Help Overclocking AMD FX-6300 On Asus M5A78L-M/USB3

Crash Rider · Oct 25, 2014

1st this is my 1st overclocking, i dnt know nothing about it, i just bought a system recently sold my ps4, ipad everything to build this system, dnt want lose it, but i need to play games and rending movies, here is my spec,

AMD (Piledriver) FX-6300 3.50GHz (4.10GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 6-Core Processor.

ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3 AMD 760G (Socket AM3+) DDR3 PCI-Express Motherboard.

Crucial & Corsair 2x4 8GB ram and 1Gb total 9GB.

2GB MSI Radeon R7 260X over-clocked Graphic Card.

Cooler Master Seidon 120V All In One Water Cooling Kit Quiet with Compact 120mm Radiator for Intel & AMD CPU.

60GB SSD (window 8.1)

1TB Harddisk for Backup

Asus DVD/Writer.

ATX Domnitor Casing 6 LED Fans for air in/out.

600W Corsair Builder Series CX600M 80PLUS Bronze Modular Power Supply.

this is my 1st ever build, i moved from Play station to Computer and realy excited by result am getting on games, i wasted half my life on shity consoles, not anymore.

computer is running fine, and start to desktop time is about 15 second. cpu temperature is about 15 to 30C and not go higher then this even if i am playing games.

i am totally new to overclocking, so if its posible, i can av some skype help by video conf, or help in detail from start to bottom what i av to do, i dnt want to go higher then 4.5 even my cooling is great room alway cold, and weather in uk is worst then any country in world, please help i am just setting here to wait.

Thanks

Wisecracker · Oct 25, 2014

1) Disable Turbo and any core-boost functions;
2) Take manual control of your VCore;
3) PIck a starting point for your voltage --- 1.375v is a nice start; and
4) Gently bump you CPU clock multiplier and test for temps and stability.

If you fail a test, simply bump your VCore +0.0125v and try again. Use AMD OverDrive to monitor the *Thermal Margin* of your CPU when over-clocking.

barto · Oct 25, 2014

I would also check the temps of your motherboard frequently. You have a good CPU cooler but your motherboard doesn't have the proper cooling. The chokes (black boxes) typically have heat sinks on them to displace the heat.

Be careful.

Crash Rider · Oct 25, 2014

Wisecracker :

barto :

madmatt30 · Oct 29, 2014

The board will massively restrict any over clocking as there is no vrm cooling & fitting a water block on the cpu removes any cooling over them that would occur naturally with a flat down style cooler.
I have one of these boards with a fx 6300 & a big shuriken 2 cooler - can pull 4.2ghz absolute max before the vrm temps reach unacceptable level & throttle.
I'll throw you a quick tut up if you're still interested later - I'll say do not touch voltages at all though - the bios voltage control options are shambolic & its easy to destabilise the whole system once you start playing around.
You should be able to pull 4ghz easily enough on stock voltages without too much trouble dependant on your vrm temps.
Be aware that you're not going to see any massive performance increase in rendering times though or gaming as the 260x is thecweak link in your system

Have you had a play with the Asus turbo software that comes with the motherboard at all??

madmatt30 · Oct 30, 2014

Got your pm/video mate - however ll post on here in case anyone with the same combo needs this information

I know you have decent cooling etc so we'll sraight balls out go for a 4ghz clock which is easily on any fx6300 in my experience

boot into bios

goto advanced tab
jumper free configuration
change cpu overclocking to MANUAL
change cpu ratio to x20.00 4000mhz
change AMD Turbo Core to DISABLED

thats it ,leave everything else alone,the bios has awful voltage control options & I would leave well alone - exit bios saving changes

boot into windows

download these 3 utilities - they are the best around imo for stress testing & monitoring

hwinfo - http://www.hwinfo.com/download.php
intel burntest (far far better as a stress tester than prime - this will seriously push your cpu to the limit)
http://intelburntest.en.lo4d.com/download/mirror-hs1
amdmsrtweaker ( I have included 2 batch files in this download to make turning apm on/off easier for the novice - there are many many things this little low level ms-dos program can do but for overclocking this is the only function were really interested in)
http://www68.zippyshare.com/v/28540088/file.html

