I think I accidentally overclocked my CPU

[metricman]

I've got a FX 6300 CPU with a CNPS 8900 quiet CPU cooler and a M5A97 R 2.0 motherboard. The stock clock for the fx 6300 is 3.5 ghz but atm it shows that it's around 3.8 ghz in BIOS. I haven't gotten any crashes or anything, but the temps are a bit high (45-50 idle and 65+ on load). I built my PC a week ago and I remember when I entered BIOS for the first time I clicked the "performance" tab in ez mode (asus bios). I want to lower the clock so I can play at more stable temps (its summer where I live right now and its like 35 degrees all the time) but when I click on the "normal" tab in ez mode it doesn't undo the overclock. Also I had someone else install the heat sink in my computer and I don't think he put the thermal paste on properly, could that be the cause of the high temps I've been getting? What should I do?

 

[Brantyn Gerik]

This overclock is done manually based on temperature most of the time. also anything under 75 is considered very stable under load. I don't think thermal paste application is the problem, nor do i think there is any problem at all anyways.
you can always reapply the heatsink yourself (just google how to do it, and you'll find it's pretty simple). That is actually a really small overclock for that processor, and you could get away with 4.2 with the temps you are getting and still be safe.

basically i wouldn't worry about it and just enjoy the marginal performance gain just check that the temps never pass 80 under load. if you are in the 70's you are fine

 

[metricman]

This overclock is done manually based on temperature most of the time. also anything under 75 is considered very stable under load. I don't think thermal paste application is the problem, nor do i think there is any problem at all anyways.
you can always reapply the heatsink yourself (just google how to do it, and you'll find it's pretty simple). That is actually a really small overclock for that processor, and you could get away with 4.2 with the temps you are getting and still be safe.

basically i wouldn't worry about it and just enjoy the marginal performance gain just check that the temps never pass 80 under load. if you are in the 70's you are fine

Thing is though I've seen on other forums and stuff that the fx 6300 should always stay under 62 degrees so I was a bit worried, but if I were to overclock it to 4.2 like you said will it improve much for performance in games?

 

[Brantyn Gerik]

You might get an average of 2 fps increase lol, so don't worry about it, i was just trying to give you an idea of how safe you actually are at the current state of your pc. If you are truly worried about the temps, then do take the heatsink off, clean off all thermal paste, look up the best method to reapply (personally i use the cross method) then reapply). if you are still worried after that, buy a better cpu cooler (good ones can be had for like $30-40)

 

[Amangoel23]

Hello,amd stated the maximum safe limit of their cpu's temp is 62c and after that it starts to deteroriate due to high temperature.AMD Cpu aren't designed to handle loads of heat like intel cpu which reach upto 80C,The optimal temp for amd fx series cpu are 50-55C during load.IF I were you I would reapply the thermal paste as it seems like that is the problem,also what cooler are you using?

 

[metricman]

Hello,amd stated the maximum safe limit of their cpu's temp is 62c and after that it starts to deteroriate due to high temperature.AMD Cpu aren't designed to handle loads of heat like intel cpu which reach upto 80C,The optimal temp for amd fx series cpu are 50-55C during load.IF I were you I would reapply the thermal paste as it seems like that is the problem,also what cooler are you using?

A CNPS 8900 quiet CPU cooler. I misinterpreted the readings btw, apparently I was looking at the CPU temp from the motherboard instead of the CPU itself. On load the CPU temp is about 50 something degrees, so I don't think there is a problem.