Computer and overclocking problems

[BooCHAK]

Hello. So, I built my own PC around five months ago, and it has been running great since. I had been overclocking my PC for a lot of that time. I overclocked it to 4.4ghz and kept it at that for a while.

Everything had been going just fine. Then, just three weeks ago, my PC SUDDENLY had an overclocking failure. Like, what? I had done NOTHING to prompt such an error. For around a month, I had been doing no tweeks to the BIOS at all and just kept the overlock at 4.4ghz--and yet this failure just came out of nowhere.

So, I downgraded the overclock to 4.0ghz and the CPU's voltages from 1.424v to 1.368v while leaving the RAM's overclock speed at 1866mhz.

Everything was stable for a bit, but around a week later, I had another overclocking failure. This time, I had to downgrade my RAM speed to 1600mhz. It was okay, but my PC was slow. So, I did another overclock and managed to get 4.2ghz and my RAM back up to 1866mhz.

But, even after that, my PC feels slow and stuttery. Specifically, Steam and TF2. Steam's problem was in the library. It was stuttering and slow, but when I went to the Workshop, it was smooth. TF2 used to run around 60fps in small battle situations and run 40fps in big battle situations. During training, the fps just kept zigzagging from 60fps to 30fps. Now, whenever I join a game, the game will start at 30fps and stay that way no matter what happens, only randomly will it go up to 60fps. I know TF2 is poorly optimized and all, but it had never been running THIS badly. The rest of my games are running okay.

I have thought of all the things that could be causing these overclocking errors. It could be my power supply, but I think it has enough juice to properly power my computer. I mean, I had been going on 4.4ghz without problems for more than a month. What I really think is to blame is my motherboard.

Do you guys think it's my motherboard? If it is, should I try to fix it or just buy a new motherboard (I think the Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 would be a good one.) I don't want to buy the same motherboard I got, I have been dissatisfied with it for a while. What other parts of my computer could be causing these problems? Any advice is apreciated, really.

Okay, so these are my specs:

Motherboard: MSI Gaming 970

CPU: AMD FX 8350 - currently clocked at 4.2

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master HYPER 212 EVO

GPU: Nvidia Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 960 4gb Edition

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 1866mhz 4x4gb / 4 RAM cards, each having 4gigs

HDD: WD Black 2003FZEX 2tb

Power Supply: Evga 700b

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit SP1

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Cooling? You not OC'ing no FX CPU without good 3rd party cooling.

[BooCHAK]

Oops, I forget to mention that I have an aftermarket cooler. Its a Cooler Master HYPER 212 EVO with 2 Jetflo 120mm fans on it so my CPU is running cool. Plus, I have 4 other fans in my PC case.

[AussieBobby]

Check if your monitor is at 60hz
right click desktop /screen resolution/advanced settings/monitor tab
BTW what is your mobo that you are using

[BooCHAK]

If by mobo you mean motherboard, then I am using a MSI Gaming 970. All the specs I have is on my post. My monitor is at 75hz, but I don't know why my monitor's hz would affect my computer like this. :/

[AussieBobby]

Above poster^ can be safely ignored

Diposting pertama kali oleh Sam Windower:

If by mobo you mean motherboard, then I am using a MSI Gaming 970. All the specs I have is on my post. My monitor is at 75hz, but I don't know why my monitor's hz would affect my computer like this. :/

I have the same mobo and FX8350 and had the same problems
Reset BIOS to default
Make sure the the slow mode switch is in the down position
http://benchmarkreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/msi_970_gaming_slow_mode-600x408.jpg
In BIOS disable CPU smart protection

Here someone else had the same problems with same mobo
http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/11/392183857619989022/

[BooCHAK]

Diposting pertama kali oleh _I_:

amd fx is not limited by clock speed
its choked by poor chipset and core design

212 is the best cheap cooler, but can limit airflow over vrm heatsinks
with dual fans = fan directly over vrm area, and will not cool it at all
pull off the back fan and mount the fron fan as low as possible to put airflow under the 212 fins


gigabyte boards are not bad, but will throttle if he vrms overheat, common problem if you use a tower cooler and remove airflow from its vrm heatsink

some are known to warp and pull the vrms off the heatsink
http://www.overclock.net/t/1440428/gigabyte-ga-990fxa-ud3-rev-3-0-vrm-and-northbridge-temps-solution

I don't fully understand what you're saying, could you tell me more about vrm heatsinks? Because whenever I try to find answers for vrm heatsinks, I only find vague answers. In addition, I don't know what you mean by moving the back fan under the 212 fins. Another thing, my CPU cooler is mounted vertically on the motherboard

Diposting pertama kali oleh AussieBobby:

Above poster^ can be safely ignored

Diposting pertama kali oleh Sam Windower:

If by mobo you mean motherboard, then I am using a MSI Gaming 970. All the specs I have is on my post. My monitor is at 75hz, but I don't know why my monitor's hz would affect my computer like this. :/

I have the same mobo and FX8350 and had the same problems
Reset BIOS to default
Make sure the the slow mode switch is in the down position
http://benchmarkreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/msi_970_gaming_slow_mode-600x408.jpg
In BIOS disable CPU smart protection

Here someone else had the same problems with same mobo
http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/11/392183857619989022/

Ok, well, my slow mode switch is already in the down position, but why do I have to disable CPU Smart Protection? Doesn't that feature protect my CPU from overheating?

[AussieBobby]

Here's why
http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/11/364039785158205670/?ctp=2#c364039785159696555
This is what the CPU Smart Protection will do,under-clock your cpu.
It was a just a pain in the butt for me and others

Iv never had a problem since.but I only keep mine at 4.2ghz now.
If you really want the best advice go to
http://www.overclock.net/f/10/amd-cpus

[BooCHAK]

Diposting pertama kali oleh AussieBobby:

Here's why
http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/11/364039785158205670/?ctp=2#c364039785159696555
This is what the CPU Smart Protection will do,under-clock your cpu.
It was a just a pain in the butt for me and others

Iv never had a problem since.but I only keep mine at 4.2ghz now.
If you really want the best advice go to
http://www.overclock.net/f/10/amd-cpus

Well, I guess i'll try disabling CPU Smart Protection, hope nothing goes wrong.

[BooCHAK]

Welp, I disabled it, and so far, everything's okay. I'll try this for a while. I hope this fixes my problems. Thanks for all your advice guys. :D