Overclocking AMD FX-6350 with Asus M5A97 le r2.0 VRM problem

ankit2951 · Dec 3, 2014

I have a Asus M5A97 le r2.0 and my problem is that there is no VRM heatsink on this board. Will I be able to overclock the cpu even without the VRM heatsink? I was thinking to keep the voltages the same and do a mild overclock to 4.3 Ghz. I have a Hyper 212 Plus CPU cooler.

ankit2951 · Dec 3, 2014

No help at all

huganater3 · Dec 7, 2014

I'm not sure but maybe add more tags that's what i do

eric89mx6gt · Dec 13, 2014

I currently have a 4.3 mhz OC on mine it is the same M5a97 LE R2.0 NON EVO Motherboard with the fx-6300 6 core. One thing you will need to do to achieve your overclock is buy a tube of #7 thermal paste for your 970 chipset Northbridge heatsink, you will need to apply the tube of thermal paste to it generously because its #7 paste I like to do it in swirls while I apply it like I'm welding something. I also used it on my processor core, and bought an aftermarket cooler fan by enermax. You want to have a good fan configuration. I have two exhaust fans, 1 3000rpm processor fan and 1 traditional black 90mm vent fan in the back and two light up fans in the front of my setup. Under your bios in CPU disable everything but HPC mode. Put your bus clocks to manual. adjust manual values to 21.5 200 100 2000 2600 I have my cpu voltage set at 1.2700 and the nb voltage set at 1.19000. I have my memory at the default 1600mhz 1channel. Disable fan profiles epu power saving mode and CPU ss and PCIE SS. Enable voltage/friction modifiers over voltages i forget what they are called but enable them (ALL THE TRADITIONAL SETTINGS OF THE EVO WITH THE LOWER VOLTAGES FOR THE BOARD AND THE #7 PASTE TO KEEP IT COOL. It can sustain an three hour long torture test with the AMD overdrive program at 48 degree core temps and 58-59 degree chipset temps, im gonna mess with the voltage a bit more , I don't like using prime95 while stress testing because it actually does stress the fx series processors alot and it was developed for use with AMD overdrive not INTEL prime95 and will really mess up your machine if you are impacient and only run it at 5-10 minute intervals with the wrong voltage...So don't hate. . I have actually just applied these bios settings myself. Enjoy

eric89mx6gt · Dec 13, 2014

Let me know if you need me to be more specific with the settings I was in a rush when I wrote the last comment.

eric89mx6gt · Dec 13, 2014

To take off your northbridge heatsink it is the blue thingy right next to your processor socket there are two bolts on the back of it, I was able to ninja my mobo out of my box with everything still connected which i really do not recommend at all with the socket heatsink paste fan still on and ninja my Northbridge Heatsink out scrape off the old paste and apply the new paste. Don't touch the trace amounts of paste on the socket of the northbridge processor, I didn't anyways looked sensitive.

mattz101783 · Jan 11, 2015

ankit2951 :

I removed the VRM heatsink from my old asus board (m4a87-td evo) and filed it to fit between the caps on either side of the VRM on the m5a97. When I had removed it from the old board I noticed it was touching the mosfets with a sort of 3m double sided tape, NOT arctic adhesive/paste.

I mixed arctic silver 5 mixed 50 percent with gorilla glue epoxy and mounted this to the VRM on the M5A97 LE and temps are low at 4.3ghz (lower then stock speed of 3.5.) I have fans pulling air from above and to the back of this section, and two blowing in, one from side one from front. Also have extra fans around the southbridge and video card. Everything is "warm" to the touch but nothing near what I have heard about people burning their fingers. (I'm looking at around 40c< on average.

Remember, wood, metal, clay, plastic, they are all moldable and adaptable, take what you have at your hands and use it. See a problem, MAKE a solution, you will find yourself modifying everything you use!

mlcaouette · Jan 11, 2015

Well I wouldn't recommend overclocking with no VRM cooling. What you could do is add some ram sinks to the VRM and a small fan to provide some active cooling. See this page for the ram sinks: http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/memandvidcar.html

Also Mattz those white things you saw are called thermal pads they are commonly used on VRM's and on gpu ram and gpu vrm circuitry. I would never use glue and paste in the place of a thermal pad! The thermal conductivity of glue is likely horrible. You can purchase thermal pads at any PC water cooling outlet. Last thing, they use thermal pads instead of paste to eliminate the possibility of over pasting and shorting out the board.

mattz101783 · Jan 11, 2015

mlcaouette :

Right, I understand what the LONG gray piece of double sided thermal tape is. Also I know it does not transfer heat nearly as effectively as say thermal adhesive.

high dollar electronics do not use a strip of grey thermal tape, that is the cheap way to go. Similar to replacing the thermal paste on the SB from that pink junk.

