Looking for a CPU for GA-78LMT-USB3 MOBO

[Kurtsshotgun]

I have a GA-78LMT-USB3 motherboard and planning on upgrading both CPU and graphics card.

I have the 960 4gb in mind since it's not that expensive and I'm looking for a CPU that is compatible with my motherboard.

The combination has to give me at least 60fps 1080p on medium-high settings in most games if possible. I'm planning on playing Fallout 4 and The Division (medium settings to get 60fps)

Kinda low budget.

Thanks!

 

[popatim]

Fx-8350 is your best bet. Be sure to get an aftermarket cooler too. The stock one can get rather noisy when the cpu gets hot.
http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=4305

 

[Supernova1138]

The FX 8350 is likely to throttle on that board, especially if you get an aftermarket cooler that isn't a downdraft design similar to the stock cooler as you would have no air blowing down onto the VRMs. Unfortunately for AMD motherboards their CPU Support lists are only useful for determining whether a board will recognize a CPU and boot with it, they aren't very helpful in determining whether the CPU will work properly on a given board when stressed.

FX 6300 is the best you're likely going to be able to do unless you are willing to replace your motherboard, or take a lot of extra steps to try to keep the VRMs cool, eg. downdraft aftermarket CPU cooler, case fan blowing air on the VRMs, ensuring the system is always operating in a cold room, etc.

 

[Kurtsshotgun]

The FX 8350 is likely to throttle on that board, especially if you get an aftermarket cooler that isn't a downdraft design similar to the stock cooler as you would have no air blowing down onto the VRMs. Unfortunately for AMD motherboards their CPU Support lists are only useful for determining whether a board will recognize a CPU and boot with it, they aren't very helpful in determining whether the CPU will work properly on a given board when stressed.

FX 6300 is the best you're likely going to be able to do unless you are willing to replace your motherboard, or take a lot of extra steps to try to keep the VRMs cool, eg. downdraft aftermarket CPU cooler, case fan blowing air on the VRMs, ensuring the system is always operating in a cold room, etc.

So, if I get the 6300 I wont need a cooler? nice, and i'm surprised it is 100 bucks! (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009O7YORK/ref=s9_al_bw_g147_i1)

 

[jeffredo]

The FX 8350 is likely to throttle on that board, especially if you get an aftermarket cooler that isn't a downdraft design similar to the stock cooler as you would have no air blowing down onto the VRMs. Unfortunately for AMD motherboards their CPU Support lists are only useful for determining whether a board will recognize a CPU and boot with it, they aren't very helpful in determining whether the CPU will work properly on a given board when stressed.

FX 6300 is the best you're likely going to be able to do unless you are willing to replace your motherboard, or take a lot of extra steps to try to keep the VRMs cool, eg. downdraft aftermarket CPU cooler, case fan blowing air on the VRMs, ensuring the system is always operating in a cold room, etc.

No, it won't (if the case has decent ventilation). I have a GA-78LMT-USB3 paired with an FX-8320E overclocked to 4.2 Ghz on all 8 cores cooled by an old Xigmatek 120mm tower cooler with a Scythe 1200 RPM case fan stuck on it (with the AMD clip it doesn't even exhaust out the rear). It absolutely does not throttle. When playing Fallout 4 it averages 46C on the CPU and 54C on the Northbridge. Perfectly fine.

http://s28.postimg.org/bs9wnfq65/000_0001.jpg

I would actually suggest getting an FX-8300 and overclocking it to around 4.0 to 4.2 Ghz (with an aftermarket cooler). Save you a lot of money - its basically an FX-8350 running at a slower speed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113399&ignorebbr=1

 

[DonkeyOatie]

jeffredo. I know we've had this discussion before and I accept that your system runs well, for whatever reason. I have responded to many posts where users have had thermal throttling issues with FX83?? systems, even at stock when running on that motherboard. A sufficiently large and diverse number to suggest it is something with the system rather than 'user error'. With a perfect or very good installation, it might work all the time even, but I cannot recommend this to random, unknown, posters. The OP is gaming and a FX63?? will work well and will perform very close to a 83??, so why takes the chance?

People have managed to get the FX9590 to run very well, but a great many people have issues with it and that's why I would never recommend that CPU, even if the price were more reasonable.

 

[Supernova1138]

The FX 8350 is likely to throttle on that board, especially if you get an aftermarket cooler that isn't a downdraft design similar to the stock cooler as you would have no air blowing down onto the VRMs. Unfortunately for AMD motherboards their CPU Support lists are only useful for determining whether a board will recognize a CPU and boot with it, they aren't very helpful in determining whether the CPU will work properly on a given board when stressed.

FX 6300 is the best you're likely going to be able to do unless you are willing to replace your motherboard, or take a lot of extra steps to try to keep the VRMs cool, eg. downdraft aftermarket CPU cooler, case fan blowing air on the VRMs, ensuring the system is always operating in a cold room, etc.

