Last minute build advice? (Overclocking)

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
G

Guest

Guest
Hi all,

First things first, this is not a gaming PC. I'm a console gamer (Xbox specifically), who plans on using this PC for making YouTube videos and streaming to Twitch. I use an Elgato HD60 for capturing gameplay from my Xbox One. It is to my knowledge that the Elgato handles most of the video encoding. I believe AMD holds up well in streaming and video rendering categories.

I'm looking to overclock my 8320 to at least 4.0GHz. However, I have a few questions below.

1. Is the CPU cooler I have selected sufficient? Any recommendations?

2. Is the PSU I have selected sufficient? Any recommendations? More watts, different grade, etc. PCPartPicker estimates ~304W.

3. With the 8320 having turbo boost technology, is it better to disable this on a overclocked CPU?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor ($139.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($60.35 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($85.79 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($75.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.68 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($138.79 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Phantom 240 ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 450W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Asus VN247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($164.30 @ Amazon)
Total: $933.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.

I chose Amazon as my preferred merchant. Not only to take advantage of the free two-day shipping included in my Prime membership, but to give back through Amazon Smile.
 
Solution
M
You're very much on the right track here. The 8320/8320E + GTX750/Ti is a really good value setup for video editing.

For a 4ghz overclock the motherboard, PSU, and HSF should all be alright. If you wanted to push much further than 4ghz, you'd want more "beef" in all 3 areas. The M5A97, and many other Asus AM3+ boards are known for having conservatively "tuned" over temp sensors and limits. You may want to take the fan off the stock AMD cooler and install it over the VRM heatsink on the motherboard to help solve throttling problems under load.

If it were me personally, I'd pick up the 8320E instead. They tend to be lower leakage parts with low VIDs, which I would expect to scale to ~4ghz more efficiently than the non-E counterparts...
Sort by date Sort by votes
M

mdocod

Distinguished
Aug 15, 2010
1,797
0
20,460
You're very much on the right track here. The 8320/8320E + GTX750/Ti is a really good value setup for video editing.

For a 4ghz overclock the motherboard, PSU, and HSF should all be alright. If you wanted to push much further than 4ghz, you'd want more "beef" in all 3 areas. The M5A97, and many other Asus AM3+ boards are known for having conservatively "tuned" over temp sensors and limits. You may want to take the fan off the stock AMD cooler and install it over the VRM heatsink on the motherboard to help solve throttling problems under load.

If it were me personally, I'd pick up the 8320E instead. They tend to be lower leakage parts with low VIDs, which I would expect to scale to ~4ghz more efficiently than the non-E counterparts. Just make sure the motherboard is shipping with a supporting BIOS (ask the seller specifically if the board is shipping with the latest BIOS or not).

If it were me, I would also use ECC memory, since the platform and the CPU support it. It's one of the huge advantages of using an Asus motherboard on the AM3+ platform that most people miss out on. You're looking for DDR3 ECC UDIMMs (unbuffered dimms). You won't find these on PCpartpicker. Use google shopping to search for them or just check out superbiiz.com, they carry a good selection and have competitive pricing.

If it were me I would also switch to a Fractal Core 3500 case and a traditional heatpipe tower cooler. Mechanically pumped liquid coolers don't really offer any advantages over thermally induced phase change pumped liquid coolers until the size of the radiator is larger than what can be fitted over the CPU. The Arctic A30 for $35, decibel for decibel, is very comparable to the performance of any 120mm AIOCLC. I believe that the combination of the case with better air-flow, (3500), and the A30, will cost less without sacrificing any performance or quality.

------------------

Here's how to "fix" the build IMO:

CPU: AMD FX-8320E 3.2GHz 8-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling ACFZA30 74.0 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.95 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus M5A99X EVO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($122.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Samsung DDR3-1600 8GB/1Gx72 ECC CL11 Server Memory ($88.99 @ Superbiiz)
Storage: Crucial MX100 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.93 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB FTW ACX Video Card ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 3500 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Asus VN247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($164.30 @ Amazon)
Total: ~$940


The motherboard, PSU and case will give you more headroom to tinker with overclocking. It can be a lot of "fun" to mess with. You might find yourself wanting to push further than 4ghz for the fun of it. 4.4ghz should be pretty doable on the above.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
G

Guest

Guest


Firstly, thank you.

Referring to my build:
As far as installing the stock AMD cooler over the VRM heatsink goes, could I also install it behind the mobo? Would you recommend 430W Bronze ($45), 450W Gold ($60), or 600W Bronze ($55) for this build?

Referring to your build:
I really like the idea of the 8320E, considering the leakage. If I were to choose the 8320E over the 8320, would the mobo I selected not suffice? Or is it a matter of whether or not the mobo is shipping with a supporting BIOS? I'm assuming you upped the PSU because the 8320E will be more demanding when overclocked 4.0GHz.

If you don't mind me asking, what's the advantage of unbuffered ECC RAM?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

mdocod

Distinguished
Aug 15, 2010
1,797
0
20,460

In the fractal design core 3500 I recommended, there is in fact room to install a fan behind the motherboard without modifying the case....
Fans on both sides of the VRMs on my machine....
DSCN1866.jpg

DSCN1864.jpg


Not all cases have this much room behind the motherboard tray.

