Help with an FX-6300 overclock?

Hey there.

I'm new to overclocking. Never done it before. I've got this gaming rig here, pretty cheap and I'm looking to upgrade my GPU.

I've been looking at the GTX 1060 lately, and I am wanting to pair this up with my FX-6300 (Before all you bottleneck junkies come running at me armed with corrections, I plan to upgrade my CPU next year, and I feel as though it's worth it to suffer with a bottleneck now and buy a better CPU next year than buy a crappy GPU now). I'm needing some type of guide or advice so that I overclock my 6300.

From my research, it seems the HyperX 212 is the best budget cooler. But it also looks bulky and it's hard to assemble. I believe I have the room in my case, I just don't want to go through the hassle of installing it. My budget is around $20-$30 with a little bit of leeway, and I want to find a cooler that can keep my overclocked 6300 cool with a small, compact design, and is also easy to install. If such a magical device doesn't exist, I am certainly okay with the 212.

I'm also wondering how far of an overclock I can get with my motherboard. I currently have the Gigabyte GA-787LMT-S2, which I have been told can get my 6300 to a safe 4.3 Ghz, which would be amazing to my standards! If anyone can tell me if this is correct or not that would be great too.

How many watts would I need as well? I am looking at a 550w, which again I have been told would do enough, but others say it will crash my PC. 600 or 650 would be my next option, but I am not looking to spend a lot of cash on one.

Sorry for so many questions, really am. I just have so many questions, and I have been doing research for about 2 months straight now.

Thanks for all the help!

-King

"I want to find a cooler that can keep my overclocked 6300 cool with a small, compact design."

You are correct. No such thing. Cooling power will be more or less proportional to size of the cooler's radiator. I doubt that your motherboard will support much overclocking at all. It's probably rated at 95W TDP which is where the FX-6300 starts.

The motherboard depending on the revision is either 3+1 or 4+1, personally i wouldn't try overclocking a 6 core, maybe stick to the manual boost @4.1ghz ? Hyper 212X is indeed a very good budget but you need to check if it fits in the case 1st.

+1
In addition Gigabyte boards are hit or miss with AMD.
To clock that chip up high you'd want a good 8+2 VRM board (such as an ASUS Sabertooth) and really good cooling. High end air coolers like the NH-D14 should get you up to 4.5 Ghz IIRC.

No need for a 8+2 IMO for a 6300. A 4 phase should do if not pushing go high.

Depends on the silicon lottery as well.

First thing would be to check how high it goes with stock vcore and start from there.

I had a 6300 [email protected]/1.42v on an Asus m5a99 evo (or pro, don't remember..) with a 212.

Tír na nÓg said:

I had a 6300 [email protected]/1.42v on an Asus m5a99 evo (or pro, don't remember..) with a 212.

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From what i see in the website the Evo is 6+2 and Pro is 6+2+2, big difference from a 3+1/4+1 ?

Yes, 2 phases, lol! Just joking

I think that if the OP chip is not a dog, he might get 4.5GHz in the 1.35 to 1.4v range.

The mobo should be able to handle it IMO.

I'm sorry, I have to disagree.

First, I wasn't able to overclock my 6300 very well on a Gigabyte 990fx v1.0 (Non UEFI) and switching to an ASUS Sabertooth was the answer as I was able to better tweak the overclock and get it stable.

Both those boards I mentioned have 8+2 VRM and they got very hot under load. Imagine how hot a 4+1 or even a 6+2 VRM would get. Quite hot.

OP'd Gigabyte board doesn't even have a heatsink over the VRMs. I wouldn't even run that 6300 at stock in that board. Overclocking it on that board is a fire waiting to happen.

I would have to agree Silver the FX6300 is not even on the CPU Suport List .... Doesn't mean it won't run but overclocking an FX6300 CPU on this board ....

bassnut said:

I would have to agree Silver the FX6300 is not even on the CPU Suport List .... Doesn't mean it won't run but overclocking an FX6300 CPU on this board ....

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Depends on the board revision. Revisions 4 and 5 both support it. Only 3.1 does not.

Mr.Scott said:

Depends on the board revision. Revisions 4 and 5 both support it. Only 3.1 does not.

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Even if it was on the list, I wouldn't run it at stock.. Not without adding a fan and heastink to the VRMs anyway.