No, it won't (if the case has decent ventilation). I have a GA-78LMT-USB3 paired with an FX-8320E overclocked to 4.2 Ghz on all 8 cores cooled by an old Xigmatek 120mm tower cooler with a Scythe 1200 RPM case fan stuck on it (with the AMD clip it doesn't even exhaust out the rear). It absolutely does not throttle. When playing Fallout 4 it averages 46C on the CPU and 54C on the Northbridge. Perfectly fine.

http://s28.postimg.org/bs9wnfq65/000_0001.jpg

I would actually suggest getting an FX-8300 and overclocking it to around 4.0 to 4.2 Ghz (with an aftermarket cooler). Save you a lot of money - its basically an FX-8350 running at a slower speed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113399&ignorebbr=1

I'd say the only reason that is working at all is because you have the low power, low voltage version of the FX 8320 and you managed to get a good sample that can get up to 8350 stock speeds with a minimal voltage bump at most, and that is keeping your VRMs just under the point where they start to overheat. Run an 8 core FX CPU at the normal voltage and you'd likely run into problems. The 78LMT-USB3 is by no means the worst low end AM3+ board for high power draw CPUs, it does at least have heatsinks on the VRMs, but it's really hard to recommend an 8 core CPU on that board when you have to either undervolt it and pray it remains stable without a significant clockspeed drop, or you have to buy the low power model with reduced clockspeed and hope you get a good sample that can be overclocked without a major voltage boost.

 

[jeffredo]

jeffredo. I know we've had this discussion before and I accept that your system runs well, for whatever reason. I have responded to many posts where users have had thermal throttling issues with FX83?? systems, even at stock when running on that motherboard. A sufficiently large and diverse number to suggest it is something with the system rather than 'user error'. With a perfect or very good installation, it might work all the time even, but I cannot recommend this to random, unknown, posters. The OP is gaming and a FX63?? will work well and will perform very close to a 83??, so why takes the chance?

People have managed to get the FX9590 to run very well, but a great many people have issues with it and that's why I would never recommend that CPU, even if the price were more reasonable.

I'm not doing some sort of strange machinations with this CPU/motherboard/OC combo. Its very ordinary. As far as anecdotal evidence Overclock.net is filled will people who own this board and have 8-core CPUs overclocked on air up to 4.4. to 4.6 Ghz. The motherboard is rated by Gigabyte to handle 125W processors, it uses quality VRMs and they're heatsinked. I would think that it would be rather hard to argue with a run-of-the-mill Joe such as myself who actually owns the hardware in question in a very average environment, but apparently some will anyway.

The FX 8350 is likely to throttle on that board, especially if you get an aftermarket cooler that isn't a downdraft design similar to the stock cooler as you would have no air blowing down onto the VRMs. Unfortunately for AMD motherboards their CPU Support lists are only useful for determining whether a board will recognize a CPU and boot with it, they aren't very helpful in determining whether the CPU will work properly on a given board when stressed.

FX 6300 is the best you're likely going to be able to do unless you are willing to replace your motherboard, or take a lot of extra steps to try to keep the VRMs cool, eg. downdraft aftermarket CPU cooler, case fan blowing air on the VRMs, ensuring the system is always operating in a cold room, etc.

No, it won't (if the case has decent ventilation). I have a GA-78LMT-USB3 paired with an FX-8320E overclocked to 4.2 Ghz on all 8 cores cooled by an old Xigmatek 120mm tower cooler with a Scythe 1200 RPM case fan stuck on it (with the AMD clip it doesn't even exhaust out the rear). It absolutely does not throttle. When playing Fallout 4 it averages 46C on the CPU and 54C on the Northbridge. Perfectly fine.

http://s28.postimg.org/bs9wnfq65/000_0001.jpg

I would actually suggest getting an FX-8300 and overclocking it to around 4.0 to 4.2 Ghz (with an aftermarket cooler). Save you a lot of money - its basically an FX-8350 running at a slower speed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113399&ignorebbr=1

I'd say the only reason that is working at all is because you have the low power, low voltage version of the FX 8320 and you managed to get a good sample that can get up to 8350 stock speeds with a minimal voltage bump at most, and that is keeping your VRMs just under the point where they start to overheat. Run an 8 core FX CPU at the normal voltage and you'd likely run into problems. The 78LMT-USB3 is by no means the worst low end AM3+ board for high power draw CPUs, it does at least have heatsinks on the VRMs, but it's really hard to recommend an 8 core CPU on that board when you have to either undervolt it and pray it remains stable without a significant clockspeed drop, or you have to buy the low power model with reduced clockspeed and hope you get a good sample that can be overclocked without a major voltage boost.