hwinfo needs to be installed as any program
intel burn test & msrtweaker should just need to be unzipped to somewhere easily accessible like your desktop - they are standalone programs & dont need installing

install & run hwinfo -select the sensor only tickbox - close the update dialog - the beta update is a little flakey
this will bring up a listing page very similar to many other system info utilities

we are only really interested in the core clocks #0-#5
& the cpu & motherboard temps under the ITE IT8728F header

at the moment the core clocks will be fluctuatuing between 1400mhz & 4000 mhz. this is normal ,the board bios is very basic & is unable to disable any kind of auto power management
run intel burn test

just click the start button leaving settins as they are
after a couple of seconds click on the clock icon at the bottom of the hwinfo box
this will reset the current/minimum/maximum/average tabs
what were looking for here is a straight clock speed of 4000mhz(or 3999mhz) on all these tabs.
at the minute its very very liekly throttling is occuring across all cores intermittently - this is down to the boards over zealous apm control.
However we have a trick up our sleeve here.

stop intel burn test with the stop button
open the apm tweaker your should have unzipped to your desktop or wherever
double click the off.bat file
youll get a black command prompt box flash on & off very quickly
this should have disabled the apm bios function
the clock speeds will still be fluctuating at low load (This is normal as we left cool & quiet enabled in bios)
start the intel burn test again
click the clock icon at the bottom of hwinfo to reset clocks again

the cpu speeds should now be a stable 4000mhz on all cores & all tabs
let burn test run its full 10 run cycle now
keep en eye on the cpu & mb temps in hwinfo
I would consider 60c or below on cpu & mid-high 30s on motherboard tab acceptable temps - your system will never undergo this kind of stress under normal use in any way shape or form

once burn test has completed thats pretty much it - well done youve got a stable 4ghz overclock on a cheap cpu & motherboard combo - give yourself a pat on the back ;-)

I would not do any of the above on a stock cooler personally - you may be able to push 3.8 (the normal turbo speed of the chip) but thats about as high as I would go without aftermarket cooling.

danny hewitt · Jan 14, 2015

madmatt30 :

Got your pm/video mate - however ll post on here in case anyone with the same combo needs this information

I know you have decent cooling etc so we'll sraight balls out go for a 4ghz clock which is easily on any fx6300 in my experience

boot into bios

goto advanced tab
jumper free configuration
change cpu overclocking to MANUAL
change cpu ratio to x20.00 4000mhz
change AMD Turbo Core to DISABLED

thats it ,leave everything else alone,the bios has awful voltage control options & I would leave well alone - exit bios saving changes

boot into windows

download these 3 utilities - they are the best around imo for stress testing & monitoring

hwinfo - http://www.hwinfo.com/download.php
intel burntest (far far better as a stress tester than prime - this will seriously push your cpu to the limit)
http://intelburntest.en.lo4d.com/download/mirror-hs1
amdmsrtweaker ( I have included 2 batch files in this download to make turning apm on/off easier for the novice - there are many many things this little low level ms-dos program can do but for overclocking this is the only function were really interested in)
http://www68.zippyshare.com/v/28540088/file.html

hwinfo needs to be installed as any program
intel burn test & msrtweaker should just need to be unzipped to somewhere easily accessible like your desktop - they are standalone programs & dont need installing

install & run hwinfo -select the sensor only tickbox - close the update dialog - the beta update is a little flakey
this will bring up a listing page very similar to many other system info utilities

we are only really interested in the core clocks #0-#5
& the cpu & motherboard temps under the ITE IT8728F header

at the moment the core clocks will be fluctuatuing between 1400mhz & 4000 mhz. this is normal ,the board bios is very basic & is unable to disable any kind of auto power management
run intel burn test

just click the start button leaving settins as they are
after a couple of seconds click on the clock icon at the bottom of the hwinfo box
this will reset the current/minimum/maximum/average tabs
what were looking for here is a straight clock speed of 4000mhz(or 3999mhz) on all these tabs.
at the minute its very very liekly throttling is occuring across all cores intermittently - this is down to the boards over zealous apm control.
However we have a trick up our sleeve here.

