep in mind this tho. if your computer back is face to a wall or under a table. your hot air will have no place to go. you can always mount a fan from the back of your case to direct hot air up or what ever direction you want your them to go.
 


EV)212 is an air cooler. You reach equilibrium on an air cooler rapidly because the metal is the material holding the energy, water cooling could take hours to reach a maximum temperature but that depends on the efficiency of the cooling system, how it reacts and the overall volume of your coolant. If you have a 25 gallon coolant tank you will not never reach a maximum temperature in 24 hours.