A good cooler and overcloking

[thanasis3]

Hello, I would really appreciate if someone told me a good CPU cooler for my AMD FX 8120 3.1 ghz. I don't really want to spend much on cooling, so the price would be about 40-60 euros. My case is Asus Vento ta-m21 black, and I currently use the stock cooler that AMD provides with the CPU. I do not really care about the noice (dB), as long as it's really really cool and efficient on what it does.


After I do that, I would like to hear some suggestions on how should I overclock this CPU( mostly about frequency and what voltage would be fine). Btw the CPU is unlocked, so I can easily overclock it..

 

[fkabs]

I could highly recommend you the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo.
A lot of people use this cooler with FX CPUs, it performs pretty well and you get the most out of the price.

@Overclocking:
I wouldn't go higher than 3,5 GHz with air cooling on this CPU because the FX tend to get really high temps due to their power consumption.

You can easily achieve this clock by only increasing the CPU multiplier to get the 3,5 Ghz.

Always keep an eye on the temps (e.g. with HWMonitor).

The safe temps of your CPU are:
Core temp: 62° C
Socket temp: 70° C

Good luck, hope it helps!!!

 

[thanasis3]

Thanks a lot for the answer! However, what temps will I have with this CPU with full load and Turbo mode??Also, is there any accurate on-screen program that shows my CPU usage and CPU temps, so I can really test out my temperatures at high loads?? Also, is it worth sticking with stock without Overclocking??I mean, what is the difference in temps between stock and Hyper 212 Evo??

 

[fkabs]

In this case you overclock manually so I would disable the turbo mode.

With this CPU and the CM 212 cooler you should have idle temps about 20° C on the cores and 32° C on the socket, under 30min full load about 50° C on the cores and about 60° C on the socket (also depends on your case, your airflow and your motherboard).
I personally wouldn't go any higher than that with air cooling to be on the real safe side.
With higher frequencies you need more voltage and more power and FX CPUs get really high temps under this circumstances.

I recommend you to use "HWMonitor" from CPUID to read the CPU load and temps.
Unfortunately the AMD sensors are really crap and you will never get 100% accurate temp data, but the higher the temp gets, the accurater they are.

For stabilty tests I always use "Prime95". This tool uses all cores to calculate prime numbers (100% load) and after about 15min to 30min the temps at HWMonitor should be the highest ones with the set frequency.

You can consider the temps you get with Prime95 as your maximum because when you game or do something else, your CPU will never be under full load as it is under a Prime95 test.

Sure, you can also stick with the stock fan, but you will get higher temps and the AMD stock fans are real crap. They get really loud and sound like a jet turbine under higher loads.

 

[thanasis3]

Thanks a lot! I will order one from my local store. Is the voltage automatically adjusted or I will have to set it?

 

[fkabs]

If you work with slight CPU multiplier changes like in your case, auto settings for CPU and NB voltage will be fine.

Voltages only become more important on higher overclocking setups to get your CPU stable. I only recommend messing around with voltages when you have gathered some more experiences on overclocking because you can really damage your CPU. E.g. less voltage leads to instability and higher temps because the CPU is trying to get power that isn't set and available. Too high voltage can damage your CPU and your motherboard. The key is to find the best settings for your setup with good temp values and high stability.

As said you are fine with auto settings on voltages, don't bother yourself with that right now, you will be fine. ;-)

If you have any further questions, especially with your pc rig overall and your changes to the CPU you are going to make, fell free to write me a message if you need help, I'll see what i can do.

Good luck and congratulations to your new CPU cooler. ;-)