CPU overclocking on a 970A-G46

[BigChickenJim]

Hi, all. Long time reader, first time poster here.

I recently built a new mid-range gaming rig to tide me over for the next few years, but I seem to have run into a bit of a bottleneck with my processor of choice, the FX-6300. It's not a huge bottleneck, but it's enough to make me think that I'm leaving between 5 and 10 FPS on the table (maybe more than that in CPU-intensive games). I'm interested in *mildly* overclocking my CPU to 4.0 GHz, but I seem to recall some warnings about overclocking on my particular series of MSI mobo. I can't find anything specific, but I remember seeing something about VRM cooling issues and associated failures with the G45 series. It's a cheap mobo that came bundled with the processor, so it isn't a huge deal financially if I explode it, but I'd rather not reconstruct the whole system just for 10 FPS if the board is unstable.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience overclocking on these boards or if someone could point me towards a little more specific information about their (possible) flaws since I haven't been able to find much.

System Specs:
Case: Corsair 600T
Mobo: MSI 970A-G46
CPU: AMD FX-6300 at 3.5 GHz (Hyper 212 Plus cooler, single fan)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3
GPU: 2 HD 7870 2GBs in CFX
PSU: Corsair CX 750 750W

*Please note that I have my case configured with 4 120mm intake fans blowing directly down on the mobo/GPUs and a 200mm fan pulling air in from the front of the case. There's also a 200mm exhaust fan on top and a 120mm rear exhaust. All that is to say that case ventilation is not an issue and really doesn't have much room for improvement, so don't worry about factoring that into the verdict.

 

[0___________0]

I also have the 970A-G46 with an OC'd FX-6300. The G46 is a slightly modified G45, primarily it now has heatsinked VRM's, the G45 was discontinued and replaced because of VRM failure. Unfortunately, the G46 is still only a 4+1 phase board, but it can handle overclocks on the lower wattage chips as long as you have sufficient VRM cooling. The board is known to throttle the CPU when VRM's exceed a certain temp, but I've only heard of that happening on the 4m/8c CPU's. 4ghz is fine with it in my opinion.

 

[BigChickenJim]

Exactly the man (or maybe woman) I was looking for, then! That's good news about the safe low overclock since that's all I plan to do. The processor already functions pretty well at stock. Out of curiosity, is there a reliable way to measure VRM temps through software? I don't really want to IR gun a component for a very mild OC.

Also, how long have you had the board OCed?

 

[0___________0]

I don't think that the motherboard has a sensor for the MOSFET's, but I could be wrong. I wouldn't worry about them though, since it's not an 8XXX part and you have good cooling, and you should only need a small voltage bump for a 4ghz OC.

I've had it OC'd for about 7 or 8 months at 4.2ghz, owned it for a little longer than that.

 

[BigChickenJim]

That is exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you!

 

[Headfoot]

Yeah, you'll be pretty safe as long as you don't increase volts much. Just overclock it as much as you can on stock volts

 

[daveybrat]

That motherboard does have known issues with thermal throttling for the FX 8XXX series but with your FX 6300 and the nice cooler you have, 4GHz should be easy on that board.

Should see some nice gains from that 500MHz overclock in games.

 

[BigChickenJim]

Great news. I remember reading that the 8xxx chips (or any chips with wattage over 95) don't jive well with these boards.

I'm not terribly concerned about VRM temps at low voltages thanks to the hurricane my fan setup creates in the case, but I'll be conservative and keep it safe.

I'll report back with gains later.

Thanks again!

 

[daveybrat]

Thanks, always appreciate feedback on one's results.

 

[BigChickenJim]

Alright, quick update. I OC'd my CPU to 4.0 GHz (1.275V). Temps have increased slightly (expected), but so far no explosion. Going to go put some strain on it and see how it goes.

Edit: I just finished a two hour Ultra session on BF3 (64 player, CQL maps) and everything seems to be running smooth as butter with around 10-15 FPS gains in CPU-heavy areas (battles, looking towards the beach on Oman). I can't measure VRM temps, but I think I would have seen some throttling if they were going to overheat.

Temps look normal as well, and the socket temp barely changed under load (still reading at 55C max, and I think that's a little exaggerated based on BIOS readings). The FX-6300 does report a maximum core temp of 128C, but I've seen that go to 256C before the OC so I'm pretty sure the core sensors (or HWMonitor itself) are borked. I'm quite positive that temps that high would have resulted in a structure fire and a roasted PC, so I'll call it safe. Voltage is low, frame rates are up, and Jim is a happy man.

Thanks again everyone!

Now let's just hope the board stays healthy...

 

[Flabbytofu]

I've been researching the same thing and I'm wondering how your board has held up so far. Any problems at all? I'm also wanting to overclock my FX 6300 to 4.0 GHz but a little hesitant. I'm running a hyper 212 EVO cooler. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks