OCing a Air Cooled Computer.

[Oshimoto]

Hello,

I was hoping to get some insight on Overclocking my system.

It is all air cooled right now (unfortunately) and my GPU temps seem to get high some times (what I think is high at least, Im not really sure if it is actually high.)

My system is equipped with:
GPU- Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 7950 w/ Boost (Boost is active)
CPU- AMD FX-6350
MOBO- Gigabyte 970A-D3P
CPU Cooler- Gemin II S524
PSU- I cant recall the name but I am 95% sure that it is a 700w PSU.

If you need more info, just ask.

Would it be even worth it to try and OC with this setup?

As for temps, My GPU has an average of 40 C when idle (this seems high to me.) and has reached a max of 57 C when under heavy load. This is with Boost activated if this would change anything. I have not recorded temps w/o boost on.

My CPU does much better, at idle it averages at 15 C and under heavy load it maxes at about 27 C.

Any help you can give is appreciated.
Thank you!

 

[Quaddro]

first..you have to sure if you have a good quality psu..
overclocking without knowing your psu quality is a suicide..

so, what is your psu brand..?

 

[Oshimoto]

first..you have to sure if you have a good quality psu..
overclocking without knowing your psu quality is a suicide..

so, what is your psu brand..?

It's a HEC 850TS, which I read somewhere is pretty low on the totem pole. also, turns out its 850W it also says its 80 Plus Certified.

I could change to a Ultra that is at 600W if that is any better.

At the time I thought more watts would be better but I am unsure on how efficient either of them are.

 

[Quaddro]

well, HEC 850TS..pretty decent..

let's check your other component..
GPU- Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 7950 w/ Boost (Boost is active) = > good cpu
CPU- AMD FX-6350 => decent processor..
MOBO- Gigabyte 970A-D3P => well, not a very good mobo, but it should be work..
CPU Cooler- Gemin II S524 => okay..

you have a very strong gpu, this one can play any games at high or highest setting..no need to overclock this part..
but unfortunately, fx6350 is not a very strong cpu..it's need more muscle to extract all of your gpu performance..

if you want to overclock, then you should overclock your processor..
4.5Ghz is sweetspot for your cpu, and you'll see nice frames rate boost with that setting..

and how to do that..?
this article will guide you about how to overclock your processor..
http://www.overclock.net/t/1348623/amd-bulldozer-and-piledriver-overclocking-guide-asus-motherboard

 

[Oshimoto]

well, HEC 850TS..pretty decent..

let's check your other component..
GPU- Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 7950 w/ Boost (Boost is active) = > good cpu
CPU- AMD FX-6350 => decent processor..
MOBO- Gigabyte 970A-D3P => well, not a very good mobo, but it should be work..
CPU Cooler- Gemin II S524 => okay..

you have a very strong gpu, this one can play any games at high or highest setting..no need to overclock this part..
but unfortunately, fx6350 is not a very strong cpu..it's need more muscle to extract all of your gpu performance..

if you want to overclock, then you should overclock your processor..
4.5Ghz is sweetspot for your cpu, and you'll see nice frames rate boost with that setting..

and how to do that..?
this article will guide you about how to overclock your processor..
http://www.overclock.net/t/1348623/amd-bulldozer-and-piledriver-overclocking-guide-asus-motherboard

I just upgraded the GPU a couple months ago so I'm glad that I chose well!

I was afraid I was causing a bottleneck in my system, every benchmark I put it through told me that the CPU isn't the greatest...

When I bought the 6350 I was all about the amount of cores in it. Then I did a little more research and found that more cores doesn't necessarily mean more power. If I were to upgrade the CPU again what would be good? Would the 8350 be good (I can almost afford this now.) or would it still cause a bottleneck?

I'll take a look and see how much I can push out of my CPU, If i cant get much, no big deal, I'll just reset it to factory.

I thought that my MOBO was pretty good, for what it is... I find its missing some features, like the ability to control all fan speeds. Is it just not that good of a mobo or is it just not that good for OCing? I also have an Asus M5A 78L-M LX Plus laying around. Would this be better than my current mobo?

Sorry it took me so long to reply, I didn't get an E-mail saying there was a new post.

Thank you for all the help!

 

[Quaddro]

Asus M5A 78L-M LX Plus is 1000x worse than your current mobo..
based on 760 chipset..well, no..

about your mobo, well, that series is the lowest series of gigabyte series, which is mark by "3"..
well, about your processor, actually fx63xx is the sweetest spot of amd processor..upgrading it to fx8350 will not give you huge performance boost..
save your money..
just buy a decent cooler, and try to push your processor, 4.4 GHz is not very hard to touch..well, actually 4.4 is very common for fx63xx class cpu..

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

HEC power supplies are fair at best.

I wouldn't overclock with that PSU.

 

[Oshimoto]

Asus M5A 78L-M LX Plus is 1000x worse than your current mobo..
based on 760 chipset..well, no..

about your mobo, well, that series is the lowest series of gigabyte series, which is mark by "3"..
well, about your processor, actually fx63xx is the sweetest spot of amd processor..upgrading it to fx8350 will not give you huge performance boost..
save your money..
just buy a decent cooler, and try to push your processor, 4.4 GHz is not very hard to touch..well, actually 4.4 is very common for fx63xx class cpu..

Ok, will do. Thanks for the advice and help, I'll start working on the overclock and see how it goes.

 

[Oshimoto]

HEC power supplies are fair at best.

I wouldn't overclock with that PSU.

I could still try and OC a bit right? I mean just to see how it goes... I don't plan on pushing my system to its limits as I am not water cooled and the more and more I research the less and less I seem to know. If I push it a bit and start seeing problems I'll reset to default and not attempt it again until I know more and/or I have a better PSU.