Overclocking my FX 6300

[Zitheny]

Hi,

Today, I started overclocking my AMD FX-6300 processor as I think he can go above the 3.5 Ghz stock.

At stock speeds, idle, he was constantly running 15-20 degrees, never above 25 degrees. I think this are beautiful temps, I have a good cooler, room temperature 15 degrees and three fans in the case, I guess this is normal?

Now, I watched some youtube video's about overclocking, read some topics and stuff so I have build up some knowledge.
Firstly, I turned everything off which may badly affect the overclock of the CPU, like turbo, ...

Then, I moved the CPU speed to 4.2 GHz, and the PC was pretty stable. After that, I decided to go to the 4.5 Ghz, but then I received a error screen from Windows 10, so my system was then unstable. The reason was the VCore, it was set to Auto. So I've put the VCore to 1.4V and now the system seems stable again with Prime95 the CPU runs constantly 40-41 degrees, it was only for a couple of minutes, but I guess he'd never reach the 60's, maybe even the 50's.

Here are my specs:

ASUS M5A97 R2.0
AMD FX 6300 @ 4.5 GHz OC (Turbo off)
8GB RAM 1333 MHz DDR3
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
Corsair CX750
XFX HD 7950


This are my questions to you:

1. What would you recommend me as a safe and the lowest voltage? I'm now on 1.4Ghz, but I guess I can go a bit lower. At 3.5 Ghz the voltage on Auto would be 1.35V.
2. And second question, how far do you think I can push this chip where the chip is stable, but still has a high clock speed? I'd like to maybe hold the 4.5Ghz or maybe even higher but will the chip hold long enough? I'd like to hold this CPU for some more years.

Thanks in advance!
Tony


Update: In Valley Benchmark the CPU @4.5 Ghz constantly 30-31 degrees max, system seems stable.

 

[Ditt44]

I think you have your own answer. The OC to the 4.2 range on 'auto' seems to be the most safe limit. I have a 6350 in a Sabertooth r1 using a Zalman 92mm air cooler and by allowing the Asus BIOS to auto-OC for me, I am normally between 4.2 and 4.3, generally at 4.29. My temps run 26C idle to 48C load. I have a big Corsair 760T case but only the stock fans at the moment and a GTX770 dumping air inside. I think your temps are more than safe.

If you want to experiment, I don't see a problem doing small increases just to find your top stable speeds. However, I wouldn't want to push that CPU too hard for too long. Do you really see a difference between 4.2 and 4.5 in your games/applications?

My OC has been stable for over three years. I just leave it alone and I am very happy with it. The 16Gb of RAM doesn't hurt either as upgrading from 8Gb was very noticeable with the work/games I use.

 

[Cowboy303]

1. I don't know if there is an official max voltage for that chip, but 1.475 max seems to be a widely excepted limit. As far as the lowest, if your system is stable, then either turn down the voltage a notch or bump up the muliplier one notch and test again, keep doing that until it's unstable and then turn it back one notch.

2. Skys the limit, it all depends on your cooling, mobo quality, and silicone lottery. Though I don't think you'll make it a whole lot further, but stable at 4.5Ghz with your setup should be obtainable. These chips typically hit a voltage wall between 4.5 to 4.7Ghz. Once you hit this wall, it takes a lot of voltage to get more performance, so in your case it's likely not worth trying to "climb" the wall, but instead just sit right below it for nice cool temps with a very respectable performance increase over stock.

Couple notes:
Valley Benchmark is not a CPU intensive benchmark, so doesn't effect temps much.

When overclocking, it's best to make small steps, only increasing the multiplier one step at a time. When it becomes unstable, bump up the voltage and try again.

For monitoring temps, Download AMD Overdrive and use it, other software's may not be reading the AMD chips temperatures correctly.

With Prime95, 10 minutes is a bare minimum for judging if an overclock is remotely stable. After you believe you clock is stable, it's a good idea to run it for a couple hours to test so it doesn't crash during gaming sessions and such.

With these power hogs, you also have to worry about the VRM temps. If your motherboard supports it, Downloading a software like HWinfo64 should let you monitor them.

 

[Zitheny]

Hi, thanks for the answers!

I had a windows error again so I raised the voltage again, now I have done a strress test again with prime for 2 hours, system seems stable, 51 degree was max temp of the whole testing, is that good?

 

[Cowboy303]

51°C is very good assuming it's correct. Admittedly, I'm a little hesitant to believe that number as I'd expect it to be a little hotter with it running at over 1.4V. My opinion would still be to try Installing AMD Overdrive just to be sure that your temp reading is correct.

 

[Zitheny]

I have AMD Overdrive now, it doesn't show the actual temperature, it shows the thermal margin, I guess this means for ex. if you have 30 degrees, that you have 40 degrees thermal margin, so you can go up to 40 degrees more, then the CPU has a chance to be badly affected.

The thermal margin goes even with core temp, so if I have 24 degrees on core temp, it shows me 46 degrees thermal margin, so I guess the temps are right.

