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Bulldozer FX-6200 suddenly spiking in temp at light load?

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Hi All,

I have a Bulldozer FX-6200.

It runs fine, boots as normal before idling around 17-21 degrees Celsius. I can do general tasks like listening to music or browsing some forums, It still stays around 20.

Now, I have had issues lately that have lead to a reinstall of windows, be assured I have all the necessary drivers to run my hardware installed.

Due to having a fresh install, my only way to put any strain on my CPU is using Prime95. I run the default test and after around 2-5 seconds it's has rocketed to about 40-45 Celsius, before increasing at a rate of about 1 degree a second before hitting 60 degrees and either crashing or rebooting.

I have so far ran all tests on my hard drives and ram and all have come back clear.

I have also re applied high quality thermal paste following proper procedure, which actually dropped idle by about 2 degrees to 17.

I have two main suspicions about the fault here. Firstly, my power supply can certainly handle the power as it is 500W and my GPU is only a GTS 250 green. However, with my new motherboard (Gigabyte 990XA-UD3) it requires an 8-pin 12V power cable in addition to the 24-pin. My power supply only has a 4-pin. I have browsed the net but people say its not much of an issue.

My other suspicion is that my temperatures at idle jump every 5-10 seconds for 1-2 seconds to about 27-35 degrees, it then shoots back down and continues the cycle. My gripe there is the contact between the heat sink and CPU. But I absolutely know the paste is applied appropriately.

I have not overclocked at all, I have the latest BIOS and drivers, and have tried all settings changes in BIOS, seriously, all of them. I am using a stock AMD heat sink supplied with the CPU.

Any help appreciated, even just ideas!

Thanks in advance!!!

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CPUs Authority

I don't see anything to untoward, Prime95 tests are torture tests and that Chip runs high voltage and clocks already. Considering a stock cooler is only an adequate source of cooling it wouldn't take long in a stress test to ramp your temperatures up.

I could say that maybe you can turn off boost features and manually throttle your voltage down to the lowers vCore at reference clocks which are stable. You may want to invest in a cooling solution as well to ensure you don't hit thermal walls. Other than that I will suggest you lay off the torture tests as the word implies they will increase stress on your system, the result is heat.

I appreciate your solution. I am looking to get anew premium cooler eventually.

My only issue is that I see people using prime95 on overclocked CPU's and I'm sure some are even using stock coolers as well?

Surely mine should be able to handle one at stock speeds in a fairy cool environment? Also, surely the fact it rises so fast is an indication I will have crashes when I'm under load just doing the tasks it should deal with?

Thanks again for the response, appreciate it.
CPUs Expert

Looks like there is something wrong with the temps here. Which tool do you use to monitor the temps? When I use HWINFO64 on my FX8150 it shows around 12°C for the cores, what is definitely wrong. Core temp can not be below my room temp without Peltier-Element or nitrogen cooling. More important is the temp that is used for the fan control. If you for example set the max temp to 60°C in bios, it will switch of at that temp. The CPU in fact can go up to 80°C, but you should see the fan spin at max speed then.
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CPUs Master

Do you live at the north pole? Alaska?

For your cpu to idle at 17c (62f) your room must be around 10-12c LOL
How is your case situated, it could be a fresh air issue where the air int he case isn't able to get out and no cool air is able to get in and cool the cpu.
Fans in front, bottom, and sides should be blowing in. Rear and top blow out. is the general rule I follow. If you get a tower style cpu cooler, make sure its fan is blowing towards one of the exhaust fans.

It might also be a case where the stock cooler isnt getting enough pressure down on the cpu, adjust the lever to where it feels tightest. I have 1 in my house where straight up is tighter than down in the locked position.

Lastly how sure are you that you didnt use too much theremal paste? Too much acts like a blanket and traps heat in the cpu. You just need a bb sized drop.
CPUs Authority

If you are running a blend test your temps will raise rather quickly on a stock cooler. I had tested a stock fan with a 1100T at stock clocks no turbo and the temps were roughly 33~49 degrees, using a H40 in Push/Pull the temps dropped to ambient~40. Still in a burn test the temps will reach 50+ but obviously a lot slower.

Highend coolers like H80's, 920's, H100's, DH14's you see superior performance.

I have 1x120mm intake fan in the front bottom of my case, I have 2x 80mm exhaust fans at the rear top of my case. I have an 18cm exhaust side fan also, should this be adequate cooling?

Are you suggesting I need an after market cooler to run Prime95 even at stock speed? Seems a bit crazy?

Also, are you suggesting if I put my pc under normal load (Games etc, no stress tests) it will be fine and not crash?