stop intel burn test with the stop button
open the apm tweaker your should have unzipped to your desktop or wherever
double click the off.bat file
youll get a black command prompt box flash on & off very quickly
this should have disabled the apm bios function
the clock speeds will still be fluctuating at low load (This is normal as we left cool & quiet enabled in bios)
start the intel burn test again
click the clock icon at the bottom of hwinfo to reset clocks again

the cpu speeds should now be a stable 4000mhz on all cores & all tabs
let burn test run its full 10 run cycle now
keep en eye on the cpu & mb temps in hwinfo
I would consider 60c or below on cpu & mid-high 30s on motherboard tab acceptable temps - your system will never undergo this kind of stress under normal use in any way shape or form

once burn test has completed thats pretty much it - well done youve got a stable 4ghz overclock on a cheap cpu & motherboard combo - give yourself a pat on the back ;-)

I would not do any of the above on a stock cooler personally - you may be able to push 3.8 (the normal turbo speed of the chip) but thats about as high as I would go without aftermarket cooling.

Hi Matt, your tut really helped me out, i have same cpu and mobo and was wondering if you could help me push mine further i have coolmaster 212 evo cooler so should be sufficient. i got it upto 4.3 stable then pc wont boot any higher tried adding cpu volts but every-time i just get an error saying oc failed. any help will be appreciated.

madmatt30 · Jan 14, 2015

^ you're a brave man trying to push any higher on the little Asus board mate.The most I managed on stock volts was 4.2.
The problem isn't your cooling mate - its the power delivery of the board ,its a 4+1 phase with no vrm cooling.
Whacking an evo on your 6300 is well & good for CPU temps but it removes 99% of the secondary airflow over the MOSFETs to the back of the CPU.
I pulled 4.4ghz on my board but with added vrm cooling & a 120mm blower CPU cooler.
Vrm temps were still higher than I consider acceptable.
Honestly 4.2ghz is what I'd limit a 6300 to on this board mate - you are expecting too much of it.
As soon as you start playing with voltages you're asking for trouble ,this board has probably the most awful & hard to comprehend voltage option I have ever come across.
I'd be happy with what you have mate ,you're pushing a near 25% over clock on one of the cheapest boards there is.

danny hewitt · Jan 14, 2015

well i was wanting to upgrade to a new mobo as this does not support crossfire, i have a r9 270x and wanted another, any suggestions ?

madmatt30 · Jan 14, 2015

danny hewitt :

matx wise there are none
atx the gigabyte ud3p is hard to beat - it does not support sli but does support crossfire & there will be no limitation when it comes to overclocking the 6300 - only the limit on your actual chip itself

also the msi gaming

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-ga970aud3p
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-970gaming

danny hewitt · Jan 14, 2015

I actually bought the motherboard and didn't even realize it was a matx so i'm happy to go with an atx board. If i could ask another favour, would you give me a push in the right direction to overclock my ram and gpu ? here is my actual system http://www.pc-specs.com/pc-custom-builds/1043431 and thanks again. oh and thought i'd mention the psu isnt what i actually have i couldn't find it on the list it's just a generic psu out of my old system and it's about 6-8 years old, would that matter to anything like bottleneck it or anything?

Wisecracker · Jan 17, 2015

Use MSI AfterBurner to tweak your GPU. Your RAMs should likely be left alone except to aline timings. A 'generic' power supply in an OC-gaming rig will likely hold you back (if not blow you up).

4+1 mobos are okay. 8+2 provide more stable volt delivery -- 8+2 is simply (4+1)x2. Cranking the volts tends to add much more heat on a 4+1.

To compensate for that you have to tweak the over-volt and LLC. Most 4+1 boards will average a minimum +0.025v over-volt. Asus boards are bad for going way past that (Gigabyte has no sterling record in this regard, either).

Keep your volts as low as possible, and take the 'over-volt' into consideration -- 1.375v is 1.4v with a +0.025v mobo over-volt, right?

