Overclocking my FX-8350 on Gigabyte 970-A DS3P w/ Hyper 212 Evo

[Jester1204]

Hello, I was wondering if I could overclock my 8350 to at least 4.5Ghz, I know my motherboard isnt the best but I think I could get it to 4.5Ghz. I am a total noob at overclocking, so any help would be appreciated.

 

[rhysiam]

I don't claim to be an expert on OCing FX processors, but that motherboard does look light on the VRMs. Have you read this thread? http://www.overclock.net/t/1452287/what-is-the-medium-overclock-for-this-build-fx-8350-and-ga-970a-ds3p

It seems to me that any sort of OC on that board will be increasing your risk significantly. Ensuring you have good airflow on the VRMs and seeing how far you can get without bumping the voltages at all would certainly be a lower risk. 4.5Ghz is probably unlikely without a voltage bump, which raises the risk quite a bit.
So the question then is, is a likely 4.3-4.4Ghz without voltage worth the extra risk? That's about 10% more on the base clock, and 5% on the boost. If I were in your shoes, I'd just be leaving it alone, it's just not worthwhile. But perhaps if you're just trying to squeeze the last bit of life out of an old machine that you wouldn't mind replacing anyway, you could certainly justify a high risk. It may well work fine at 4.5Ghz... it's just risky.

As I say, I fully admit I'm no expert on OCing FX processors. So hopefully someone with a bit more knowledge on this comes along to help you out. That's my perspective though, for what it's worth.