Motherboard for Overclocking fx 8320

Stekon · Jul 1, 2018

First, I'm sorry if I have this in the wrong forum.

Anywho, I have an fx 8320 processor. I have been looking to upgrade my processor to a Ryzen 5 of some sort. Consequentially, I would also upgrade my motherboard and RAM, however this doesn't seem very feasible as I will be going into College in about 2 months and am currently without income (although I will likely have some sort of income very soon, if only temporarily). The next best option is to just overclock my CPU, however my motherboard is a Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3. A little bit of research shows that this isn't a good motherboard to Overclock on, and I would rather not fry my system. And one more thing, I would like to be able to keep it under $100, but I don't know if that's possible.

So here is my question: what would be a good motherboard for me to overclock my fx 8320 with, and what kind of a performance gain can I expect to get?

Thanks!

Specs:
Mobo- Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3
CPU- fx 8320
RAM-16 GB DDR3
GPU- Gigabyte R9 390
PSU- EVGA 750W bronze
CPU Cooler- Corsair H60
Windows 10 Home 64 bit

shilka · Jul 1, 2018

What model is that EVGA PSU? if its a B1 or a B3 you can pretty much forget about overclocking
The CPU cooler is also very poor and will holding back overclocking even if the PSU is not a B1 or a B3

Stekon · Jul 2, 2018

shilka said:
What model is that EVGA PSU? if its a B1 or a B3 you can pretty much forget about overclocking
The CPU cooler is also very poor and will holding back overclocking even if the PSU is not a B1 or a B3

It looks like the model number for my PSU is 110-BQ-0750-V1

shilka · Jul 2, 2018

Stekon said:
It looks like the model number for my PSU is 110-BQ-0750-V1

Its not terrible or horrible just mediocre
Its a pretty new unit so do you still have the option to return it?

As for the CPU cooler that one is much worse as its still a very poor CPU cooler
If you are going to be overclocking you wont get very far due to overheating of the CPU

Kryton · Jul 2, 2018

The board you currently have will not do what you're expecting of it for long if at all.
It's a really weak 4+1 phase board that's actually a budget piece, made for literal desktop/office use. It says it can handle a 125W chip BUT I woudn't trust it with anything beyond a 95W chip and even then I'd have to wonder - Top it off with overclocking and it's recipe for a dead system in short order.

Have one myself that's similar to it (ASRock N68C-GS FX) that's been good but it's also a budget board. Same phase count and all else with it, I just run it with a Regor core chip for DD use and it's doing fine that way.

Speaking of boards that can handle the chip you have and OC it without alot of worry, you still have options even if staying at or below the $100 mark. The following is just an example of what's out there:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-M5A97...w-IO-Shield/223033655137?epid=1624606917&hash=item33edd77f61:g:2XsAAOSwNOJbMl4c

And:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-M5A99...ore-16GB-RAM/173384617458?epid=127427658&hash=item285e874df2:g:x4QAAOSw6QpbNSmj

The later actually being a very good deal with all that thrown in - Grab that deal and you won't have to worry about it period.
If you don't, do at least make a note of the board model names of these, along with the Sabertooth and CHV/CHV-Z these are ones from the Asus lineup that will get the job done. And also don't get ripped, the two linked were about a $120 or so board brand new, fleabay is chock-full of ripoff listings nowadays.

EDIT:
As an additional option, considering the wattage draw of most FX Octa core chips; IF YOU MUST USE the current board then I'd suggest grabbing a FX-8300 if you could. It's a 95W chip making it a better choice for the board you have based on how your current board is. The other 95W Octa core chip is the 8320e but the 8300 has better specs in both stock and turbo speeds.

In truth all FX chips are the same except for how they are spec'ed for regular use, for OC'ing there is little to no real difference between them except for the 9xxx series and that's something your board cannot handle period with it's 220W rating at stock. I have two 8300's and they are really good chips with no real difference from the others I have aside from what's mentioned here. Used at stock or with a mild OC they won't draw as much wattage as the others would, it's when you start pushing clocks up is when it catches up to the others in that way. I'd have to guess with it and your board 4.0 is doable but even with the 8300 I woudn't go beyond that, 4.0 would be enough with that board.
Best bet overall would be a better board if you could and call it a day.

BuranC · Jul 2, 2018

One of the best mid-range AM3+ boards that was about the price tag was the "Asus 970 PRO Gaming Aura". It had a nice VRM (better than M5 series), good BIOS and the PCB quality and onboard sound were also slighly better than in the M5 EVO/PRO I think. Unfortunately right now that motherboard is really hard to find. And when Ryzen was released it started to scalate in price like all the decent AM3+ motherboards.

Greetings.

Stekon · Jul 3, 2018

A thought just occurred to me. The main issue would be if the motherboard can supply enough power without breaking, right? And I have an 8 core processor, and am probably not using more than 4 in most games (I believe, correct me if I am wrong). So could I park half the cores to conserve power, and then overclock the remaining 4 cores?

I realize this is a bit finicky, but I figure its worth asking.

Thanks!

BuranC · Jul 3, 2018

It depends a lot on the games you're playing. While some games are still badly optimized and use 1-4 cores only, most of the technically demanding games of the past 5 years can use 6-8 cores without problems.

That motherboard have a bad VRM , even for OC a quad (but definitively it will handle a quad much better than a eight-core), and the chipset isn't native to the FX series (FX series were designed for the 900 series chipsets, the 970, the 990X and the 990FX). That motherboard uses the 760G chipset. It was a very low end chipset of the 700 series. The 700 series were chipsets released in 2007-8, designed for the Phenom series. Unlike the 800 series they lacked features like native SATA 3 (limiting you if you want an SSD for example) . Probably you're lossing performance because bad chipset pairing plus VRM throttling. Typically the FX eight cores were automatically underclocked for safety and this had a noticeable impact in performance.