Use AMD OverDrive. It's handy and has a stability test, voltage controls and monitoring. For a multi-card board, look at the Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3

jiri96 · Apr 10, 2015

madmatt30 :

Got your pm/video mate - however ll post on here in case anyone with the same combo needs this information

I know you have decent cooling etc so we'll sraight balls out go for a 4ghz clock which is easily on any fx6300 in my experience

boot into bios

goto advanced tab
jumper free configuration
change cpu overclocking to MANUAL
change cpu ratio to x20.00 4000mhz
change AMD Turbo Core to DISABLED

thats it ,leave everything else alone,the bios has awful voltage control options & I would leave well alone - exit bios saving changes

boot into windows

download these 3 utilities - they are the best around imo for stress testing & monitoring

hwinfo - http://www.hwinfo.com/download.php
intel burntest (far far better as a stress tester than prime - this will seriously push your cpu to the limit)
http://intelburntest.en.lo4d.com/download/mirror-hs1
amdmsrtweaker ( I have included 2 batch files in this download to make turning apm on/off easier for the novice - there are many many things this little low level ms-dos program can do but for overclocking this is the only function were really interested in)
http://www68.zippyshare.com/v/28540088/file.html

hwinfo needs to be installed as any program
intel burn test & msrtweaker should just need to be unzipped to somewhere easily accessible like your desktop - they are standalone programs & dont need installing

install & run hwinfo -select the sensor only tickbox - close the update dialog - the beta update is a little flakey
this will bring up a listing page very similar to many other system info utilities

we are only really interested in the core clocks #0-#5
& the cpu & motherboard temps under the ITE IT8728F header

at the moment the core clocks will be fluctuatuing between 1400mhz & 4000 mhz. this is normal ,the board bios is very basic & is unable to disable any kind of auto power management
run intel burn test

just click the start button leaving settins as they are
after a couple of seconds click on the clock icon at the bottom of the hwinfo box
this will reset the current/minimum/maximum/average tabs
what were looking for here is a straight clock speed of 4000mhz(or 3999mhz) on all these tabs.
at the minute its very very liekly throttling is occuring across all cores intermittently - this is down to the boards over zealous apm control.
However we have a trick up our sleeve here.

stop intel burn test with the stop button
open the apm tweaker your should have unzipped to your desktop or wherever
double click the off.bat file
youll get a black command prompt box flash on & off very quickly
this should have disabled the apm bios function
the clock speeds will still be fluctuating at low load (This is normal as we left cool & quiet enabled in bios)
start the intel burn test again
click the clock icon at the bottom of hwinfo to reset clocks again

the cpu speeds should now be a stable 4000mhz on all cores & all tabs
let burn test run its full 10 run cycle now
keep en eye on the cpu & mb temps in hwinfo
I would consider 60c or below on cpu & mid-high 30s on motherboard tab acceptable temps - your system will never undergo this kind of stress under normal use in any way shape or form

once burn test has completed thats pretty much it - well done youve got a stable 4ghz overclock on a cheap cpu & motherboard combo - give yourself a pat on the back ;-)

I would not do any of the above on a stock cooler personally - you may be able to push 3.8 (the normal turbo speed of the chip) but thats about as high as I would go without aftermarket cooling.

I've got a problem. When my cpu temps reach 40 degrees it still throttles. Got the same board with a fx8320 and a corsair hyper h55. Do you know how to fix this?
edit: started testing with a 3.5ghz clock. the cpu core stays under the 40 degrees but when the cpu(see picture) reaches 52 degrees it throttels. this is the same at 4.0ghz
http://i.imgur.com/0WNqnNT.png

ms_mateen · Oct 3, 2015

madmatt30 :

Got your pm/video mate - however ll post on here in case anyone with the same combo needs this information

I know you have decent cooling etc so we'll sraight balls out go for a 4ghz clock which is easily on any fx6300 in my experience

boot into bios

goto advanced tab
jumper free configuration
change cpu overclocking to MANUAL
change cpu ratio to x20.00 4000mhz
change AMD Turbo Core to DISABLED

thats it ,leave everything else alone,the bios has awful voltage control options & I would leave well alone - exit bios saving changes

boot into windows

download these 3 utilities - they are the best around imo for stress testing & monitoring

hwinfo - http://www.hwinfo.com/download.php
intel burntest (far far better as a stress tester than prime - this will seriously push your cpu to the limit)
http://intelburntest.en.lo4d.com/download/mirror-hs1
amdmsrtweaker ( I have included 2 batch files in this download to make turning apm on/off easier for the novice - there are many many things this little low level ms-dos program can do but for overclocking this is the only function were really interested in)
http://www68.zippyshare.com/v/28540088/file.html