 

[Cowboy303]

That's Awesome. Sounds like you've got a pretty decent overclock!

 

[Zitheny]

Thanks! So 4.5 Ghz would be enough?

And uhm, is unparking CPU cores good or not?

 

[Cowboy303]

"Thanks! So 4.5 Ghz would be enough?"

Seriously though, that's up to you. You can try upping the multiplier one more click, but there's no telling how much you'll have to up the voltage in order to make it stable. You do have a considerable amount of headroom in the temperature department, so it may be worth a shot.

"And uhm, is unparking CPU cores good or not?"

Assuming you have windows 10. I don't see the point, it wont park the cores unless CPU usage goes below 5%. If you're gaming and you achieve that, then I'm not sure minesweeper suffers from FPS drops that much. If you think you may have an issue with parking, then just go into windows power plan and change the profile to "high performance" That should disable parking.

 

[Zitheny]

Alright, thanks!

Well, I have set the CPU/NB voltage to 1.225V and set the NB Frequency from Auto to 2400MHz, this gives me higher temperatures, now at 4,5GHz, 1.3 VCore at 55 degrees under load, is it actually worth raising the NB Frequency or not?

 

[Cowboy303]

I played around with it a little and this is what I got. This is with a FX 8320
EDIT: NOT VALID SEE NEXT POST

4.5Ghz @ stock 2200Mhz NB with stock 1.185V

4.5Ghz @ 2400Mhz NB with 1.2V

4.5Ghz @ 2600Mhz NB with 1.225V

4.5Ghz @ 2600Mhz NB with 1.2V

Nothing really stands out to me, any differences are well within the margin of error. So if temps are going up with the higher NB, I'd leave it alone. But if there's something you're trying to achieve, like a certain frame rate in a game, then you can try for yourself and see if there's any difference.

 

[Cowboy303]

Well I feel a little dumb (happens a lot), I was just doing a little playing around, and while I set the NB freq to different settings, it's locked at 2200Mhz, it won't go up or down. I'm going to swap out Mobo's here in a couple days anyway, and so I'll do more testing then. So in short, the only thing that changed in the above benchmarks was the NB voltage.

 

[Zitheny]

Thanks for the help!

I'm currently running at 4,5 GHz, ~ 1.45-1.50Vcore, CPU NB Frequency 2200 MHz

Temps

Idle: constantly ~ 15-20 degrees (Sometimes even 12, 13, 14 degrees)
Load: Prime 95 for short time, under 40 degrees, ~ 36-37 degrees.

I tried to put it on 2400, even 2600 but the north bridge on the motherboard was really hot, it felt like it was burning my finger, so for safety, I've just put it down to 2200 MHz.

Next, I'm so sorry, I actually found out that I have a Cooler Master TX3 Evo instead of a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo.

I found out that I have a Scythe Fuma and I was thinking to maybe replace it by the TX3 Evo I have now. Here under you can see a test.

Red means full speed, green means low speed.
Note that this is a test on a CPU Socket 1155, so not AM3+

As you can see, the Scythe Fuma is not in the list, but it is compareable with the Mugen 4 (PCGH), the Fuma is even better.

Mugen 4 is at low speed tested at 36,1 degrees where the TX3 Evo has 40,9 degrees.
Mugen 4 is at full speed tested at 38,3 degrees, where the TX3 Evo has 50 degrees.

Average of the Mugen 4 would be 37,2 degrees.
Average of the TX3 Evo would be 45,5 degrees.

This would tell us that the Mugen 4 runs on average 8,3 degrees cooler. Note that I have a Scythe Fuma, so temps would be better, and again, this is a 1155 Socket, so temps may differ.


Reasons to pick the Scythe Fuma:

- Overall better temperatures
- 6 heatpipes instead of the 3 the TX3 Evo has
- More maximum air displacement Scythe has max 79 cfm (cubic feet per minute), where the TX3 Evo only has 43 cfm max.
- 2 fans instead of 1
- The Scythe should be a little more quiet when fans are at low speed.

Reasons to hold the TX3 Evo:

- Fan has 2200 RPM max, where the Scythe only has 1400RPM
- Compact, easier to install
- TX3 Evo little more quiet when fans at high speed

So, my question is, would it be worth replacing my TX3 Evo by the Scythe Fuma that I have, or would the temps almost be the same?

 

[Cowboy303]

You current temps are pretty good, if you plan to stick with this overclock then I wouldn't worry about to much. But if you were to swap it out, then you'd be able to crank the speeds down a bit while maintaining the same temperature for less noise. If you're wanting to push the OC further, than go for it! The Scythe should be a substantially better cooler! Another advantage for the Scythe is by keeping the CPU cooler you keep the Socket temps cooler which then helps keep the VRM's cooler, which goodness knows OC'ed FX chips could really use.

Also, I'm not sure if you're familiar with SpeedFan, but it's pretty awesome. It can control your fans and thus give you complete control of how loud your PC is at various loads.

Here's my current settings, with this it's super quiet at idle, but kicks up if needed under load.