AMD FX 6300 overclocking to 4.0 worth it?

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BattleX100

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Hi. I am a new to the world of PC gaming and also a newbie member here, so apologize for my very limited knowledge.

I have an Fx 6300 which I want to overclock and noticed a lot of guides who overclocked it up to 4.0ghz. But isn't this a waste since the processor already has turbo to 4.1ghz(on stock settings) and limiting it to 4.0 would rather be underclocking it? I might have understood overclocking or turbo boost wrong. Please help me out with this question.
 
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CTurbo
The FX6300's base clock speed is 3.5ghz. It has two turbo speeds of 4.1ghz when only 2 cores are needed, and 3.8ghz when all 6 cores are needed. Setting all 6 cores to 4.0ghz would yield a small advantage. Of course you could just overclock it a tad more to 4.1 or 4.2ghz if possible to remove all doubt.

What cooler and motherboard are you using?
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CTurbo

CTurbo

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The FX6300's base clock speed is 3.5ghz. It has two turbo speeds of 4.1ghz when only 2 cores are needed, and 3.8ghz when all 6 cores are needed. Setting all 6 cores to 4.0ghz would yield a small advantage. Of course you could just overclock it a tad more to 4.1 or 4.2ghz if possible to remove all doubt.

What cooler and motherboard are you using?
 
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BattleX100

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Thank you for your valuable replies. It seems like the turbo works only on 1 or 2 cores and not all of them. But why does AMD fail to state this on their official website?

Also while overclocking, is increasing the voltage a 'hit and trial' thing or do I have to somehow calculate how much voltage is to be increased based on the multipliers? For now I have only been doing it in AMD Overdrive since it reverts back to stock settings when my PC becomes unstable and shuts down. Would the same thing happen when overclocking in BIOS?

Currently I am only on the stock cooler and Gigabyte GA-78lmt-usb3 motherboard. I understand that these are not the ideal parts to be overclocking a processor, but I do not plan to go any further than 4.0ghz for now and only trying to understand how overclocking works. Also please let me know why this motherboard is not considered to be good for overclocking and what things should I look out for when selecting an ideal overclocking motherboard?
 
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CTurbo

CTurbo

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Don't increase the voltage on that motherboard. It will throttle your FX hard. I recommend skipping on overclocking. That motherboard lacks the capability to keep itself cool under a lot of power and will overheat easily. It, and every other bottom of the line 780 series AM3+ motherboards are not very good. Most of the 970 series AM3+ motherboards are not very good either. It's a shame that AMD did not fix this. Most AM3+ boards can't even fully support the 125w FX cpus like the FX8350 even though they claim to support them. That is practically false advertisement IMO.

Forget overclocking. Get yourself an i3 and enjoy the extra performance.
 
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BattleX100

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I chose the Fx 6300 over i3 6100 because
- I wanted to learn overclocking and AMD seems a much better option for that since they are unlocked.
- The Intel processor + motherboard combo was more expensive.
- The Fx when overclocked would perform almost the same.
- I work on virtual machines a lot apart from gaming and more cores seemed to have an advantage.

Would an Msi 970a-g46 be a better motherboard as compared to the gigabyte one? What things make one motherboard better than other for overclocking?
 
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CTurbo

CTurbo

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Overclocking can be a fun hobby I guess, but it's not overly useful these days.

An i3 + motherboard is not any more expensive than a FX6300 + motherboard

An overclocked FX6300 will perform almost the same as an i3 but for a LOT more money.

The MSI 970A-G46 is not very good either.
 
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BattleX100

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I agree that Intel processors are superior to AMD but they don't suit my taste as per my requirements. The Intel sure is more expensive at least here in Canada. Also my power bill stays static no matter how much I use so doesn't make any difference in prices there. Anyway I want to stick to my current build, what should I keep in mind when looking for an overclocking motherboard?
 
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CTurbo

CTurbo

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Intel is NOT more expensive in any country.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($136.55 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970-Gaming ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($99.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $236.54
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-05 22:36 EDT-0400

vs

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($154.98 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($74.00 @ Vuugo)
Total: $228.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-05 22:39 EDT-0400


I seriously don't understand why people keep thinking that.
 
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BattleX100

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Due to my limited budget I bought this (http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/Z8TBmG) which is definitely cheaper than Intel. I can keep the other motherboard as an option for future upgrade as opposed to spending all my money at once on Intel. Even if Intel was/is cheaper, I would still go for AMD as more cores suites me better for the functions I need in my computer. Please keep in mind that this is my personal preference. Let's stick to the topic and not make this an Intel vs AMD thing.

I'm really curious to know what makes the Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P a better overclocking motherboard as compared to the one I have or the Msi board as previously mentioned.
 
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BattleX100

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Thanks a lot, much appreciated! I'll keep that in mind and try to find more similar boards and see which one goes on sale.
 
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