hwinfo needs to be installed as any program
intel burn test & msrtweaker should just need to be unzipped to somewhere easily accessible like your desktop - they are standalone programs & dont need installing

install & run hwinfo -select the sensor only tickbox - close the update dialog - the beta update is a little flakey
this will bring up a listing page very similar to many other system info utilities

we are only really interested in the core clocks #0-#5
& the cpu & motherboard temps under the ITE IT8728F header

at the moment the core clocks will be fluctuatuing between 1400mhz & 4000 mhz. this is normal ,the board bios is very basic & is unable to disable any kind of auto power management
run intel burn test

just click the start button leaving settins as they are
after a couple of seconds click on the clock icon at the bottom of the hwinfo box
this will reset the current/minimum/maximum/average tabs
what were looking for here is a straight clock speed of 4000mhz(or 3999mhz) on all these tabs.
at the minute its very very liekly throttling is occuring across all cores intermittently - this is down to the boards over zealous apm control.
However we have a trick up our sleeve here.

stop intel burn test with the stop button
open the apm tweaker your should have unzipped to your desktop or wherever
double click the off.bat file
youll get a black command prompt box flash on & off very quickly
this should have disabled the apm bios function
the clock speeds will still be fluctuating at low load (This is normal as we left cool & quiet enabled in bios)
start the intel burn test again
click the clock icon at the bottom of hwinfo to reset clocks again

the cpu speeds should now be a stable 4000mhz on all cores & all tabs
let burn test run its full 10 run cycle now
keep en eye on the cpu & mb temps in hwinfo
I would consider 60c or below on cpu & mid-high 30s on motherboard tab acceptable temps - your system will never undergo this kind of stress under normal use in any way shape or form

once burn test has completed thats pretty much it - well done youve got a stable 4ghz overclock on a cheap cpu & motherboard combo - give yourself a pat on the back ;-)

I would not do any of the above on a stock cooler personally - you may be able to push 3.8 (the normal turbo speed of the chip) but thats about as high as I would go without aftermarket cooling.

ms_mateen · Oct 3, 2015

hey matt check it ,, and say me is these result are best me for continue or i need to step back, i done all these with my original heatsink came with cpu.

madmatt30 · Oct 3, 2015

^ CPU temps dangerously high mate & thevrm temps are getting the same

For gaming you'll probably get away with it as you're unlikely to push over 75% load but really you want an aftermarket cooler.

ms_mateen · Oct 3, 2015

I AM STEPPING BACK AND SETTING MY DEFAUL SETTINGS,,, THANKYOU MATT30

madmatt30 · Oct 3, 2015

What you would get away with I think is just disabling turbo & setting 18.5/19 for a 3.7/3.8ghz clock , there should be minimal voltage increase then & you'll drop a fair few c on the temps.

Use smd overdrive for temp monitoring mate , hemonitir is somewhat sketchy with temps.

ERAWDRAHmot · Oct 13, 2015

I have the exact same CPU and Mobo combo. Intended to overclock the CPU (I even bought Cooler Master Hyper 212x) but after digging deeper I found out that overclocking with that Mobo is not recommended.

ms_mateen · Oct 15, 2015

ms_mateen :

I THINK U R RIGHT! THE MOBO IS NOT SUPPORTS OVERCLOCKING

ms_mateen · Oct 15, 2015

madmatt30 :

yes i set 19x =3.82ghz and working good

Wolded · Jan 18, 2016

madmatt30 :

Got your pm/video mate - however ll post on here in case anyone with the same combo needs this information

