AMD FX-6300 and GTX 1060 3GB: Severe bottleneck or no?

Jagwar8 · Apr 22, 2017

Hi all,
I just have a quick question (and it may be too late to ask this lol) but will my AMD FX-6300 hinder my EVGA GTX 1060 3gb OC by a large amount? I plan on not OC'ing the CPU unless it's by a small amount since I have the stock processor. My most intensive games will probably be Shadow of Mordor, Skyrim and other games of that ilk. If it's just a few fps difference, then it doesn't matter, but otherwise... Any help would be greatly appreciated!

tanckattb · Apr 22, 2017

From my knowledge, the some of the Low end FX CPUs really do bottleneck some newer graphics cards. One of them being the GTX 1060 3GB.

If you're building a new pc keeping a budget in your mind, I do recommend you getting an i3-7100 or a pentium ( the pentium might bottleneck your 1060 as well) . The FX cpus really are outdated.

Why it bottlenecks? What really causes the bottleneck is the cpu already maxing out its usage. This limits the graphics card from achieving its max potential, and overclocking the card wouldn't give any boost in performance (if not small).

Jagwar8 · Apr 22, 2017

I mean, as long as it isn't too much of a bottleneck, it isn't much of an issue. If it's even 10 or so fps drop I don't mind, however if it is large then I have a problem.

kgt1182 · May 12, 2017

One of my sig. builds run an RX 480 with the FX 4350. If you are targeting for 1080p 60 FPS, that CPU may not be up to the task unless you overclock heavily.

You may need to OC heavily if you dont plan to change your gear. I recommend Arctic Freezer 13/Cooler Master Nepton 280L.

This is because AMD FX CPUs have low IPC for its clock rate, and combined with the relatively low 3.5 GHz stock clock of the FX 6300 yields low single thread performance. It should do 40-70 FPS.

However, if you want smooth 60FPS minimums,
you either have to go Intel, go AMD Ryzen (new board and RAM) or OC. A 4.7-4.8 GHz OC on the FX 6300 would easily net you good 60 FPS minimums.)

Also, games are GPU intensive. That GTX 1060 will definitely be bottlenecked with framerate losses of up to 50% at 1080p (40-70 vs 110-130 , but the framerate difference will not be hugely noticeable unless you have a 120Hz+ monitor)

The stock cooler could get you to 4.1-4.2 GHz, which would ease some of the bottleneck.

EDIT: I assume you already have your gear, so lets get down to overclocking business.

My recommended OC settings:

Stock cooler @4.2 GHz (Free)
BCLK:200.00MHz, Multi: 21.0x
VCore: 1.30000V

Freezer 13 @4.6 GHz (US$20)
BCLK:200.00MHz Multi:23.0x
VCore: 1.45000V

Nepton 280L@4.8 GHz (US$100)
BCLK:200.00MHz Multi:24.0x
VCore: 1.55000V

Your results may vary, these worked for my FX 4350 which net me 4.4, 4.7 and 4.9 GHz respectively. 100 IBT AVX High Passes stable, under 70°C maximum temperature.

Given your CPU is a 6 core CPU, I adjusted the voltage and clocks to a lower value.

Jagwar8 · May 12, 2017

kgt1182 :

I currently have my cpu running at 3.6 ghz and get around 60 fps on 1080p on most games (with a few drops) but my gpu can never go above 60%. I don't know whether my stock cooler is defective or what, but it runs LOUD as all heck and around 3000 rpm under load and at 45°C idle and 60°C under load. I'm not sure whether the stock cooler could handle an oc of that ilk since when I tried overclocking it to 4.2, it sounded like a jet engine taking off and was running 60°C idle. So either I have to get a new cooler or risk it for some extra frames.

jeffredo · May 12, 2017

About the highest GPU you can go without a fairly big bottleneck is a GTX 1050 Ti or GTX 960.

kgt1182 · May 15, 2017

@Jagwar8
Your stock cooler is not defective, its just not very effective in removing all that heat. FX CPUs run "hot" they release a lot of heat and yet needs to be cooled to 60-70°C.