A FX 8-core is an FX 8-core. When they're run at a certain speed it doesn't matter if its an FX-8320E, FX-8350 or FX-8370. Mine isn't a particularly good sample. To run at 4.2 Ghz it takes 1.35v. That's the stock VID of most FX-8350s. Also, a stock FX-8350 is 4.0 Ghz on 8 cores and 4.2 Ghz on only four cores (Turbo). Basically, mine's working at bit harder than that overclocked. Regardless, 125w FX processors are supported by Gigabyte. I doubt seriously that my happy little system is an outlier.

 

[Supernova1138]

jeffredo. I know we've had this discussion before and I accept that your system runs well, for whatever reason. I have responded to many posts where users have had thermal throttling issues with FX83?? systems, even at stock when running on that motherboard. A sufficiently large and diverse number to suggest it is something with the system rather than 'user error'. With a perfect or very good installation, it might work all the time even, but I cannot recommend this to random, unknown, posters. The OP is gaming and a FX63?? will work well and will perform very close to a 83??, so why takes the chance?

People have managed to get the FX9590 to run very well, but a great many people have issues with it and that's why I would never recommend that CPU, even if the price were more reasonable.

I'm not doing some sort of strange machinations with this CPU/motherboard/OC combo. Its very ordinary. As far as anecdotal evidence Overclock.net is filled will people who own this board and have 8-core CPUs overclocked on air up to 4.4. to 4.6 Ghz. The motherboard is rated by Gigabyte to handle 125W processors, it uses quality VRMs and they're heatsinked. I would think that it would be rather hard to argue with a run-of-the-mill Joe such as myself who actually owns the hardware in question in a very average environment, but apparently some will anyway.

The FX 8350 is likely to throttle on that board, especially if you get an aftermarket cooler that isn't a downdraft design similar to the stock cooler as you would have no air blowing down onto the VRMs. Unfortunately for AMD motherboards their CPU Support lists are only useful for determining whether a board will recognize a CPU and boot with it, they aren't very helpful in determining whether the CPU will work properly on a given board when stressed.

FX 6300 is the best you're likely going to be able to do unless you are willing to replace your motherboard, or take a lot of extra steps to try to keep the VRMs cool, eg. downdraft aftermarket CPU cooler, case fan blowing air on the VRMs, ensuring the system is always operating in a cold room, etc.

No, it won't (if the case has decent ventilation). I have a GA-78LMT-USB3 paired with an FX-8320E overclocked to 4.2 Ghz on all 8 cores cooled by an old Xigmatek 120mm tower cooler with a Scythe 1200 RPM case fan stuck on it (with the AMD clip it doesn't even exhaust out the rear). It absolutely does not throttle. When playing Fallout 4 it averages 46C on the CPU and 54C on the Northbridge. Perfectly fine.

http://s28.postimg.org/bs9wnfq65/000_0001.jpg

I would actually suggest getting an FX-8300 and overclocking it to around 4.0 to 4.2 Ghz (with an aftermarket cooler). Save you a lot of money - its basically an FX-8350 running at a slower speed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113399&ignorebbr=1

I'd say the only reason that is working at all is because you have the low power, low voltage version of the FX 8320 and you managed to get a good sample that can get up to 8350 stock speeds with a minimal voltage bump at most, and that is keeping your VRMs just under the point where they start to overheat. Run an 8 core FX CPU at the normal voltage and you'd likely run into problems. The 78LMT-USB3 is by no means the worst low end AM3+ board for high power draw CPUs, it does at least have heatsinks on the VRMs, but it's really hard to recommend an 8 core CPU on that board when you have to either undervolt it and pray it remains stable without a significant clockspeed drop, or you have to buy the low power model with reduced clockspeed and hope you get a good sample that can be overclocked without a major voltage boost.

A FX 8-core is an FX 8-core. When they're run at a certain speed it doesn't matter if its an FX-8320E, FX-8350 or FX-8370. Mine isn't a particularly good sample. To run at 4.2 Ghz it takes 1.35v. That's the stock VID of most FX-8350s. Also, a stock FX-8350 is 4.0 Ghz on 8 cores and 4.2 Ghz on only four cores (Turbo). Basically, mine's working at bit harder than that overclocked. Regardless, 125w FX processors are supported by Gigabyte. I doubt seriously that my happy little system is an outlier.

Sadly it is, as there are many threads on this board with people with that motherboard having throttling problems with the FX 83xx and that particular motherboard, at best it's on the very edge of being capable of handling the 8 core CPU's power draw and can be easily pushed into overheating due to less than optimal case airflow or even a slightly high ambient room temperature.

