overclocking an fx-8320 on asrock 970 pro3 r2.0

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Osoclocker69

Osoclocker69

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Jan 12, 2014
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hello fellow tom's hardware people.
i was wondering if it will be a good idea to overclock my amd fx-8320? will it void my warranty if i do overclock? here are some of my specs:
> mobo: asrock 970 pro3 r2.0
> cpu: amd fx-8320
> cooler: deepcool gammaxx 300
> gpu: msi twinfrozr iii 7950 3gb
> psu: corsair cx 600w 80+

if you guys recommend or say it would be ok to overclock my cpu at least by 5% and what cpu fan speeds should i use? and what temps would i be getting or be aiming to get?
 
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Otacons

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There's a bit of a dilemma about the Asrock 970 pro3 r2.0, I have been told not to attempt any overclock with it (except for turning Turbo Core on which pushes it to 4.2 Ghz and Xboost).
Your motherboard is a M5A990FX as I can see from the signature and that's a 6+2 power phase motherboard, marginally better for overclocks.
The 970 pro3 has just 4+1 power phases and it's running an 8 core, so I wouldn't try anything higher than stock settings.

If anyone has more info about power phases/overclock on 970 chipset, please post your opinion.
I am interested about Asrock 970 pro3 r2.0 too as I am running an FX 8350 Stock settings - TX3 EVO Cooler.
 
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Osoclocker69

Osoclocker69

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what is your motherboard??
and i am a noob but i don't understand this 6+2 or 4+1 power phase can yo please explain it to me?
 
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Otacons

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I have the same motherboard you have, Asrock 970 pro3 r2.0 running an FX 8350.
Asrock 970 pro3 r2.0 is a 4+1 power phase motherboard.
The power phase thing is something I have been trying to understand from some weeks but still did not receive any detailed answers about.
Basically 8 cores cpu (for some reason) should be running on 6+2 (minimum) - 8+2 (suggested) power phase designed motherboard, and that is because of the amount of energy an 8 core consumes.
There is people saying that 4+1 power phases are not enough to run 8320 and 8350, even tough, if you look at the website: http://www.asrock.com/mb/cpu.asp?Model=970%20Pro3%20R2.0 you will notice that our board even if 4+1 supports officially both FX 8320 and 8350. Now the question is: does it support them in stock frequency or even with a little overclock? that I don't know. Unfortunatly.
 
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Osoclocker69

Osoclocker69

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i'm pretty sure it supports the fx-8320 at stock frequency, and while i play games and put my cpu underload it turbos to 3.7ghz
 
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todd1780

todd1780

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CPU power phases are pretty easy to understand. Think of a power phase as a lane that current can travel from your motherboard to your CPU. This current is controlled by a transistor, or a VRM. This is the CPU voltage regulator circuit.
Think of a very simple 2 phase circuit. Each phase will be operating 50% of the time in order to deliver the power that the CPU needs to operate. In a 3 phase circuit, each phase will be operating at 33.3% of the time. With 4 phases each phase is working 25% of the time, and so on.
With more phases, each transistor has to work for a shorter amount of time, reducing heat and extending the life of that transistor.
So basically if you have 4 phases (lanes) of power going to a power hungry CPU like the AMD 8-core, it has to pull a lot of power, thus heating up the VRMs. While that board will support the FX-8320 at stock frequencies, I doubt you would be able to get a stable overclock out of it. The VRMs on that board aren't heat sinked so they would get hot enough to cause you problems.
I may not have done a very good job at explaining the CPU power regulation circuit, but maybe it helped to shed some light on the subject.
 
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Otacons

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Thank you for that. Now it's more clear.
That being said, I can now assume that both fx 8320 and 8350 can only run on Asrock 970 pro3 r2.0 motherboard at STOCK frequency. 4 Power Phases do not allow us to go any higher, doing that you will be at risk and could damage that motherboard.
The maximum " overclock " we could do is to activate AMD Turbo Core (+200 Mhz) or Xboost which I don't know what it does actually. For any higher frequency we should get a 8+2 power phase motherboard.

 
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todd1780

todd1780

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I would not feel comfortable at all overclocking an FX 8350 or 8320 on that motherboard. You might be able to get away with a mild overclock if you installed heatsinks on the VRMs.
Its very possible to get a mild overclock on a 4+1 motherboard, I've done it many times myself. But the 970 PRO was built to run your CPU at stock speeds only.
I have that exact same motherboard sitting in its box on my shelf. It was retired so that I could buy a motherboard that is much more overclock friendly.
 
