Question Strange outcomes when boosting outdated components (AMD FX-8320)?
Question Strange outcomes when boosting outdated components (AMD FX-8320)?
Hello,
I recently chose to 'update' my nearly ten-year-old secondary desktop by squeezing out extra performance thanks to an overclock until CPU and GPU costs become more affordable.
The system uses an AMD FX-8320 processor on an Asus M5A97 evo 2.0 motherboard (I also added my brother’s Radeon R9 270X and a new Samsung SSD). The cooler is an old AC freezer xtreme (with a 140W TDP; it seems they no longer produce such units, highlighting the system's age).
I attempted to run the OS at default voltages at 4.0 GHz, which was stable but caused the CPU socket temperature to rise above ~80°C. After six hours of stress testing with prime95, package and core temperatures stayed under 60-65°C. Switching to 3.9GHz improved slightly, keeping the socket temperature around 77°C after extended use.
This led me to consider a modest overclock due to poor cooling—without adjusting voltages at all. The CPU itself is fine; the issue lies with the socket. Is there any way to reduce those temperatures? The chip may handle higher overclocks, but I risk damaging the socket at that rate.
🙁
The strange part came later: after some time (possibly hours), my screen turned green—not like a GSOD error, but a persistent tint across reboots. Testing on another machine with the same cable worked, so it’s likely a GPU problem. The second port on my card also became permanently green, though HDMI remained unaffected.
The monitor issue is clear—I tested it on another computer and it functioned normally. I booted into Linux and the tint disappeared, but it reappears every time I restart to Windows 10. Unplugging or replugging the monitor didn’t help.
I performed a factory reset of Radeon Software settings, which briefly resolved the problem, but the screen turned green again after several hours of prime95 runs (no errors).
It seems overclocking might be connected to this. I reverted the settings back to stock and ran prime95 for 24 hours without any green tint.
Someone has likely faced a similar situation?
Edit: The GPU was consistently at around 36°C.
I encountered something comparable but it had a red tint instead of green. It remained a primary color. It wasn't related to OC. It was a damaged or bent pin on the cable connector. Inspect the connectors carefully and consider purchasing a different cable, as it might be inside the cable.
Thank you for the replies,
@rgd1101
The Quiet Pure power (exact value not remembered) is 600W gold
@thx1138v2
I don't believe the issue lies with cables, as the screen remains normal after rebooting to Linux without touching any cables. I also observed that the Windows logo appears during boot and POST screens, and a green tint emerges on the login screen.
Maximum CPU temperature is 61°C.
Product link: https://www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/fx-8320
Possible reason: it may have been throttled.
I discovered the reason for the high temperatures - I installed the exhaust case fan backwards after cleaning 🤦♂️. This caused the CPU fan to clash and trapped heat inside the case (the CPU was throttled).
Now the system runs stable at 3.9GHz with 52°C on the CPU package/cores, 66°C on the socket, under heavy load, and there are no green screens. It’s tempting to push it even further.
At the moment I don’t have a clear explanation for the screen turning green (besides a very strange error that messed up graphics driver settings, which should appear in Prime95 but didn’t).