Overclocking AMD FX 4300

[Yuno_Gasai]

I'm trying to get a stable overclock at 4.2 GHz. I've heard people saying they overclocked it to 4.8. I am using the stock cooler that came with it. I'll be getting the Cooler Master soon. I can't get it above 3.8 without getting a system boot error. I guess I'm setting the wrong values. I'm not completely new at overclocking. Anyway any help would be appreciate it. Please don't tell me to get the cooler first, I would like to know so when I get it I can do it right away.

PC SPECS
CPU: AMD FX 4300 3.8 GHz Quad Core
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3

 

[clutchc]

How are you OC'ing, in BIOS? Turn off turbo mode? Raising the multiplier?

 

[Yuno_Gasai]

How are you OC'ing, in BIOS? Turn off turbo mode? Raising the multiplier?

There's no turbo mode, and I guess I'm raising the overall multiplier. The range is 200-500.

 

[Yuno_Gasai]

Bump?

 

[Yuno_Gasai]

Is no one going to help me?

 

[clutchc]

How are you OC'ing, in BIOS? Turn off turbo mode? Raising the multiplier?

There's no turbo mode, and I guess I'm raising the overall multiplier. The range is 200-500.

You are OC'ing wrong. Sounds like you are raising the base clock. Normally you don't want to touch that intil last and only if needed. There should be a CPU clock multiplier listed.
That motherboard comes in various revisions. 4.1, 5.0, and 6.0. Which is yours? I'll help you.

 

[Yuno_Gasai]

How are you OC'ing, in BIOS? Turn off turbo mode? Raising the multiplier?

There's no turbo mode, and I guess I'm raising the overall multiplier. The range is 200-500.

You are OC'ing wrong. Sounds like you are raising the base clock. Normally you don't want to touch that intil last and only if needed. There should be a CPU clock multiplier listed.
That motherboard comes in various revisions. 4.1, 5.0, and 6.0. Which is yours? I'll help you.

Thank you for helping me! Mine is 5.0

 

[clutchc]

Page 19 of your M/B manual shows where the CPU clock multiplier is located. They call it "CPU Clock Ratio". I believe you have to click on it and type in a value. Some boards require it done that way, some give you a choice. Either way, your FX-4300 has default ratio (multiplier) of 19. You will want to increase that incrementally one click at a time.

Turbo mode is shown as " Core Performance Boost" on that board. If it is enabled, disable it. Save your settings and boot to Win. Run something like Intel Burn Test at its default settings. http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/intelburntest.html
If temps are good and the system passes IBT at default settings, you can go back into BIOS and increase the multi by another click. Save and repeat.

Let me know how far you can get on just the multi alone.

 

[Yuno_Gasai]

Page 19 of your M/B manual shows where the CPU clock multiplier is located. They call it "CPU Clock Ratio". I believe you have to click on it and type in a value. Some boards require it done that way, some give you a choice. Either way, your FX-4300 has default ratio (multiplier) of 19. You will want to increase that incrementally one click at a time.

Turbo mode is shown as " Core Performance Boost" on that board. If it is enabled, disable it. Save your settings and boot to Win. Run something like Intel Burn Test at its default settings. http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/intelburntest.html
If temps are good and the system passes IBT at default settings, you can go back into BIOS and increase the multi by another click. Save and repeat.

Let me know how far you can get on just the multi alone.

Thank you so much for helping me. I'll give it a try

 

[Yuno_Gasai]

Alright so I went to 19.5, ran the test. The first time, it only got to 1/10 completed then I got a bsod error "WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR". I rebooted and got that same error, I rebooted again, ran the test, 20 seconds later it crashed again. My bios settings are

CPU Clock Ratio: x19.5
CPU Northbridge frequency: Auto
Core Performance boost: Disabled
Everything else is auto

Hardware thermal control: Enabled

 

[clutchc]

What! I've never seen an AMD CPU fail an OC that fast. You reset everything to default in BIOS first, didn't you? Before, you mentioned something about messing with what I assumed was the base clock. Try again after resetting BIOS to its default settings. On that board they call it "Load Optimized Defaults".

I've had that same board with a FX-6350 in it and got to 4.7 GHz with it by just increasing the multi and bumping the core voltage a bit. But you shouldn't need to increase the vcore yet. Not with that tiny increment in the CPU clock ratio.

What PSU are you using?

 

[Yuno_Gasai]

I put everything to default before I did it but I'll load the optimized option and I have an ATX 350 watt psu

 

[clutchc]

I'll load the optimized option and I have an ATX 350 watt psu

I meant what was the make/model. It might not be capable of the extra stress of overclocking. But it would have to be a total piece of junk to not allow a simple bump like that.
And are you using a discrete gfx card? If so, which one?