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Otacons

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Would you define the Auto Turbo Core (+200mhz) an "overclock"? should I disable it?
I am not interested in overclocking honestly. Just need to be sure 970 pro3 can run fx 8350 at stock speed without any heat problems or burning anything
 
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Osoclocker69

Osoclocker69

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i think auto turbo core is done by the cpu, not the motherboard, since my cpu says 3.5ghz base and 3.7ghz turbo
 
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Osoclocker69

Osoclocker69

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No I haven't tried X-Boost yet. I really do not want to risk any damage to my motherboard, cpu or any other components. And sorry for the late reply :(

Although I saw a guy on YouTube (named T-Bone) with an ASRock 970 "Extreme3" r2.0 (4+1 power phase) and he managed to use Turbo Core to overclock his FX-8320 to 4Ghz!!!

I don't know if that is his motherboard which seems to be a mild better and a little more expensive, but I doubt that has anything to do with overclocking capabilities as long as it has the same power phase if I'm not wrong.

So would I be save manually tweaking Turbo Core? I have asked the guy and waiting for a response on what he did and how he did to get that 4Ghz from Turbo Core. I have checked my BIOS and it seems that the way to change the overclock on Turbo Core is to manually set it (mine is auto and overclocks to 3.7Ghz).

Here is a link to T-Bone's YouTube channel: T-Bone - YouTube
 
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Otacons

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The 970 Extreme 3 does have heathsinks on the VRMs which the 970 pro3 does not. That basically means it can handle mild overclocking better.
That being said, I just bought a Gigabyte GA-970 UD3P for 70 euros, which has 8+2 power phases and supports great all the FX series, overclock possible up to 5 Ghz! This motherboard is perfect for 8 cores, it's am3+ and has the same chipsets so you won't need to re-install win 7 if you're on retail license.
I suggest you to get rid of your motherboard, as I just did, because having a powerful cpu like 8320-8350 (unlocked which you can overclock all the way) on a cheap and not overclocking capable motherboard doesn't make any sense.

Cheers and good luck! :)
 
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Osoclocker69

Osoclocker69

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I am not rich, and I am not getting rid of my motherboard until I need to. So please help me out here. How much am I able to overclock? Since I have manually set my voltages and cpu clocks because the voltage was too high, can i overclock maybe up to 3.7Ghz?
 
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todd1780

todd1780

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Your going to have to experiment a bit. Start overclocking 100MHz or so at a time and see if its stable at that overclock. Keep an eye on your temps and you should be able to figure out how far you can push that motherboard.
Personally I wouldn't go over 3.7GHz myself.
 
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Uguessedit

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I run a corsair h80 cooler and I run a solid 4.5ghz stable without issue with the extreme 3 970 and an AMD 8320. I use amd Autotune. Although I believe you need to use an AMD GPU to have this feature as well. Works great.
 
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Osoclocker69

Osoclocker69

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Sorry for the late reply, but I did overclock my 8320 to 3.7Ghz stable with no problem, temps don't go above 60 C (70 C max socket) while in BF4.

I was just wondering if I would be able to push it a little bit more maybe to 3.75 or 3.80Ghz ?? I don't want to damage anything so I won't do it until I find someone that's done it . . . And i know the Extreme 3 motherboard is slightly better but sadly I cannot upgrade for another at least 2-3 years.
 
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Uguessedit

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The other thing I've found with Autotune through catalyst I was able to get 4.4ghz with the standard AMD heat sink. I did get 4.7 liquid cooled although it wasn't stable. With a good processor cooler above 4ghz is certainly doable. I've built 30+ machines with the fx8320 and Asrock extreme 3 R2.0 board and have had no issues so far. Give catalyst a try.
 
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Osoclocker69

Osoclocker69

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That is the Extreme 3, but I have the Pro3 which is essentially the same as the Extreme3 except that it doesn't have vrm heatsink, which i've heard that is a problem when it comes to overclocking
 
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Uguessedit

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Can't you buy a replacement vrm heatsink that will upgrade that board? I see a lot of them out there for sale for under $20. Maybe that could be a solution for you? Idk I will have to look at both boards next time I buy PC parts. I'm very curious. I've heard other guys doing that although I'm not sure of there's credence in that. Maybe someone else here has more knowledge in that depArtment.
 
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Osoclocker69

Osoclocker69

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I don't think that will be a good solution since my only nearby store don't sell any vrm heatsinks as far as i'm aware.
 
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Jaseb87

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I Have the asrock 970 pro3 r2.0 and i am using a fx 8350 i am currently at 4.5ghz stable at 1.344v using a h100i cooler, the only problem i have is that this motherboard does not have any LLC options so i have massive vdroop so i got to set vcore at 1.4 in bios to keep stable, i have made some slight modifications I.E i have made my own heatsink and put them on the VRMS, this stopped any throttling of the cpu, i also modified my 330r corsair case so i now have a 120mm fan set up as exhaust on the back of the motherboard. I haven't tried for 4.6ghz yet but i will :D
 
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awesomenessreborn

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hey can you post a picture of your vrm cooling method? i have the same motherboard and a 4.5ghz overclock would be sweet to try. What are your temperatures with the h100i? A picture of the 120mm picture as exhaust would be nice since the website says top down blowing coolers are recommended to cool the motherboard.
 
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