AMD FX-8350 Temperatures?

Twistedwheelbarrow

Honorable
Feb 19, 2013
39
0
10,540
I recently purchased this CPU as an upgrade to my AMD builds old 4100. I checked the idle temperatures and they are ranging between 25-40 doing nothing but obviously typing on this forum. Running it through Prime95 for 20 minutes gave me a stable 60 degrees. Are these temperatures normal?

I have some arctic paste which I have on my old CPU, but I'm being lazy and haven't applied it. Just curious if this is normal? (Stock CPU fan)
 
Temps are driven by volts <-- largely determined by your motherboard & BIOS

Some motherboards will 'throttle' voltage (and clocks) to keep temps down EVEN if you disable 'APM' core management functions in the BIOS. Additionally, some utilities are notoriously bad for reporting temps on AMD platforms incorrectly as AMD has specified the use of **thermal margin** in reporting CPU heat.

With all that said: What motherboard are you using at what volt settings? Are you using AMD OverDrive to determine the 'thermal margin' of your CPU?

 

Twistedwheelbarrow

Honorable
Feb 19, 2013
39
0
10,540
I think I'll see how it does after playing a game for a couple of hours so that the paste has some time to settle, then I might look into replacing the paste with the Arctic MX4 I have left from my last build. What temperatures are worrying for this CPU? The one I just replaced was a 4100 and I've been at home using my Intel build so I am no longer as familiar with AMD CPUs.
 

Silverbear

Honorable
Feb 24, 2015
593
0
11,360


That's a good idea. You don't have to be worried until it crosses the 80 degree range consistently. The processor won't become damaged until it crosses over the 100 degree threshold. But that said, it's good to keep it under 70 degrees to help the longevity of the processor

 

Twistedwheelbarrow

Honorable
Feb 19, 2013
39
0
10,540


I guess this is the best way of telling you?

 
Your temps are actually good for stock. If you want to improve them, you could go with an aftermarket cooler. Something like a CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO would be good and not too expensive.

If you're a tweaker / overclocker, see how low you can drop your voltages and still be stable at stock speeds. For example, My current FX 9590 is stable at 4.7GHz with just 1.325v. Temperatures plummet at lower voltages, and efficiency improves too.
 
I do not know if HWMonitor with the Asus 990FX Sabertooth accurately reports temps and volts. I also do not know if it 'throttles' clock speed and volts. That's why you use AMD OverDrive ...
amd_OD.jpg

At load, AMD OverDrive will accurately show individual core voltage and clock speed. You need to observe the individual cores and voltages and watch for sudden temporary decreases that 'bounce-back"

The thermal margin will, of course, decrease at load (become a 'lower thermal margin' negative number approaching zero). When the negative 'blue' turns into a positive 'red' you have exceeded a safe thermal margin.

There is a sticky on top of the forum explaining this :)


edit: What Mad Dog said -- you may drop your volts in -0.0125v increments while checking for stability and temps.

 

Twistedwheelbarrow

Honorable
Feb 19, 2013
39
0
10,540
Tried both of these. Currently just running a game. All three applications (HWMonitor, Overdrive, HWINFO) all report 35-40 degrees. The lowest seems to be overdrive with 30 but I'm fine with those temperatures now. I've had a maximum of 52 degrees over the last three hours, so I think it may have been paste although I did turn boost off in the BIOS.
 
Sounds good -- you likely have more thermal margin than show in the 'other utilities' ...

meaning, you can likely maintain the same clocks and reduce your voltage. Or, even with the stock cooler, bump your clock speed MHz (you may do so in '.5x' or '1x' bumps of the CPU multiplier. Test for temps and stability along the way.

Remember: If you do not disable Turbo, you are also adding '1x' to the single-core Turbo. I.E., 21x base CPU multi (or, 4.2GHz) becomes a Turbo'd 22x (4.4GHz) on a single core.

 
Overdrive's thermal margin is how much temperature range you have left until you hit the thermal limits - I believe that's around 72c now - so if it shows 30c it means your CPU has hit 52c.
You don't have to start worrying until you get down to 10c or so in overdrive - as stated your temps are very very good for the stock cooler anyway - you must have good case airflow/cooling?
 

Twistedwheelbarrow

Honorable
Feb 19, 2013
39
0
10,540
Yeah, the airflow isn't too bad in my case. I'm still running stock and overdrive is saying 40 on idle after quitting a game not long ago. 30-35 degrees in HWINFO now. I'll probably switch out for closed loop water cooling when I have some spare cash but if these temps are fine then it's alright with me.
 

TRENDING THREADS