First Time Overclocking (Intel G3258, GA-B85M-D3H)

[JacobMc]

Hey guys,

I am considering overclocking my Intel G3258 and this will be my first time OCing. I have some questions before getting into OCing.

First, here is my current build:

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: XFX Radeon R7 265 2GB Video Card
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
Case Fan: Insignia NS-PCF1250 44.0 CFM 120mm Fan

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-26 15:48 EST-0500


So, if I were to OC, I'm trying to decide between these two CPU coolers:
Cooler Master Hyper T4
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO

Which one would you guys recommend for my current build? And if anyone has experience with either of these coolers please share, the reviews on Amazon were very positive.


Also, will my power supply be sufficient for a light overclock on this CPU? I'm thinking of OCing to 4.0 Ghz, I probably don't need much higher for now.

I'm planning on using this video guide for OCing my chip. If anyone has previous experience with the G3258 and a similar mobo, advice would be much appreciated.

I know the basic dangers of OCing (decreased life span, higher temperatures, etc.) but if there's anything else I should know before OCing my CPU, please let me know, it's my first time!

 

[sm625]

I wouldnt bother with a cooler. Kind of defeats the whole purpose of a G3258. I run two in my house at 4.4 GHz and they both use the stock cooler. That board is limited to 1.2V so I would not expect to get better than 4.2GHz anyway. At 4.0 you definitely dont need anything better than the stock cooler.

 

[JacobMc]

I wouldnt bother with a cooler. Kind of defeats the whole purpose of a G3258. I run two in my house at 4.4 GHz and they both use the stock cooler. That board is limited to 1.2V so I would not expect to get better than 4.2GHz anyway. At 4.0 you definitely dont need anything better than the stock cooler.

Thanks for the advice.

I was looking at a cooler not just to keep temperatures down but also because I find the stock cooler to be quite whiny (at stock speed) when playing games. Do you encounter this problem? I figured a cooler would help keep the system quieter overall.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Aftermarket coolers can make much less noise than stock cooling, depending on what you get. I don't have much personal experience with the Evo's included fan, but there are a lot of people around here that do. I do not expect that the Evo's fan will need to spin up to max RPMs anyway if you are volt-limited to 1.2v.

 

[tenpole]

I do not expect that the Evo's fan will need to spin up to max RPMs anyway if you are volt-limited to 1.2v.

Is that a Gigabyte thing.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Not necessarily. It's more of a overclocking-on-a-non-z87/z97-chipset thing. Some boards support this but with certain limitations, such as no control over RAM overclocking, limited voltage controls, etc.

 

[JacobMc]

I appreciate the advice guys, I went ahead and ordered the Hyper 212 EVO.

 

[VirtualLarry]

No offense, but performance-wise, if you are looking at getting the G3258, AND a 212 Evo cooler, you would be better off in the first place with getting a faster Haswell locked i3 and just running it at stock. Seriously.

Edit: Even at list price, a G3258 is hardly worth it. Its real value is with obscenely-cheap CPU + mobo bundles, which seem to be getting rarer, although there is a decent one now at Newegg. (G3258 + GA-B85M-GAMING 3 mobo for $106.98 + ship)

Edit: To OC is pretty simple, at least on the GA-H81M-DS2V board I have, I just had to set the multi higher. I tried vcore on both fixed 1.2v (max) and AUTO (1.2v), either way seems the same. Mine topped out at 3.8Ghz (38x multi). 39x would boot Windows 7 64-bit, but was unstable. 40x wouldn't boot / POST.

 

[PPB]

The F14 bios allows to overvolt beyond 1.2v.

Is that mobo a 1.1 or 2.0 rev? 2.0 is really crippled VRM wise.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The F14 bios allows to overvolt beyond 1.2v.

Is that mobo a 1.1 or 2.0 rev? 2.0 is really crippled VRM wise.

That's pretty neat. I wonder if my GA-H81M-DS2V board will get that BIOS update. (I checked, not there yet.)

 

[tenpole]

The G3258 is a great chip. I would not say it is not worth the price, unless you could not o/c up to 4ghz and above. The standard stock cooler has no problem with keeping temperature down. I would not have bothered with after market cooler.

 

[Leyawiin]

I built a G3258 rig as a project a couple weeks ago (found a cheap Z87 mobo at Newegg - already had the other bits). Its running at 4.5 Ghz and 1.35v which is fairly high voltage... but I had a Thermalright True Spirit 140 laying around unused so its stays cool. Definitely not the best sample as far as OC'ing goes. I'm a bit underwhelmed - the only games I have on the PC are WoW and Skyrim. Both run noticeably better on my i5-4690k rig with that CPU at stock (using the same video card). Its not like they're highly threaded games - two fast cores should have done the trick. It was a fun enough little experiment that didn't cost too much, but I think I'll get an i5-4590 or 4460 for it down the road.