I know you have decent cooling etc so we'll sraight balls out go for a 4ghz clock which is easily on any fx6300 in my experience

boot into bios

goto advanced tab
jumper free configuration
change cpu overclocking to MANUAL
change cpu ratio to x20.00 4000mhz
change AMD Turbo Core to DISABLED

thats it ,leave everything else alone,the bios has awful voltage control options & I would leave well alone - exit bios saving changes

boot into windows

download these 3 utilities - they are the best around imo for stress testing & monitoring

hwinfo - http://www.hwinfo.com/download.php
intel burntest (far far better as a stress tester than prime - this will seriously push your cpu to the limit)
http://intelburntest.en.lo4d.com/download/mirror-hs1
amdmsrtweaker ( I have included 2 batch files in this download to make turning apm on/off easier for the novice - there are many many things this little low level ms-dos program can do but for overclocking this is the only function were really interested in)
http://www68.zippyshare.com/v/28540088/file.html

hwinfo needs to be installed as any program
intel burn test & msrtweaker should just need to be unzipped to somewhere easily accessible like your desktop - they are standalone programs & dont need installing

install & run hwinfo -select the sensor only tickbox - close the update dialog - the beta update is a little flakey
this will bring up a listing page very similar to many other system info utilities

we are only really interested in the core clocks #0-#5
& the cpu & motherboard temps under the ITE IT8728F header

at the moment the core clocks will be fluctuatuing between 1400mhz & 4000 mhz. this is normal ,the board bios is very basic & is unable to disable any kind of auto power management
run intel burn test

just click the start button leaving settins as they are
after a couple of seconds click on the clock icon at the bottom of the hwinfo box
this will reset the current/minimum/maximum/average tabs
what were looking for here is a straight clock speed of 4000mhz(or 3999mhz) on all these tabs.
at the minute its very very liekly throttling is occuring across all cores intermittently - this is down to the boards over zealous apm control.
However we have a trick up our sleeve here.

stop intel burn test with the stop button
open the apm tweaker your should have unzipped to your desktop or wherever
double click the off.bat file
youll get a black command prompt box flash on & off very quickly
this should have disabled the apm bios function
the clock speeds will still be fluctuating at low load (This is normal as we left cool & quiet enabled in bios)
start the intel burn test again
click the clock icon at the bottom of hwinfo to reset clocks again

the cpu speeds should now be a stable 4000mhz on all cores & all tabs
let burn test run its full 10 run cycle now
keep en eye on the cpu & mb temps in hwinfo
I would consider 60c or below on cpu & mid-high 30s on motherboard tab acceptable temps - your system will never undergo this kind of stress under normal use in any way shape or form

once burn test has completed thats pretty much it - well done youve got a stable 4ghz overclock on a cheap cpu & motherboard combo - give yourself a pat on the back ;-)

I would not do any of the above on a stock cooler personally - you may be able to push 3.8 (the normal turbo speed of the chip) but thats about as high as I would go without aftermarket cooling.

Hello, man i tried everything u said and it worked once for me later i had to turn it back to default.Now i tried oc'ing again following your instructions but this time it doesnt work.Whenever i turn off the intel burn test the clocks turn back to normal.1.400.0mhz. What should i do to get a stable 40000mhz ? Nah i fixed it solo the problem was that i had power save mode on (power options) thats why the cpu was working like that. Now its all as it supposed to be thaaaanks a lot man

madmatt30 · Jan 18, 2016

Done a fair bit of tinkering with voltages now mate.
Dropped a lot of voltage under load on mine & it drops CPU & board temps 5c or so.

Running 4.3ghz with CPU voltage of 1.3375 , load line calibration of 33%.
Runs at 1.36v under load now instead of the 1.404v it used on auto.

lgoptimusv324 · May 10, 2016

Hi All, I'm intending to buy the exact same cpu and motherboard from microcenter for $110. I have a few questions:

The motherboard shows a vga, dvi and hdmi ports. Can I use 3 1080p monitors at the same time?

under

Thanks.

brkdvvn · Sep 25, 2016

Same setup here, -r9270 oced to 1050. I ran at 4.4 stable for months with tx3 evo air cooling, and it would run every game I played without a problem. EXCEPT h1z1 which I just started yesterday, then my pc continued to crash all the way down to 3.8. I never messed with voltages, I only disabled cool & quiet which would cause horrible throttling and boosted my memory clock to 1866 since the default was at 1600 and my ram was 2133 but thats not really a big deal. I could've just got a lucky cpu though, with a better motherboard you could probably get up to 4.6-4.8. Even with the OC the cpu still couldn't handle high quality streaming so I'm planning on upgrading to a fully intel/nvidia setup when I have the money.

Help Overclocking AMD FX-6300 On Asus M5A78L-M/USB3

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