I recommend you to use a voltage of 1.25000V and 4.0 GHz in the meantime on the stock cooler. That would keep you in thermal limits. (tested)

If you are willing to spend some money (a little) get yourself an AM3+ CPU air cooler which can get you another 10-15% more performance up to ~4.7GHz and yet run much quieter as it uses a larger fan than a 60mm one which needs less rpm to move the same amount of air.

But if you dont want to buy a cooler but still reach 4.2 GHz, you may need to try some other voltages.
Start at 1.25000V, 4.2GHz and up the voltages until stable. What is your stress testing tool? What are the voltages you use for 4.2 GHz?

EDIT: Mileage may vary. If you lose the silicon lottery you would get results like madmatt30 below. If you win you could get a chip that does 5.25 GHz on air@ 1.45V like SR71 Blackbird.

An average chip would do 4.1-4.3 GHz on 1.25V. 4 GHz at 1.25V is guaranteed to 6σ.

madmatt30 · May 15, 2017

You can't just drop a voltage & clock speed in & expect it to work.
Its going to depend on the board & the chip itself.
If its running on a cheap 4 phase board its going to need more voltage to do anything past stock not less.
4ghz at 1.25v would require a golden chip when the stock 6300 voltage is 1.32v

What is your actual motherboard model ??
You really do want to grab a cheap aftermarket cooler , something like the gammaxx 300 is less than $20 , simple to fit & will let you push 4.2/4.3ghz which is where you'll get withouti upping voltages too much .

That'll push a 1060 3gb fine IMO.

& a little tip for fx build which aren't heavily overclocked - set your desktop to 50htz.
That'll lock your max fps at 50 with adaptive vsync enabled - any drops below that then will be far far less noticeable.

Jagwar8 · May 15, 2017

My exact mobo is the MSI 990FXA Gaming motherboard. Currently I am running my CPU @ 1.225v (stock) and at 3.6 ghz. I use a mix of HWMonitor, MSI Afterburner and my BIOS to monitor temps. When OC'ing to 4.1 ghz on stock, by looking at the BIOS I see it running @ 60 c (while as idle as it gets). Currently, however, I get the low 50's max temps. The reason why I have hesitated to OC further (although I could probably get away with AT LEAST 3.8 ghz) is because AMD's max recommended socket temp is 62 C and it would go well over that under load if I OC'd to 4.0.

madmatt30 · May 16, 2017

So you've got a great motherboard , a good GPU & a average CPU.

I do agree with kgt1182 now , on a gigabyte board these CPU's can overclock with very little extra voltage & likely a decrease.
I've run my 8350 @1.33v to 4.6ghz on a board like yours.

You should

1. Always test stability & temps by using amd overdrive & Intel burn test or prime.

http://www.amd.com/en-us/innovations/software-technologies/technologies-gaming/over-drive

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/intelburntest.html

The cpu status in overdrive shows all core frequencies & thermal margins.Run an Intel burn test & watch clocks (should be no bouncing around ) & thermal margins (these count down from tjmax so essentially anything above 0 is fine)

2. Use cpu-z to show correct CPU voltage under load (while the stress test is running) ,it'll likely be slightly higher than you expect.

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

3. Always,always disable turbocore function if overclocking

4. Buy yourself an aftermarket cooler mate honestly - the deepcool gammaxx is leas than $20 , it'll let you do 4.2/4.3ghz without a doubt with sub 60c temps. Comes with pre-applied paste, uses the stock and clip system & takes about 30 seconds to fit.

That clock speed is honestly what I'd consider optimal without pushing any excess voltage or temps.
I've been running a gtx 970 that way for near 3 years & performance in just about any game has been faultless.

Bear in mind what I said about setting desktop to 50htz & enabling adaptive vsync in the nvidia settings.

You will rarely see any fps drops this way & it tends to keep CPU & GPU temps cooler.
You will not tell the difference between 60htz & 50htz at all.

Once you've ascertained temps & stability while stress testing there is really no need to keep monitoring while gaming ,you will NEVER push those kind of loads or temps under a gaming session.

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