Thanks tho

ALSO, not GLUE, high grade epoxy that is mixed 50 percent with thermal paste. Try it and let me know what works better, 2mm thick sponge looking (in your hand you can feel that it is almost an insulator.) or actual high dollar thermal paste with a little adhesive mixed in (not glue) you will find on overclock.net that this is a widely used method. You can also use JB weld epoxy but the small amount I used and the rating on the epoxy I used was perfect.

mattz101783 · Jan 11, 2015

mlcaouette :

In direct reply to you, have you held the tape that ASUS uses on their VRM heatsink? Pull it off your board when you upgrade, if I had a whole roll large enough I could wrap it around the water pipes that keep freezing in the winter and it WOULD keep them warm! Trust me, I've physically felt how much heat that the heatsink was pulling before and after changing this. The thermal tape was thick and spongy which means there are pockets of air in the material which makes it insulate. The ONLY reason this works on the motherboard which HAS a VRM heatsink is that there are holes drilled and springs crushing the tape to nothing therefore the air pockets are flattened. If you can't apply a good amount of pressure continuously when using the stock asus thermal paste then it will not be removing heat it will be insulating.

mlcaouette · Jan 11, 2015

Interesting method, although you have no need to get defensive. I was simply explaining what thermal pads were because of the wording you used made it sound like you didn't know what it was. I an curious though have you ever removed your thermal paste/epoxy mix?

And to quote you the product is called "gorilla glue epoxy" hence where I got the glue from.

Typing words in all caps is also against the forum rules.

mattz101783 · Jan 11, 2015

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mattz101783 · Jan 11, 2015

As you can see, on the LE version 1r2 and caps are every other instead of 1R2line then between processor is the caps. I had to take a small "guitar file" (1/4 inch wide curved on one side but flat on the other) so it would fit between the two rows and sit on the mosfet. I also had to remove both of the extensions that had the holes for the previous spring loded quick lock screws AND still at the bottom had to make room for another cap.

You can see on the close-up picture where I have dabbed a little on top which contacts the side of the heatsink to keep it from moving.

On the last picture you see what looks like mosfets that are out of line, one or two are but for chassis fans and the others are voltage regulators I believe, I have not researched this for the main power issue is with the main-line mosfets that supply power for the processor.

Pretty neat eh?

mlcaouette · Jan 11, 2015

I appreciate the amount of detail that you put into your response and I just might use what I learned from you in the future. I'm all for thinking outside the box and extreme cooling! Also Mattz I would like to invite you to critique/follow my builds if you'd like (the logs are linked in my signature). It's great to see someone who will take the time to explain and demonstrate their knowledge rather than just regurgitate generic responses.

Learn something new everyday!

Anyways I won't Hijack anymore of the OP's thread here since I think we can all agree that he or she should have some form of VRM cooling if they want to overclock.

mattz101783 · Jan 11, 2015

As you can see here, the cooling methods previously had a little more time spent on design/function. I may use the old board to build&donate the PC to someone. (It has a phenom 550black edition x2 unlocked to x4 and OC to 3.9 from 3.1.

If not, I want the large heatsink you see there, nearly doubles it in size, its thinner possibly less weight but more room for air to move and wick the temperature away!

mattz101783 · Jan 11, 2015

mlcaouette :

I will most definitely check into what you have going on. Have been sick for a while (haven't been able to digest solid food for a year) Combined Immunodeficiency Disease, so I have a lot of time on my hands and these hands do not enjoy to be idle hands!

Interestingly enough, someone I meet that the relationship starts with a little debating (I dont like to call it arguing) usually turn out to be great long term friends! Glad I met you, I've been doing more research myself, at first I didn't think of how tightly that double sided thermal tape was pressed and most likely did pull some heat. It just suprised me I rolled it into a ball and it was not compared to a "putty" but more like medical waterproof foam tape.! It had me wondering, "should i take that huge 3-fan R9 amd video card and upgrade the thermal paste on it also??!! Man these companies want to skim on every penny they can!

mlcaouette · Jan 11, 2015

mattz101783 :

Glad to have met you as well! Don't even get me started on GPU's when I took the stock cooler off my old gtx 470 there was so much thermal paste on the GPU, there was no wonder why the stock cooler was ramping up to jet engine noise constantly!

That old M/B looks like the same model that I used in my second ever build, yeah it was in a raidmax case with one of their garbage power supplies...we all had to learn somehow right

mattz101783 · Jan 11, 2015

So true! m4a87-ed evo-v or something haha, been so long! That motherboard was a trooper, it's still going, people always told me overclocking would fry my processor yet that one had a quite large overclock and never died. Still works 12 years later!

Question, I tried to click on my profile how to update my build and nothing came up to fill out or type.

mlcaouette · Jan 11, 2015

If you click on your name at the top right of the screen, then manage profile, and then the personal info tab on the left of the screen you should be able to add your build details and what not. The setup here isn't quite as fluid as the overclock.net one but it works. I use Tom's more cause there isn't as big of a user base compared to OCN so it is easier to stay caught up on threads.

That motherboard was solid, a prime example of what the mid range budget boards should be like today.

mattz101783 · Jan 11, 2015

I started in with overclock.net when I was 16yrs old. 15yrs ago, they were rude at first. There was no asking "can someone help explain this so its easier to understand." The reply would be "Look it up, were not here to spoon feed you" even though there is so much crap it takes hours to find an answer to a simple question, when in reality starting that question would usually snowball into others learning and teaching. Also having fun and making friends instead of reading a "sticky" guide by yourself with no real conversation!

Overclocking AMD FX-6350 with Asus M5A97 le r2.0 VRM problem

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