I need to know if it's safe to go up to 4.7Ghz or higher with my Fx6300.
I need to know if it's safe to go up to 4.7Ghz or higher with my Fx6300.
I've been using my FX6300 at 4.5Ghz smoothly for a week now, but I'm wondering if it's safe to push it up to 4.7Ghz. My PSU is a Gamemax GP 650W, the cooler is top-notch, and my CPU stays under 50°C at idle and around 70°C during heavy use. Please let me know if you have any advice.
While I understand you could potentially fry the board, there are a couple of factors at play. One reason is that the CPU is throttling itself on a regular basis. FX CPUs require APM to be disabled correctly to avoid this, otherwise they won't surpass its 95W average TDP. It's unlikely Asus provided the required BIOS controls for this on that board.
However, if they did, the VRM's built-in thermal protection would probably stop it from overheating. When it gets too hot, the CPU will also throttle to prevent reaching unsafe temperatures. FX processors were quite straightforward to overclock even on lower-end boards, but the VRM thermal protection was the main factor preventing all of them from failing.
This situation remains a potential issue that could arise in the future.
Outside the Psu area, my old Fx6350 was running at 4.6 stable, but I couldn't maintain 4.7 no matter what I did.
post your full specifications then we can discuss voltages etc.
In fact, I haven't adjusted the voltages at all. I just turned off Turbo Mode, disabled C states, and increased my multiplier to 4.5Ghz. I think the combination of my Asus motherboard and CPU makes it straightforward to overclock.
My setup:
Windows 10
FX6300
MB: Asus M5A78L-M LX V2
R7 240 2GB
8GB DDR3 RAM
Although I understand you could potentially fry the board, it’s unlikely you will. There are two factors at play: the CPU is throttling itself on a regular basis. FX CPUs require APM to be disabled correctly in order to avoid this issue, otherwise it would fail to surpass its 95W average TDP. Asus probably didn’t provide the necessary BIOS controls for this on that board.
However, if they did, the VRM’s built-in thermal protection would likely stop it from overheating. When it gets too hot, the CPU also reduces its speed to prevent reaching dangerous temperatures. FX processors were quite straightforward to overclock even on lower-end boards, and their VRM thermal protection was the main factor preventing them from burning out.
I used my FX6300 on an M5a88m for six to seven years, overclocking it to 4.5Ghz. I discovered a tool that allowed disabling APM without BIOS controls, which resolved the problem. Still, the VRM would throttle during heavy loads or when temperatures exceeded safe levels. I added heatsinks to the FETs, installed a fan to cool them, and it slowed down throttling but still caused delays when rendering videos. Rendering times were almost identical to running at 4.3Ghz, where the CPU never throttled, though I preferred seeing it at 4.5Ghz. Reaching 4.7Ghz was possible with enough voltage, but throttling would still occur during gaming. I suspect the issue was related to APM not being disabled.
Now I own the same FX6300 on an older board from my son (Gigabyte FX970-UD3 or similar), which had a decent VRM for its time. It also has the BIOS feature to disable APM, preventing self-throttling. The board runs stable at 4.6Ghz with safe voltages, and CPU temperatures stay within my desired range during Cinebench. To hit 4.7Ghz would require a good AIO or large tower (like Noctua DH 14 or 15), but I’m uncertain about the exact voltage needed. Most of the components are salvaged from previous upgrades, except for a 16GB DDR3 kit I purchased. I’m not planning to spend heavily on a premium cooler just to squeeze out extra performance when it sits unused.