 

[Yuno_Gasai]

Model of the PSU is SL-836BTX and my graphics card is PSY GTX 750 2GB

Edit: Alright so I've tried it again and it went to 4/10 before it gave me the WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR

 

[clutchc]

If this is your PSU: http://www.amazon.com/Allied-SL-8360BTX-ATX12V-Switching-Supply/dp/B00N37AHN2
...I wouldn't go with more than the GTX 750 you have now for a gfx card. That is not a great unit.

But, back to your OC'ing issue...
You have some kind of problem with your system that is not allowing you to OC... at all! It may be the cheap PSU, it may be something else. I have OC'ed a number of AMD processors from the Phenoms to Piledrivers, and some with very cheap boards. Never had the issue you seem to be having. I'm wondering if you have some kind of hardware issue or software issue causing the problem.

Let's try eliminating software first.
1) Disable or uninstall as much stuff running when you start Win as possible. Look in your tray for stuff you can get rid of.
2) Run CCleaner and do the Clean and Registry portions both. If it find lots of crap, run it again. https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

 

[Yuno_Gasai]

If this is your PSU: http://www.amazon.com/Allied-SL-8360BTX-ATX12V-Switching-Supply/dp/B00N37AHN2
...I wouldn't go with more than the GTX 750 you have now for a gfx card. That is not a great unit.

But, back to your OC'ing issue...
You have some kind of problem with your system that is not allowing you to OC... at all! It may be the cheap PSU, it may be something else. I have OC'ed a number of AMD processors from the Phenoms to Piledrivers, and some with very cheap boards. Never had the issue you seem to be having. I'm wondering if you have some kind of hardware issue or software issue causing the problem.

Let's try eliminating software first.
1) Disable or uninstall as much stuff running when you start Win as possible. Look in your tray for stuff you can get rid of.
2) Run CCleaner and do the Clean and Registry portions both. If it find lots of crap, run it again. https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

Yeah it's not a good PSU. I disabled my startup items and I ran CCleaner and deleted a bunch of stuff. Ill raise it to 19.5 and run the test again. Hopefully it will go good this time. I have a feeling by the end of this something might be broken.

 

[Yuno_Gasai]

Alright nope still bsod error same as last time

 

[clutchc]

Let's check the obvious hardware. Reset the BIOS settings back to optimized default. Then run memtest for a couple passes on each stick of memory INDIVIDUALLY. Don't run memtest on all sticks at once.
http://www.memtest86.com/download.htm
Use the option for either making a bootable DC or flash drive, whichever works best for you.

 

[Yuno_Gasai]

Let's check the obvious hardware. Reset the BIOS settings back to optimized default. Then run memtest for a couple passes on each stick of memory INDIVIDUALLY. Don't run memtest on all sticks at once.
http://www.memtest86.com/download.htm
Use the option for either making a bootable DC or flash drive, whichever works best for you.

Alright I'll start it and give you the results in like however long this takes. Don't go offline ):

 

[Yuno_Gasai]

It's not even letting me boot into my USB. Ugh I hate gigabyte motherboards so much. What can I do? I don't have any dvds

 

[clutchc]

It's not even letting me boot into my USB. Ugh I hate gigabyte motherboards so much. What can I do? I don't have any dvds

Either enter BIOS and set the USB flash drive as the first boot device or press F8 at boot to enter the boot menu and choose the flash drive.
(F8 is also the safe mode key. You have to wait till the POST is done and before Win starts to hit the F8 key for entering the boot menu. But if you get safe mode by mistake, just choose to start Win normally and quick hit the F8 key again before Win starts.)

 

[Yuno_Gasai]

I only have Del key for bios enter, F9 for System Information, F12 boot menu, and End key for Q-flash. In bios mode I entered Advanced Bios features. Then in the 3 boot device options there are LS120, Hard Disk, CDROM, ZIP, USB-FDD, USB-ZIP, USB-CDROM, USB-FDD, and Legacy LAN. Which one should I do because I'm not familiar with these

 

[Yuno_Gasai]

Okay I found a blank DVD so now it's running the test, I'll post the results

 

[Yuno_Gasai]

Alright I ran it and there are no errors so it's not the RAM

 

[clutchc]

Let me get this straight. With EVERYTHING in bios set back to optimized default, turning off turbo mode, and simply raising the cpu clock multiplier from 19 to 19.5 causes it to fail IBT at its default settings?