Would you recommend 430W Bronze ($45), 450W Gold ($60), or 600W Bronze ($55) for this build?
Click to expand...
Wattage and Efficiency ratings are not a good way to select a PSU, as not all PSUs are built to the same standards nor are their wattage ratings qualified under the same conditions. Qualifying for an efficiency class can be done with junk component and build quality, and a wattage rating can practically be pulled out of thin air depending on how the marketing department feels.

Some 450W PSUs can sustain 500W all day without complaint, while some 650W PSUs will die within hours or days trying to sustain a 500W load.

I'm recommending a specific Seasonic 550W PSU made with great quality components with lots of headroom above its label rating and lots of thermal tolerance, because as someone who has overclocked 6-8 core AMD CPUs and measured the power dissipation of the system under load, I think it's a good idea for you to have a PSU powerful enough not to get in the way of your overclocking endeavors. Even though your long term overclock setting may be practical/conservative, your PSU should still be able to handle experimentation above and beyond that without being the source of unexpected shut-downs etc. The power dissipation of piledriver can ramp up very quickly with overclocking. My particular FX-8350 dissipates ~300W at the chip for a ~4.5ghz overclock. With VRM losses that's ~350W coming from the PSU. Combine that with the power dissipation of the GPU, RAM, chipset, fans/drives/bridges/controllers and the power required of the PSU can easily escalate to 500W even with your power friendly maxwell GPU.

Referring to your build:
I really like the idea of the 8320E, considering the leakage. If I were to choose the 8320E over the 8320, would the mobo I selected not suffice? Or is it a matter of whether or not the mobo is shipping with a supporting BIOS? I'm assuming you upped the PSU because the 8320E will be more demanding when overclocked 4.0GHz.
Click to expand...
I actually expect that the 8320E will dissipate less power at 4ghz than the 8320, and would be a better candidate for that overclock whether on the M5A97 or the M5A99. Regardless of which motherboard you choose, it would be a good idea to make sure it is shipping with the BIOS revision that supports the 8320E if you decide to go that route.

If you don't mind me asking, what's the advantage of unbuffered ECC RAM?
Click to expand...
10X lower error rate and significantly lower failure rates.

http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Advantages-of-ECC-Memory-520/
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

mdocod

Distinguished
Aug 15, 2010
1,797
0
20,460
The GTX750Ti is a fraction of the total power dissipation for this build and has nearly nothing to do with your PSU sizing. Your overclocked FX chip is going to make up the bulk of the power dissipation. The "400W" PSU size recommendation from nvidia for the GTX750Ti does not take into account overclocking of the CPU.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

mdocod

Distinguished
Aug 15, 2010
1,797
0
20,460
AMD's design power spec is irrelevant the moment we turn off APM. The FX-8320 clocked at 4.0ghz can wind up dissipating ~150-200W or more with VRM losses included. The voltage required for stability, leakage characteristics, and resulting power dissipation will vary from chip to chip.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

mdocod

Distinguished
Aug 15, 2010
1,797
0
20,460
The 200R is a popular case. The 3500 is like a "step up" though, as it has grometed cable management and is slightly larger in every dimension, so there's more room behind the motherboard tray, more room around the motherboard, more clearance for HSF's, supports 140mm fans instead of 120mm fans on front and rear, and comes with nicer more versatile drive sleds.

When the core 3500 goes on sale for ~$55 as it often does, it's the best value case in that price class by far. For $80+ (normal pricing) it's about average.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
G

Guest

Guest


Say I was to throw in a R9 270 versus a GTX 750Ti, would the SeaSonic 550W PSU do?

I'm still monitoring deals as Black Friday / Cyber Monday approach. These two GPUs run about the same price.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

mdocod

Distinguished
Aug 15, 2010
1,797
0
20,460
The R9 270 adds nearly 100W to the peak power dissipation of the machine. If you decide to stay with the M5A97, then the 550W PSU is going to be plenty, as you'll run out of VRMs before running out of PSU, but if you decide to go with the 990X or 990FX boards combined with an R9 270, I would probably advise bumping up to a 650W so that you aren't limited by the PSU while overclocking.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
G

Guest

Guest


Thanks for all your advice.

I ended up with the 8320E, 990X mobo, 650W PSU. I've yet to purchase a GPU. I'm torn between the 750 Ti, R7 260X, & R9 270. Recommendations?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

mdocod

Distinguished
Aug 15, 2010
1,797
0
20,460
The GTX660's have been on sale lately for ~$135-150. That's another good option...

That said, you should probably pick your GPU based on what video editing and trans-coding software you intend to use, and how you intend to use it.

A GT520 would be great if you're going to use all software (CPU) rendering and trans-coding. If you're going to use openGL acceleration for manipulation and transitions, then performance scaling at 1080P will end at about a GTX650/R7 250. If you're leveraging openCL or CUDA for rendering and transcoding, then more umpf may offer additional performance scaling. Obviously, if you need CUDA support, select a Kepler or Maxwell card. If you need openCL support, GCN and Maxwell are best, but Kepler also works (performance often isn't as good).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom