AMD Overdrive Orange Voltage Meaning

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Bonesbobman

Bonesbobman

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Jun 22, 2014
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I'm very new to overclocking and I clocked my AMD FX 8320 up to 4.0 GHz and the stock clock is 3.5 GHz. When I increase the voltage it turns orange. Does that mean its too high. What should I do?
 
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4Ryan6
@ Bonesbobman

Orange is just a caution color going into red color is a possible danger level, but that is not set in stone, because some memory modules may require operating voltages that take you into the red to run the rated memory speed.

Motherboard led color is to keep you well on the safe side of settings, and it helps tremendously to know what each component requires and can run above specs, like your CPU.

So since you are new to overclocking I suggest you get into studying how to do it and get a good understanding under your belt first, then led color won't intimidate you as you'll know just how far you can go, no matter what the led color is.
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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Jun 24, 2014
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You should NOT overclock. At least, not with overdrive. The 8320 doesn't really need the voltage to get a decent overclock so put it back to the default setting. You should only be concerned with the multiplier right now and you should be doing it in the BIOS. More voltage equals more heat, even beyond what increasing the multiplier alone will increase heat, and without a good cooling solution you probably shouldn't be overclocking at all. Do you have a good aftermarket cooler or are you using the factory cpu cooler?
 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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Let me correct myself. You CAN use overdrive, it just isn't the best way to do things. You can probably get 4Ghz out of that chip just using the multiplier, no voltage increases, unless you lost the silicone lottery and just got a bad chip. In which case, you wouldn't want to go playing around with the voltage anyhow.
 
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Bonesbobman

Bonesbobman

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Jun 22, 2014
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Actually, I ran Prime95 overnight at 4.1 GHz and 1.375 volts. Its come out good. No crash, no BSOD, no test failed.
 
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Bonesbobman

Bonesbobman

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I'm using the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO.
 
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Bonesbobman

Bonesbobman

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You can get 4 GHz without increasing the voltage?! Do you have this CPU yourself?
 
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4Ryan6

4Ryan6

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Apr 14, 2002
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@ Bonesbobman

Orange is just a caution color going into red color is a possible danger level, but that is not set in stone, because some memory modules may require operating voltages that take you into the red to run the rated memory speed.

Motherboard led color is to keep you well on the safe side of settings, and it helps tremendously to know what each component requires and can run above specs, like your CPU.

So since you are new to overclocking I suggest you get into studying how to do it and get a good understanding under your belt first, then led color won't intimidate you as you'll know just how far you can go, no matter what the led color is.
 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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Actually, yes, I do have the 8320. And yes, you can get 4 Ghz with just the multiplier. I don't think the EVO is sufficient to keep it cool at that speed though. Mine wasn't. Of course, mine ended up having fan issues and I feel possibly one of the copper pipes had leaked it's coolant out a pinhole, but I'm not positive on the pinhole it just looks like it may have one. Anyhow, I ditched it and bought a Noctua NH-U14S. We'll see how that one does.

But it was fine with a borrowed cooler at 4Ghz with no increased voltage.
 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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No worries. That's actually a good OC right there and how long did you run prime for?
 
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Bonesbobman

Bonesbobman

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8-10 hours. Also I'm sorry but I just tried 4.0 GHz without changing the voltage and my computer froze and I had to force restart it. I rose it slightly and I got "0 Errors, 100 Warnings" in prime95 and I only ran it for under 1 minute. I guess leaving it at 1.3750 volts is the best. It is very stable. Your settings must be very different from mine if you can actually get to 4.0 GHz without increasing the voltage.
 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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Every chip is different and it depends a lot on the board too. If you read that thread from the link I provided you would see that I'm not the only one who's achieved that result. There are many articles and forum threads related to this if you look. Anyhow, it's a moot point since you've already got a stable overclock unless you want to try dropping down your voltage while bumping up the multiplier. You migh drop temps a little but if the temps you've got now are no issue then you're fine.
 
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