Best way to cool Asus M5A88-M motherboard

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fasteddy80

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Dec 18, 2012
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10,510
Here are specs:

Asus M5A88-M board
FX-8120 @ 4.0GHz
CM Hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler
12GB Crucial DDR3 1333 RAM
Kingston 120GB SSD
WD Green 2TB drive
WD Green 3TB drive
LG Blu-ray drive
4x CM 120mm 1200rpm 44.73cfm case fans
MSI Twin Frozr III HD7950 Boost @ 1100MHz, memory @ 1350MHz
CM N400 Mid case
Cheap Coolmax CL-700B 700w PSU

So here's the deal. I built this back when FX series came out. Sad that Bulldozer was a failure. Anyways, been an ok pc for gaming so far. Although newer games seem to struggle @ 1080P max or high settings. I do understand certain games prefer Intel, Nvidia, AMD, but I want to hold off until late 2015 or late 2016 to do a complete pc upgrade. What I want to accomplish is possible higher overclock with 8120 (get watercooler if needed). When I push it to beyond 4GHz, my whole pc heats up bad. Could almost light a cig from it (sarcasm obviously). Im looking into the R9 380x or 390x for a GPU upgrade soon but want to try and keep CPU and motherboard the same until a whole system upgrade. I also am looking at getting a used R9 290x that will last me until maybe 2016. I just want to wait for a system overhaul until ddr4 gets better and cheaper and better technologies come. Sorry to confuse, but is there a great way to keep my motherboard cool while pushing higher speeds on CPU, are new GPU's going to bottleneck from 8120, should I opt to upgrading to 8350 or 8370 for time being, or am I just eff'd from the get-go? BTW, I did do a Valley and 3DMark benchmark and I noticed my score on extreme was terribly low. I mean, LOW. I did buy GPU used off eBay. Any advice is great advice. Anything I missed please ask. Thanks community


 
Solution
Zircoben
Something is wrong. Your 212 EVO is a far better cooler than that. I would open up your computer and take off the 212 EVO, clean off the old paste with isopropyl alcohol, and reseat it with new thermal paste. A 212 EVO should be able to keep even an overclocked FX-8xxx below 40C at idle.
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Zircoben

Zircoben

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You should be able to EASILY get through 1080p games with a 7950. I wonder if your CPU is throttling.

Your CPU honestly is a pretty terrible CPU, but it still should provide playable frames at 1080p on Ultra settings.

Download HWMonitor (http://www.cpuid.com/downloads/hwmonitor/hwmonitor_1.26.exe) and tell me what your CPU and GPU temps are.

Hope I can help :)
 
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fasteddy80

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Dec 18, 2012
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Yeah I know the 8120 is terrible. I'm just trying to limp it till an upgrade. I did also try HWMonitor and it gave me pretty much the same results to MSI Afterburner and AMD Overdrive. I did overclock in BIOS, not Overdrive. Idle temps are around 30c, I have seen it jump to 73c during gaming. My vcore is 1.2875. Usually only 1 core is maxed out. GPU always runs at 100% and jumps to 90c pretty fast, within 5mins of gameplay of like Dying Light, Advanced Warfare, and so on. I will do a GPU bench to get a result and post. I did reference it towards others and am getting around HD7700 results. Honestly, my old 2GB HD7850 seemed faster. Thanks for the responce
 
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fasteddy80

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Dec 18, 2012
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10,510


Just did 3DMark 11 bench. Scored X2336. I've seen people with my setup WELL past that. Am I missing something? All I really want to do is limp this ol girl till 2016 or so.
 
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fasteddy80

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Dec 18, 2012
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Yeah, after I initially benched it and saw low scores, I lowered the speed in BIOS which in turn lowered vcore. My score remained within 30 points if I remember. Sorry. I do notice that after an overclock on CPU things tend to slow down during heavy use. Also, after clocking down to stock, regular apps run better, but games lag slightly. IDK, maybe in my head. I did read on Tom's that my Mobo isn't the best for overclocking. Plus, shouldn't the 212 keep CPU better cooled? What is everyone's opinion on how to limp this until 2016? Would 290x, or new 380x, 390x, bottleneck? Should I jump to a cheap 8350 or somewhere in between? Throw on water cooler? Upgrade mobo? I don't want to spend too much and then upgrade the whole system. Again, thanks to all you guys gals out there that make this sight the best

Update.
Sorry, read your response too quickly. Under gaming, I have seen my GPU clocks stay flat lined during gaming. I have Afterburner on my other screen and GPU and GPU ram speeds stay the same. Only thing that goes up is temp. So I guessed that its not throttling down. Am I wrong? Again thanks
 
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fasteddy80

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Dec 18, 2012
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10,510


Sorry Zircoben, been away for a bit. I did do another launch of HWMonitor and I just noticed that I have 2 DIFFERENT temps showing for my CPU. One is directly under all my voltage readouts, shows CPU and Mainboard. CPU there shows 54c. Now this is idle. Go down a bit under FX-8120 and it shows temps and power usage. There is shows 35c. That's the reading I get from AMD overdrive and MSI Afterburner. So the excessive heat isn't caused by my motherboard? Only reason asking is because I read my motherboard isn't the best for overclocking. Could it be the 212 isn't doing the job? Thanks for the input
 
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Zircoben

Zircoben

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Hi, sorry ive been busy. Yeah, there are generally multiple CPU temperature sensors, usually there is one further down on the page with a temperature for each CPU core, and then one above that is the "socket temp" or the temperature read by the motherboard near the CPU socket on the motherboard. What does HWMonitor report as your GPU temp?

Your can tell if your 212 is doing a good enough job if it keeps your CPU below 65C at load on a light overclock.
 
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fasteddy80

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Dec 18, 2012
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10,510


Honestly as of writing this, I see CPU "socket" temps at 51c. That's idle. I would assume the 212 not doing the job properly. My GPU temp on HWMonitor is 50c idle. So here's my original question, I want to limp this pc until late this year or 2016. Im willing to get a decent watercooler for CPU. I also want the ability to overclock my 8120 more without failing VRMS on my motherboard. Would a watercooler allow an OC to say 4.5 or beyond? Should I get those glue-on coolers for my motherboard? I do plan on upgrading GPU soon, and want to OC 8120 more. Im worried about heat and if motherboard can do it. Whats your thoughts? Gladly open to criticism also. Im still learning
 
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Zircoben

Zircoben

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Something is wrong. Your 212 EVO is a far better cooler than that. I would open up your computer and take off the 212 EVO, clean off the old paste with isopropyl alcohol, and reseat it with new thermal paste. A 212 EVO should be able to keep even an overclocked FX-8xxx below 40C at idle.
 
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