I'm sitting here writing this after/while running AIDA64's CPU Stress Test for the past few hours. I have run my 4300 at 4.3, i know they match right lol jk, for a while on a Cooler Master N520, however i recently purchased a H80i for 1/2 off, $45, and want to push the cpu a bit harder, like 4.7-5.0... however that's where my problems start, i'm at 4.5 right now with the fans at 40% and the CPU is reading 36 C on AIDA64, 40 C on MSI Control Center, and 22 C on Corsair link <--- sure that's not correct because the H80i fluid temp is 32 C. this thing is running all 4 cores at 100% for hours, and yet its just getting warm.
When I go to overclock above 4.5, like 4.6 for example the whole system runs into system protect functions, freezes, then restarts. its quite aggravating, because I have so much headroom on this cooler, yet the cpu or motherboard is limiting me to these lower clock speeds.
How can I make this system a bit faster, without going too over the top (5.0 max), and with getting around the safety?
Specs are:
AMD FX-4300
MSI 970-G46 Mobo
8gb ddr3 Patriot Memory
AMD R7 260X
Coolmax 700W psu
WD Black Ed. 7200rpm 1tb
H80i
3x 120mm case fans excluding the sp120l on the h80i
I'm sure people more knowledgeable in this area than me will respond but there are a number of factors I see here;
1) You might have been unlucky and 4.5GHz is as far as that CPU will go regardless of temperature and vcore etc.
2) You are using a 970 chipset motherboard, I believe most people only achieve high overclocks on 990 series boards due to extra phases and better quality components on the boards. I am sure your board is only 4 phases; and the MSI 970 boards were never considered great for overclocking on.
3) You don't say how you are overclocking or what core voltage you are using - if you haven't adjusted core voltage maybe that's all that's holding you back?
As frustrating as it may be look on the bright side; if it is at 4.5GHz and its temp under load is < 35 C you have done well for such a cheap CPU.
That motherboard isn't the best for overclocking. While it does have a heatsink on its VRM, it only has 4+1 phases. This can handle only so much power being crammed into it, and may either be overheating, or just reaching its realistic limit. What are you setting your Vcore to?
my v-core is 1.440 with the Base clock at 200.00 MHz and the ratio at 22.5. i know the basics of overclocking, just not the best at it because i dont have much experience
You have the lowest binned FX chip so you can't expect miracle overclocks. Hit what you can with maximum stability and be done with it. Also dont leave things on AUTO - set things manually where you can. Plus dropping memory speeds may help.
If you're after a higher performance in gaming you dont have to look any further than the 260x.
I understand that much, i never use the one click crap on my pc, used it once and it got really unstable. I have the RAM speeds locked at 1600, cause the mobo was overclocking them without my permission to 1866. ill be upgrading the the 8350 in the near future, 16-32gb RAM, and also a 970 once i save up the cash. I'm doing alot of rendering and video editing work for friends, and i dont play any graphically demanding games like FC4, Metro Last Light: Redux, or anything that just pushes the GPU to the max. I normally play League, WoW, and sometimes Chivalry and Borderland PS.
i have the fx4300 overclocked at 4.543ghz didnt have time to force my cpu to overclock any higher so ya the motherboard i used was a asrock extreme 3 motherboard here is the guide i used to do it its very easy to do and it takes alot of stress off you lol so have fun overclocking
With my FX CPU, using the multiplier to overclock had me run into stability problems much earlier than using the baseclock.
Lower your multiplier a little bit, to like 20-21 and then increase the baseclock. From there on, It'll just be a lot of testing with different settings, but it might be worth it. Worked for me.