For AMD processors I do not trust the motherboard vendors when they say their cheap boards are capable of dealing with 140 Watt CPUs. It seems the motherboard manufacturers don't do any stress testing with the low end boards to check to see if throttling is an issue, or if they do, it is only done under optimal conditions for the VRMs eg. stock cooler blowing air onto them, open test bench in a cool room. Once you get outside of those optimal conditions, eg. putting it in a case, adding an aftermarket cooler that doesn't blow air down onto the VRMs, ambient temperatures higher than the lab it was tested in, the VRMs start overheating. ASRock is the only motherboard manufacturer that even bothers noting this problem on their lower end boards by stating in their CPU support lists that a downdraft cooler is required for the 140 Watt CPUs on their lower end boards.

 

[jeffredo]

I OWN THE DAMNED THING (and l'm not that lucky with hardware - lol)! Its in a $50 Fractal Design Core 3300 case with one intake and one exhaust fan. It has a 120mm HDT tower cooler. There.is.no.throttling @ 4.2 Ghz. Period. I check it every time I game with HWInfo64. I'm not trying to lead the OP down the primrose path - if it were having any issues with heat or throttling I'd say so.

The OP will have no more issue with a 95W FX-8300 (that I recommended @ $109.99) with its 3.3 Ghz/4.2 Turbo than he would with a 95W FX-6300 @ $99.99 with 3.5 Ghz/4.1 Ghz Turbo. Especially at stock values they would both be perfectly fine with this motherboard. I think the extra $10 would be well spent. I certainly wouldn't spend an additional $50 for an FX-8350 (its easy enough to OC any 8 core FX to those speeds). Regardless, the FX-8350 and FX-8370 (supported by the manufacturer) are 125W parts, not 140W.

Seriously, I think some just can't stand the thought of their opinions gathered from what they've read/gleaned from anecdotal forum posts being contracted - even by someone who has hands-on experience with the hardware.

 

[Supernova1138]

Well we'll have to agree to disagree on this. It's up to the OP if he wants to roll the dice on an 8 core FX CPU and see if it works okay for him.

 

[Kurtsshotgun]

Thanks to all of you! I'm probably going to buy the 6300.
Again, thanks.

 

[jeffredo]

*sigh* Guess those seeds of doubt planted by someone who has no personal experience with the hardware (or hardware remotely close) worked. Congrats.

 

[madmatt30]

Jeffrefo - you're taking this too personally mate.
I've used the board half a dozen times & in all fairness though I've honestly not seen issues running an 8 core the 6300 is just plain a better fit for it .

Trust me that you are lucky with your clock speed & voltage because I've seen chips that need close to 1.4v to push past 4ghz on that board whereas on a 6/8+2 phase board they'll do it on considerably less.

Yes the MOSFETs on the 78lmt appear to be very good quality , they are heatsinked but ultimately there are only 4 physical regulators & they're inefficient when pushing a 125w rated CPU.

A 6300 is just a safer bet , can 100% be pushed to 4ghz + & will perform virtually the same the majority of the time.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

*sigh* Guess those seeds of doubt planted by someone who has no personal experience with the hardware (or hardware remotely close) worked. Congrats.

Yes, please don't take this personally. If responses were limited to personal experience with the exact hardware configuration of the OP, there would be almost no answers give. Every system is a bit different.

If we see ten people with a piece of hardware for whom it works fine, and another ten people (or even five) for which there are significant problems, (people who have it, not people who heard about a friend of a friend on the Internet) then it is tough to recommend it to anyone else, especially someone upgrading a very budget system where the other parts may be suspect. There are some bits of 'experts-only' kit, where the user goes in with eyes open, and that's fine.

We also know that computer hardware is all about population statistics and that solutions need to handle 5/6th of cases or better.

I know my students and there are some I'd let use that board, if they insisted, others I would not.

 

[jeffredo]

What's unfortunate is that given the relatively weak platform one should be trying to extract as much performance from it as possible. There is a three module six thread 95W FX-6300 @ $99.99. There is a four module eight thread 95W FX-8300 @ $109.99. Again both are 95W (and both are supported by this board). There is no doubt that many applications from productivity to the newest games that will make better use of that "8 Core" processor. Its absolutely worth $10 more. The motherboard would have ZERO issues with either processor at stock since their 95W TDP is well below its 125W limit so why would anyone not invest just a little bit more for the better processor?

There's only two reasons I could think of - he either prefers Amazon vs. Newegg or had F.U.D. planted by forum "experts" who don't have personal experience with it are just repeating what they've read must be so about a 4+1 power phase motherboard (regardless of the success many have with it). If its the latter that's a shame.

 

[madmatt30]

The 6300 you'll definitely do 4ghz+ on all 6 cores , the 8300 as soon as pushed into overclocking will ramp up the tdp close to 125w again like its bigger brothers.

I'd take an overclocked 6300 over a stock 8300 any day of the week for stuff available at the minute , 6 threads are pretty optimal nowadays, outside of multiple rending I've not seen anything use 8 threads at all