Kryton · Jul 4, 2018

Stekon said:
A thought just occurred to me. The main issue would be if the motherboard can supply enough power without breaking, right? And I have an 8 core processor, and am probably not using more than 4 in most games (I believe, correct me if I am wrong). So could I park half the cores to conserve power, and then overclock the remaining 4 cores?

I realize this is a bit finicky, but I figure its worth asking.

Thanks!

Actually the worry would be the power draw of an FX overloading the VRM setup making it get too hot or even straightup blowing it out.
If it does that the CPU will probrably earn it's wings too in Silicon Heaven.

Disabling half the cores in the BIOS would help some but not really enough, you're basically losing half the chip and that's a waste. Seriously, you need a stronger board for what you have and for what you planning to do with it.

Ricwin · Jul 4, 2018

The H60 is nowhere near good enough for overclocking an 8320. I had one at first, put two NF-F12's on it, it was woeful at best.

As for motherboard recommendations, I had some good results from a Sabertooth 990FX r2.0. My 8320 overclock was stable 5.3Ghz.

You dont want a 970 chipset board, especially an Asus M5A97 as the power delivery is abysmal. Good enough for a 6300, not good enough for overclocking an 8320.
For any serious overclocking, you will need a high end 990FX board with 8+2 power delivery and good quality MOSFETs & chokes. There is at least one 970 board available which does feature much better power delivery than typical 970's but you may struggle finding one these days.

The Sabertooth has sufficient cooling over the VRM's for modest overclocking however it is advisable to mount a fan in such a way that air flows directly over the heatsinks. This is a must if you use an AIO or waterblock. Coolers such as the BeQuiet Dark Rock TF will already do this for you: https://www.bequiet.com/en/cpucooler/572

jclafi · Jul 4, 2018

Pretty much forget overclocking with your motherboard, PSU also not horrible but far from the best ones. You could install the system w/ a fan in the VRM, so you cool down and avoid toasting problems.

All in all setup the system power up and have fun. Your CPU have a good performance stock (itś very nice on multithead scenarios).

Good Luck !

chrisjames61 · Jul 5, 2018

BuranC said:
One of the best mid-range AM3+ boards that was about the price tag was the "Asus 970 PRO Gaming Aura". It had a nice VRM (better than M5 series), good BIOS and the PCB quality and onboard sound were also slighly better than in the M5 EVO/PRO I think. Unfortunately right now that motherboard is really hard to find. And when Ryzen was released it started to scalate in price like all the decent AM3+ motherboards.

Greetings.

I remember 2016 Black Friday deal at Newegg this board was on sale for $89. That was an awesome value.

Stekon · Jul 7, 2018

Ricwin said:
The H60 is nowhere near good enough for overclocking an 8320. I had one at first, put two NF-F12's on it, it was woeful at best.

As for motherboard recommendations, I had some good results from a Sabertooth 990FX r2.0. My 8320 overclock was stable 5.3Ghz.

You dont want a 970 chipset board, especially an Asus M5A97 as the power delivery is abysmal. Good enough for a 6300, not good enough for overclocking an 8320.
For any serious overclocking, you will need a high end 990FX board with 8+2 power delivery and good quality MOSFETs & chokes. There is at least one 970 board available which does feature much better power delivery than typical 970's but you may struggle finding one these days.

The Sabertooth has sufficient cooling over the VRM's for modest overclocking however it is advisable to mount a fan in such a way that air flows directly over the heatsinks. This is a must if you use an AIO or waterblock. Coolers such as the BeQuiet Dark Rock TF will already do this for you: https://www.bequiet.com/en/cpucooler/572

I know that I didn't mention it, but I'm not looking to get an insane overclock. Even if I could get it running at 4 Ghz, that would be great. If I could get it running at 4.5Ghz, that would be nice, but I definitely don't think that I will need 5.3Ghz.

miklkit · Jul 8, 2018

You should probably try undervolting it first. Most motherboards use higher than needed volts on Auto. I got my 8370 to run stable at 4 ghz @ 1.256 volts and most FXs will do it under 1.3 volts. Your motherboard should be able to handle up to 1.4 volts fine and possibly a little more.

Stekon · Jul 11, 2018

miklkit said:
You should probably try undervolting it first. Most motherboards use higher than needed volts on Auto. I got my 8370 to run stable at 4 ghz @ 1.256 volts and most FXs will do it under 1.3 volts. Your motherboard should be able to handle up to 1.4 volts fine and possibly a little more.

You are saying I should try undervolting my current motherboard? I'm still afraid of overclocking my cpu on my current motherboard, even with an undervolt.

miklkit · Jul 11, 2018

What voltage is it running at now? Since it has not failed it is ok to run it there. If you undervolted it at the same clocks it will run cooler with less stress. If you then overclocked it until it is running at those same volts, then the loads will be the same as they are now. This might get you to 4.3 - 4.5 ghz.

sb43 · Aug 13, 2018

I had a Gigabyte 990FXA UD3 Rev.4 with my fx 8350, (currently collecting dust.) But I have to tell ya, I could run that beast at 4.5 all day long on air. (granted, I customized my Corsaire case, and had 9 fans, plus the Noctua D15 cooling that beast. I think I got the golden ticket on cpu and mobo. Keep tinkering with it. you might luck out!

Motherboard for Overclocking fx 8320

Stekon

shilka

Stekon

shilka

Kryton

BuranC

Stekon

BuranC

Kryton

Ricwin

jclafi

chrisjames61

Stekon

miklkit

Stekon

miklkit

sb43

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