Whats my potential OC? AMD FX-6300

[CrownG]

Looking to see what my limitations are if I'd try overclocking my AMD FX-6300 on my Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard, currently looking for a CPU Cooler but waiting till i know what i need.

i've never overclocked before, currently cant due to the stock cooler but Just curious, I've seen some hit over 4.4Ghz from the 3.5Ghz base.

Goal is to obtain a GTX 980 Ti as well, heard it'll bottle neck though but thats fine, I'll be saving for a new motherboard and a long while from now.

 

[clutchc]

You better not go for much OC with that board. It has low phase power (4+1) and no heat sink on the VRMs. I'd just stick with what you can get with the multiplier increase alone. No voltage increase. You may get 4.2 GHz or slightly better. My FX-6350 is running at 4.7 GHz, but it is on a better board for OC'ing. Turn off turbo mode before OC'ing.

Yes, there will be some CPU bottleneck in some games at some settings with that CPU and a GTX 980 Ti. You won't be able to get all the performance you paid for out of the GTX 980 Ti, but it will definitely make gaming more fun. Realistically, you could back off to a GTX 970 and probably have the same performance at less cost.

 

[CrownG]

Yeah starting to think 970 might be the best for be, not too expensive and about the best performance I can handle with this cpu. If i had known the restrictions a year ago I'd have made some bigger changes. Nothing i hate more than wasting Money on poor purchases- Computer parts that cant hold up to future changes.

I think i'll just hold off on the cpu clocks till im on a better setup. Thanks for the quick reply 😀 For future refference and to understand them wattage calculators, How does the voltage help in overclocking, do you need to raise it to sustain a stable OC? I'll need an explanation on par with telling a new PC user the difference between RAM(Memory) and a HDD xD

 

[clutchc]

Yes, as you increase the clock speed by raising the multiplier, the OC'ed CPU eventually needs a bit more voltage (vcore) to sustain the OC and still be stable. Some need very little vcore boost, some need quite a bit. Of course, all this takes the board's components beyond what they may have been designed for.

 

[CrownG]

Any suggestions what motherboard/cpu combo is a great one for stable OC's?

Would be a good thing to know some notable low/med/high end motherboards, maybe recommend one to my friend who has a knack for OCing home/business grade PC's and frying them lol

 

[clutchc]

A while back, Tom's Hdwr. listed the ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0 as the best of the AM3+ boards available: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-intel-amd-motherboard,3902.html
The Gigabyte 990FXA UD3 is another. Here is a review of the best AM3+ boards: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/990fx-motherboard-review-amd-fx,3464.html

 

[Cordt_]

Yeah starting to think 970 might be the best for be, not too expensive and about the best performance I can handle with this cpu. If i had known the restrictions a year ago I'd have made some bigger changes. Nothing i hate more than wasting Money on poor purchases- Computer parts that cant hold up to future changes.

I think i'll just hold off on the cpu clocks till im on a better setup. Thanks for the quick reply 😀 For future refference and to understand them wattage calculators, How does the voltage help in overclocking, do you need to raise it to sustain a stable OC? I'll need an explanation on par with telling a new PC user the difference between RAM(Memory) and a HDD xD

Good idea. I had the same motherboard and it will throttle you down almost instantly with any kind of overclocking. Go for a better board like M5a99fx series.