Thanks again keep the replies coming!

Jimzoaar said:
Hi All,

I have a Bulldozer FX-6200.

It runs fine, boots as normal before idling around 17-21 degrees Celsius. I can do general tasks like listening to music or browsing some forums, It still stays around 20.

Now, I have had issues lately that have lead to a reinstall of windows, be assured I have all the necessary drivers to run my hardware installed.

Due to having a fresh install, my only way to put any strain on my CPU is using Prime95. I run the default test and after around 2-5 seconds it's has rocketed to about 40-45 Celsius, before increasing at a rate of about 1 degree a second before hitting 60 degrees and either crashing or rebooting.

I have so far ran all tests on my hard drives and ram and all have come back clear.

I have also re applied high quality thermal paste following proper procedure, which actually dropped idle by about 2 degrees to 17.

I have two main suspicions about the fault here. Firstly, my power supply can certainly handle the power as it is 500W and my GPU is only a GTS 250 green. However, with my new motherboard (Gigabyte 990XA-UD3) it requires an 8-pin 12V power cable in addition to the 24-pin. My power supply only has a 4-pin. I have browsed the net but people say its not much of an issue.

My other suspicion is that my temperatures at idle jump every 5-10 seconds for 1-2 seconds to about 27-35 degrees, it then shoots back down and continues the cycle. My gripe there is the contact between the heat sink and CPU. But I absolutely know the paste is applied appropriately.

I have not overclocked at all, I have the latest BIOS and drivers, and have tried all settings changes in BIOS, seriously, all of them. I am using a stock AMD heat sink supplied with the CPU.

Any help appreciated, even just ideas!

Thanks in advance!!!


the jump i'm pretty sure is the turbo on the fx kicking in, mine does it have no problems not sure about your other problems though.

i have the same board as you and am currently using the fx6100 at 95w the reason is because it happened to me i tried to install the fx 8150 which is 125w the same as the fx 6200 maybe you need more cooling i put two extra fans inside 1.air in 2. air out i have not installed it yet but the first time i did i sent the chip back thinking it was faulty because of the heat issues the sudden spikes in temps are NORMAL that's the turbo of the fx model's kicking in don't worry

Okay I see where your coming from, but should it really have a a very good idle temp of around 17 degrees and then rocket up within milliseconds just because I load a web page?

My issue is not with temps as stated above, 17 is fine. But my old Athlon II X3 never fluctuated so rapidly in the same case, it stayed between 27-45 but always went up one degree at a time as opposed to 10 degrees on a matter of milliseconds.

Please keep helping guys or I've blown half my wages on a CPU/mobo that doesn't work.

Thanks again.
CPUs Authority

Those 6200 are running at 4-4.2ghz at more power essentially factory overclocked. What is your vCore at stock? If you are running a vCore around 1.4v as decent as AMD stock fans are, 4.2ghz is a lot. Prime95 is essential then stress testing a overclocked 6100 putting maximum stress on you chip and because the stock fan is unable to dissipate that heat over distance and fast you are spiking in temps.

BTW is your ambient 17 degrees? if not if its hotter then your chip will run at very least ambient unless you are using; superior custom loop water cooling with something like 2 quadruple rads possibly more, or you are using phase changers or LN2. I for one live in a hot country, today is 30 degrees....realtemp and HWMonitor say my Cores are running at 22 degrees.....Asus ROG probe utilities show 32 degrees, the later is correct.

Hi All,

Firstly many thanks for your responses.

An update: Im now at a point where everything seems to function as normal. Although Prime95 only runs for a few minutes this is expected right?

The only issue is I get random crashes. There is no correlation between the temps/load and these crashes, it can be when its been doing nothing for 4 hours, or playing a game for 20 mins.

Can anyone please confirm all drivers that I require for the above Mobo/CPU.
I have ran Memtest86+ with many passes. I have ran chkdsk around 5 times and passed fine everytime. My hard drive and RAM are fine.

I will highlight the issue I suspected earlier about the PSU only having a 4 pin ATX as opposed to the motherboards 8 pin, could this be the issue?

Temps are still a little flaky, jumping anywhere between 17-38 celsius at idle.

I will install Asus ROG probe and see what my temps are with that.

Please bare in mind I have been staring at my temps until it crashes and sometimes it crashes on as low as 22 celsius.

Please advise any other suggestions guys!

Thanks in advance.

Hi Guys,

I have email CCLOnline support to see about a replacement as I am reading it could be the board.

Can someone please categorically rule out the possibility that this fault is due to only having a 4pin atx plugged into an 8 pin socket on my mobo?

