Need A Little Help Overclocking

[BoBoEclipse]

Hello all, my name is Bryan. I recently got the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO for my CPU. My processor is an AMD Athlon II X3 455 (Tri -core at 3.3GHz stock) I'm looking to get a decent overclock out of my CPU. But I'm not exactly sure how to mess with the voltage on the CPU. I know where to access it in the BIOS and I know how to adjust the multiplier. (230 x 16.5) Gives me a clock of 3.79 GHz. But I feel like I can get way more out of my CPU. I have an ASUS M5A88-M motherboard with 8GB (2 x 4 1333MHz) RAM. At idle my CPU sits at about 20 C at idle and will get to about 45 C when under load. The max my CPU can handle is 70 C. Any help or advice would be appreciated. Also, I should mention that I already tried to unlock the processor to become a Quad-Core, but it wasn't stable at all and the 4th core wasn't showing up in CoreTemp, CPU-Z, or the Control Panel. So that's not really an option for me. Lastly, those temperatures are with the processor already overclocked to 3.8GHz and 1.475 volts. I haven't bumped the voltage up at all yet. (My GPU is an EVGA GTX 950 SSC and I have a Rosewill ARC650W PSU)

[Generation X SMURF]

Thats the old school method, you need to find max fsb first lower the multiplier, try 250 and even 300, adjusting NB voltage might help stabilize fsb

[[☥] - CJ -]

As someone else may tell you
Your Motherboard may be the limiting factor when overclocking that CPU.

[BoBoEclipse]

What is the FSB?

[BoBoEclipse]

I looked online, and according to other people, it's a good board for overclocking.

[Fluffy]

i had one of these back in the day unlocked (to quad core) and overclocked.. 3.8-4.2ghz depending on the chip is the max for most ppl.. also have you tried unlocking the the 4th core?? your mobo supports it

its a decent motherboard 4+1 phase 140w support but could use some heatsinks on the vrms especially with the tower cooler

[BoBoEclipse]

I've tried unlocking the fourth core but it just doesn't show up on any monitoring programs. That and when I unlock it, the temperatures will bump up to about 45 C at idle and I don't even know where they sit when it's under load. I do know that when I play games with the core unlocker feature enabled that I start to have thermal throttling and massive stutter in any game that I play. The motherboard that I have does support unlocking the 4th core. I've thought about unlocking the fourth core and then lowering the clock speed to see if it helps, but it still runs really hot and has stuttering in games. Like I said, I have a CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO which is a really good heatsink.

[Fluffy]

yes if you unlock cores you wont get temperature readings but it shouldnt temperature throttle with cm evo... but if you do unlock and it is stable at stock then add oc after testing

4 cores at 3.5ghz is better than 3@3.8ghz if you cant get that high on all 4 that is

its more likely its throttling due to vrm temperature being unlocked+overclocked than temperature of cpu itself

[upcoast]

TBH, with the cost of the FX8300 hovering around $100 (FX8300 is on the cpu support list) I'd drop one in and sell off the x3 455 then call it a day if you're planning on keeping this pc for another couple years.

Not being able to run the x3 as a x4 paired with no L3 Cache it's a total loss for gaming.

Yup I've got a x3 450, x4 640 and x4 965BE, the x4 965BE with L3 cache runs borderlands 2 and Saints Row 3 great but the Athlons run like poop without L3 cache. http://www.techspot.com/review/577-borderlands-2-performance/page6.html

My main FX8350 runs everything fine to date GTA 5, Fallout 4, JC3, SR4, Doom, The Division, BF1.

[BoBoEclipse]

I was thinking about getting th FX-8350 or 8390 but I feel like that would be throwing some of my money away. Because I planned on getting an Intel i5 7600K in the future so I could have a really good processor. And I was also scared to get the FX-8350 because AMD has a new line of processors coming out in couple months. Though I guess if I got the 8350 I wouldn't have to get a new motherboard. But what scares me about the8450 is I've heard it struggles to get 60 FPS in the newer titles.

Also, I have the CPU overclocked to 3.876 GHz with the tri-core and it runs really stable and still sits at about 15 C in idle and 45 C under stress. But When I unlock the 4th core it bumps up to 45 C at idle and I'm sure it's throttling when it's trying to run a game. Keep in mind, that when I unlock the 4th core, I reduce it back to the stock core clock. I've even tried tuning down the clock when I had the 4th core unlocked to see if that would make it more stable but it hardly made it run any cooler. And sadly, the 4th core doesn't show anywhere. Not in CPU-Z, CoreTemp, AMD Overdrive, or the Task Manager.

See that's I didn't realize why my CPU hates Borderlands 2 until you just mentioned how my processor doesn't havean L3 Cache. I also get a lot of stutter when I try to run Skyrim. Is that also because it has no L3 cache?

[The HopelessGamer™]

Just get msi afterburner.

There is a asus version of it i just cant think of what its called. Msi afterburner is what everyone recommends easy fast and good. Nvr used it myself since iv got a locked processor.

https://www.msi.com/page/afterburner

Instead of overlocking just buy a 6700k and use that on its default clock speed. These days you dont need to overclock. There is no point.

[upcoast]

Originally posted by Octane-Reaper:

See that's I didn't realize why my CPU hates Borderlands 2 until you just mentioned how my processor doesn't havean L3 Cache. I also get a lot of stutter when I try to run Skyrim. Is that also because it has no L3 cache?

http://www.techspot.com/review/467-skyrim-performance/page7.html

Skyrim ^ is a bit of no L3 cache and it prefers newer intels.

Maybe drop your screen res down to 13xx x 720 and see if it all smooth's out, I wouldn't put the gtx950 in a mid range category it's really an entry level card.

I was playing SR3 and BL2 1080p on a x4 965 but I had 2 x HD6870s in xfire which was equivalent to about a single r9 280/280x (then I swapped in the 280x) which is a lot more gpu than the gtx950.

Try dropping the screen res to see if it helps.