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HP 3970AM motherboard

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bkrieger

Registered
Joined
Mar 17, 2014
I have an HP model h8-1240 with a M3970BM motherboard, and a FX-8120 CPU. I want to overclock the cpu, but HP locks the bios. I need some advice on finding bios to flash from an OEM board's website similar to this, so I can unlock the bios options needed to overclock. My last resort would be to buy a new motherboard similar to this. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
The M3970BM MOTHERBOARD is likely the Angelica2 series board with an AMD 970
chipset.

4 + 1 VRM with NO cooling sinks for the VRM and little more than finned aluminum
blocks for cooling the North Bridge and South Bridge. One video card slot only.

The board "looks" like it might be made by ECS but no real way to know. Based on
picture of the mobo it has to be made specifically for HP and has the look of no other
motherboard I have seen.

Absolutely nO reference to any bios that might allow for an overclock and looking at
picture of the mobo, there seems little sense in trying to overclock the board because
it seems far from robust enough to handle an overclock of any consequence.
RGone...
 
My last resort would be to buy a new motherboard similar to this.

There may be more involved than just buying another motherboard possibly. While I do not know HP's. I do know Dell cases wont line up with standard motherboards (or at least didn't use to). Plus there is the power supply to take into consideration as well, is the one you have up to it? Is the case wide enough to handle a larger cpu cooler? Does the case offer enough air flow?

With that in mind you could possibly be looking at a motherboard, case, power supply and cpu cooler up to the task of OC'ing. A lot will depend on how far you want to push it when it comes to the cooler.

Edit: Also the ram, is it up to it? Usually on these kinds of computers they use budget ram which won't take well to OC'ing.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say anything bad about your system, I am just trying to let you know there may be more to OC'ing it than some realize and it could end up being more cost effective to sell off what you have and start from scratch on a custom build IF some of what I have said is in fact an issue. These are things you will have to check into and make sure will work before you start buying parts.
 
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The only issue would be the case. I have a 900w power supply, with 24 Gb of ram, and a Zalman cnps8900 cooler, with a GTX 680 video card.

Any recommendations on a new board for this case? Would I absolutely have to buy a new case?
 
CNPS8900 Extreme, a low profile CPU cooler from Zalman, with two heatpipes and a 110 mm fan = That certainly does not lend itself to overclocking an 8 core FX processor.

I do not know why the OP wants to overclock but I am pretty sure that he does not have any idea how HOT these FX 8 core processors run once they are kicked in the butt. They get HOT and can often beat the crap out of the VRMs on entry level boards said to support FX processors.
RGone...
 
Ok, I am willing to buy a new motherboard and a new heat sink fan. What model motherboard and fan would you recommend that's compatible with the FX-8120. My current motherboard is 9.6X9.6. Are there any motherboards that size, or would I need a new case?
 
motherboard is 9.6X9.6. = MicroATX motherboard and honestly I have not seen nor really know of any mATX mobos that are g00d for overclocking an 8 core FX processor. Said another way, I know of no mATX mobo that to even a good friend that I would recommend he spend money for to overclock an 8 core FX processor and expect even fair results. There might be some but not that I have seen pass thru these AMD forum sections. There just is not enough real estate for good cooling and enough robust components on a mATX mobo is my guess. And generally mATX mobos are for people trying to buy cheap and there again no money for robust parts on the mobo.
RGone...
 
Ok, them my next option is to maybe upgrade the cpu to a viscera -fx-8350, buy a new motherboard and new case. Any recommendations on a motherboard and case without killing the bank?
 
What size case? full/mid? What do you consider breaking the bank?

There are a lot of cases out there. I have the Cooler Master HAF 932 that is full size and am very happy with it. They also offer a HAF mid tower. There are just so many options when it comes to cases. There are cheaper ones than what I have shown that will serve you well.
 
I would say mid size. I was looking at the crosshair V formula, but it's a little pricey. Something slightly less than that would be good.

Thanks for the advice.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128651
GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3P AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
I would read the NewEgg user reviews very carefully. There are more than one user that
says they have trouble when overclocked with straight up booting without strangeness
or double booting.

It appears that the "P" as in GA-970-UD3P board is the replacement for the same board in the non-"P" version and is on Rev 1.0 at this time.

The original non"P" board was fairly good. Until they went to Rev 3.0 and then it was a horror to so many. Then Giga came with the UD3 in Rev 4.0 and it was again fairly good according to some.

I would be very cautious if I were going to throw away most of your original OEM non-overclockable setup and purchase new pieces with the express thought to overclock. By the time you get a decent case and fans for it and a decent cpu cooler to try and get P95 Blend stable at roughly 4.5Ghz you will have more than just a cursory amount of money invested. I know that if you get an Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0, that it will not be a motherboard holding your overclock back. It will be cooling or just a dud cpu.

I do have an Asus CHV board and it will overclock and run P95 Blend stable at 5.2Ghz but
it will because of the money I have invested in my water cooling setup. I would not have
any lesser board for me. However if you had a lesser overclock in mind there are other
options for a little less money, but I still fear that Giga board; just too new and no actual
track record that we can verify. This is honestly the best that most of us that have helped
here since the release of the FX processors can say with pretty much 99% assurance.
RGone...
 
Thanks is much for all your help. I really do appreciate it. I ended up spending some cash and going with the Asus Crosshair V formula Z, along with a Haf-932 case and NH-D14 fan. I'm debating if I should upgrade the processor to a FX-8350, then I won't have much need to overclock much.
Thanks again.
 
Thanks is much for all your help. I really do appreciate it. I ended up spending some cash and going with the Asus Crosshair V formula Z, along with a Haf-932 case and NH-D14 fan. I'm debating if I should upgrade the processor to a FX-8350, then I won't have much need to overclock much.
Thanks again.

Hmmm, me and you have a complete different idea of what not breaking the bank is. :rofl:

Do you have tall heatsinks on your ram? The Noctua D14 is a very nice cooler but it doesn't play nice with tall heatsinks on the RAM. Also where that is a tall mofset heatsink on the Crosshair V motherboard I would do some checking around and see if the Noctua will fit. I have the D14 myself and on wifes board it is fine, on my board (Biostar TA980FXE) it touches the mofset heatsink but will go in and sit level on the cpu.
 
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I'm debating if I should upgrade the processor to a FX-8350, then I won't have much need to overclock much.
Thanks again.

Not a lot of difference between your current cpu and the FX-8350. Was some keeping the bank in check. Hehehe. I would rather see better cooling myself than an FX-8350 since cool is going to be key no matter you spent for a CHV-z. .
RGone...
 
Thanks.
I ended up changing the order to a tpc-812 heat sink. I decided not to upgrade the cpu. I just know if I ever did, it would be a pain to uninstall the heat sink and have to reseat it.
Thanks for your help again. I really appreciate it.
 
Ok, I'm installing my parts in the HAF 932, and next to the drive bays, there is a removable black bulky piece that looks like it is used for another kind of drive. Does anyone know what that is used for?
 
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