Overclocking FX-6300 with AsRock 990fx-extreme3
Overclocking FX-6300 with AsRock 990fx-extreme3
I own this PC for roughly two years, so I’ve read many discussions about the FX6300. Most people advise against overclocking. My idle temperatures stay around 20°C, and during gameplay (such as GTA V and Witcher 3), they reach about 43°C on the hardware monitor. That’s led me to consider what safe voltage settings are and how much I can push the CPU further. I’ve previously overclocked before, but my CPU has been stock for about five months now. Since AMD GPU drivers have been updated from Catalyst to Crimson, it removed my previous overclock setting, which was set to 4.3. I’m unsure what voltage and maximum frequency should be, and I want to know how long I should run Prime95 stress tests on the CPU.
My setup: FX-6300 @ 3.5 Turbo clock ON
AsRock 990fx-exetreme3
12GB DDR3 1333MHz Corsair (2x2, 2x4 – working for five months without issues)
XFX R7 260x Core edition 2GB GDDR5
600W Zalman PSU, 80+ Bronze
Zalman CNPS10X Optima (in my opinion similar to my friend’s 212 EVO, actually better – same fans)
weberdarren97 :
Yes it can overclock, and may do it just fine, but I don't recommend overclocking on a board that's not rated for at least 75 watts higher than the TDP of your CPU... There's no real way of telling exactly how much power your CPU will draw when overclocked because of the "silicon lottery" which means that two processors coming off of the assembly line right after each other may not have the same microscopic defects as each other even though they're the same make and model.
AMD in general tends to get rather power hungry when overclocking.
However, I'm always looking forward to learning new things... If you can provide link(s) that prove that that board will overclock without power delivery problems then I'll be happy to take back...
Given that your CPU is close to 100 watts and the board only supports up to 140 watts, I wouldn't suggest pushing it overclocked... AMD FX series CPUs tend to consume a lot of power when boosted. Additionally, increasing the CPU speed likely won't result in a significant performance gain due to the slow RAM speed. For better results, consider using RAM clocked at at least 1866MHz if you plan to overclock the CPU so it can keep up. I don't think this setup is the most effective option.
your cpu is close to 100 watts and your board only supports up to 140 watts, so I wouldn't suggest overclocking it... amd fx series cpus tend to consume a lot of power when pushed. Overclocking might not really boost performance much due to the slow ram speed. For better results, consider ram clocked at least 1866mhz if you plan to overclock the cpu, so it can keep up. I also don't think this setup is ideal. It seems there might be an issue with the temperatures as well—20°c when idle means a maximum room temperature of only 5°c!
http://imgur.com/L9pgI10
, I don't know if its true, but it does say it is 23°C atm, but for a lot of time it says 20°C
He raises a reasonable observation that I overlooked. The HW monitor has caused issues before; I suggest using CoreTemp. However, SR-71 Blackbird (a very experienced user) advises Hardware Info. For a forced air cooler, the idle temperature feels too low, possibly due to the HW monitor interfering. I’m having trouble accessing social platforms like imgur through my firewall—could you move the image to Google Drive and make it public? Thanks.
weberdarren97 continues the discussion by mentioning a relevant observation. He suggests using CoreTemp and Hardware Info for the HW monitor, notes that an idle temperature reading might be misleading, and implies the monitor could be interfering. He also asks about sharing images on Google Drive and mentions a link for reference.
If it's correct, then that temperature works well for the FX series. However, the CPU isn't the sole limitation in that setup. By overclocking and minimizing its impact as a bottleneck, you might actually worsen the problem caused by slow RAM speeds. Additionally, I'm uncertain whether your VRMs will remain cool under higher power demands from overclocking... Overloading the power delivery system could lead to damaging your board.
weberdarren97 :
If it's accurate, then that's a great temperature for the FX series. But like I said, the CPU is not the only bottleneck in that system, if you overclock it and reduce its affect as a bottleneck, you will likely increase the effect of the bottleneck of the low RAM speed.
Plus I'm not sure that your VRMs would stay cool at the higher wattages that come from overclocking... You risk possibly bricking your board if you overload the power delivery system
I downloaded core temp as you said , there it says 24 degreese celsius
Jura12345 :
weberdarren97 brings up a reasonable observation. I had issues with my HW monitor before; I suggest using a program named CoreTemp. However, SR-71 Blackbird (a very experienced user) advises Hardware Info.
For a forced air cooler, the idle temperature seems a bit low. I suspect the HW monitor might be interfering. Could you upload the image to Google Drive and make it public? Thanks.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByDpWT...XdYTTJtcEU
It seems that simply overclocking the CPU won’t help much (at least not in gaming). Checking the socket temperature shows it’s actually running low 20s during idle. There’s also some misleading information above.
Both your board and cooler are fully capable of significant overclocks. You should use AMD Overdrive and its thermal margin display for core temperatures—it’s the most accurate and reliable tool available.
http://www.amd.com/en-us/innovations/sof...over-drive
Just adding BIOS settings, disabling turbocore, and setting the multiplier to 20 for a 4GHz processor will provide clear performance gains in gaming and other applications without affecting voltage. It barely raises temperatures and stops the irregular clock and voltage drops that turbocore causes.
Straihgt Prime Blend test suggests you’d see a thermal margin of 30°C or higher while running, which is impressive given the CPU’s max temperature of 72°C.
You likely have some headroom up to around 4.5GHz, though 4.2/4.3GHz is usually optimal without needing to raise voltage excessively.
And yes, the PSU model matters too.