What's the best place to begin with overclocking?
What's the best place to begin with overclocking?
I've never done CPU overclocking before. I own around five CPUs that could be overclocked—two are definitely capable. I have an Intel Jayhawk (not officially released; no high-TDP board available) and an AMD FX-6300 Unlocked. My i5-8400 only has Turbo, so it can't be overclocked. The other three are Xeon samples. I have an E7 Westmere with 10 cores @2.6GHz Q5AP, a Xeon E5 Sandy Bridge with 8 cores @1.6GHz QA89, and a Xeon E5-26xx V3 Haswell with 14 cores @2.1GHz QDBW A0 stepping. Any of these can be pushed above 4GHz? If not, where should I begin with the FX-6300? It's on a board I no longer use; it was in my gaming rig but I've switched to the i5 now. The stock cooler is there, but I could temporarily install a larger air cooler from my i5 to try overclocking. What speeds are realistic for the FX-6300 with an air cooler? 4.6GHz or 5GHz? And if I invest in a liquid cooler under $100, what frequency should I aim for? Any advice would be appreciated!
I haven't ever tried overclocking a CPU before. I have around five that are ready for it, two of which are definitely capable. I own an Intel Jayhawk (not officially released; no high-TDP motherboard available) and an AMD FX-6300 Unlocked. My i5-8400 only has Turbo mode, so it can't be overclocked. The other three are Xeon prototypes. I have an E7 Westmere with 10 cores @2.6GHz Q5AP, a Xeon E5 Sandy Bridge with 8 cores @1.6GHz QA89, and a Xeon E5-26xx V3 Haswell with 14 cores @2.1GHz QDBW A0 stepping. Can any of these reach over 4GHz? If not, where should I begin with the FX-6300? It's on a motherboard I no longer use; it was in my gaming rig but I upgraded to the i5. It only has the stock cooler, though I could temporarily install a large air cooler from my i5 to try overclocking. What are the best options for reaching 4.6GHz or 5GHz? And if I invest in an under-$100 liquid cooler, what frequency should I aim for? Any advice would be appreciated! It really depends on the motherboard you choose and how comfortable you are with risk (should be minimal for such old hardware). I might achieve 4.4-4.5G on a hyper TX3, so it's possible to get 4.7-4.8G on a 240mm AIO with a solid board. Start by raising the multiplier to around 4.0G just to test stability without increasing voltage. You'll likely need a good aftermarket cooler before you can safely add higher voltage.