How Much can i OC my CPU?

[Potato825]

My cooler is currently being shipped to me, it is the Arctic Alpine 64 Plus. i want to know if i could overclock my FX 8300 to 4ghz, which would be equivalent to the FX 8350, if i cannot overclock it that much, than could i at least over clock it to 3.5ghz which would be equivalent to the FX 8320?

 

[Insomniac Jack]

Overclocking isn't an exact science. Really you just have to play with the numbers and see what sticks. If you've never done it before there's many good videos to be found on YouTube that will show you how. Really your only limiting factors will be how cool you can keep it and whether your PSU can handle the extra power. Your motherboard will also be a big factor if its a cheaper model it may not be able to take the extra heat and voltage.

 

[Karadjgne]

The Arctic Alpine 64 plus was designed for 100w or under cpus as a stock replacement. The fx 8 300 is a 95w cpu, close enough that basically you've swapped the stock cooler for one that looks different. At the 125w level of the 8320/8350 you could easily expect temps 30°C over ambient with the fan on max or 50+°C with the fan on low.
Pretty much any OC will drive your cpu close if not over its thermal limits. If you do decide to OC, some, be very careful of temps at load, FX Cpus have a hard ceiling of 62°C actual, which gets viewed by sensors at @72°C. If temps climb into the 60's under a moderate load consider backing the OC off a little.