Many thanks guys!!!
CPUs Authority

Possibly, if you are plugging in less power, you do need power to run consistently higher clocks, but in that it would be the PSU giving off more heat not the motherboard or processor. That said it is pefectly capable of taking 4pin instead of 8pin.

What PSU are you using?

I am working now and cant remember perfectly but im certain its a CIT 500W.

Definitely 500W, around 380W on 12V rails.

Also, graphics card is the Nvidia GTS 250 1GB green edition, which I know consumes very little power.

Beyond this I have 2x 2GB DDR III 1333Mhz RAM and 2 standard SATA 7200rpm disk drives.(Or 1 HDD and 1 ODD)

That is all I have plugged in, should there be any issues with power?
CPUs Master

Jimzoaar said:
I am working now and cant remember perfectly but im certain its a CIT 500W.

Definitely 500W, around 380W on 12V rails.

Also, graphics card is the Nvidia GTS 250 1GB green edition, which I know consumes very little power.

Beyond this I have 2x 2GB DDR III 1333Mhz RAM and 2 standard SATA 7200rpm disk drives.(Or 1 HDD and 1 ODD)

That is all I have plugged in, should there be any issues with power?

:non:  Horrible PSU!
CPUs Authority

As to heat on the chip, that doesn't seem that abnormal for a FX chip knowing that they have abnormal boost frequencies and core loadings and parkings, but that can be fixed on a up to date bios flash and windows update. It is however rare but possible for a cheap PSU to stress the VRM's on the motherboard so much so your CPU will in turn be affected as it tries to draw the power needed to run at its clocks.

In short a cheap PSU has higher failure rates and a good PSU, it also can result in damaged components by not supplying the constant power needed due to its cheaper build quality.

I don't believe your chip is a problem, that can easily be deduced by taking it in to test on the vendors test beds likely using a good PSU. As for the temps they are not really abnormal for a FX but fluctuations can suggest it is trying to draw overpower/current to maintain its clocks.

Thanks for your help sarinaide.

I am trying to get a replacement as we speak but, if this was your machine, what would you do and what would you think the fault was?

Many thanks again, very much appreciated.
CPUs Authority

Well I would have it tested using a better build quality Powersupply even a cheap Coolermaster GX500 Bronze is of a quality that can safely run a gaming spec system. Most of us on Toms Hardware pay particular due diligence to PSU's in our build, its not quantity thats relevent its build quality factoring in the capacity needed for each user.

If I am diagnosing, I don't really see anything on the chip itself that is abnormal, normally a defective chip will not boot out the box or will hit the thermal wall quickly and fail thereafter but thats not something that is going to happen over long time periods, its defect will cause it to go quickly. Motherboards defective capacitors again the chances of it working out the box or for any period of time without failing is minimal. A PSU on the other hand, the unit may just have enough power but its not just a issue of power, you have efficiency, you have ripple which may result in you running the PSU in OVP state, if its a cheap unit it will fail quickly the result can either be catastrophic or nothings but a fizzled unit.

Just check your PSU specifications and give the +12v rail(s) readings and the said output, I have a feeling you are running very close to the 300w limit, which that unit is struggling to cope with.

Ye seems like the most reasonable explanation.

I am working at the moment but will post the requested details when I'm home.

I will be buying the PSU in 2 weeks from today anyway but would like to get it working before then if possible.

Just a side note, last night, excluding when I tested the RAM (by taking out 1 stick at a time and running prime95), my PC didnt crash at all, not once, ran fine.

So maybe its okay besides under huge load?

I still dont have faith though, I have limited all the CPU's clock's to standard so no turbo mode etc which dropped temps by around 5 celsius and made it feel more stable. But it still doesnt feel right, i know it sounds ridiculous but the performance of the processor just feels like its not getting the power it requires. does that make sense?
CPUs Authority

Being a very electrical dependant component which is largely reliant upon the rest of the components, yes starving it of the power needed to hold its clocks can lead to poor performance, but also it can lead to damage itself overtime. If the motherboard cannot feed it the right power to run its clocks it will likely damage the chip itself in some way be it thermal degredation or a damaged IMC.

Just a laymans run down, you have a threshold depending on the clockspeed, your CPU needs to transition beyond that threshold and back by moving from Zero volt to vCore and back, if it cannot get the right power to transition beyond the threshold you likely have poor performance that is if you can even boot up.

Best test, take your system in, tell them the symptoms, tell them to test it on a better PSU and see if they get better results. If that is the case then you can deduce very quickly whether its the PSU or Mobo/CPU which is at fault.
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