New Build Soon, Going to overclock! Recommendations???

[kcscott11]

Hey guys I ordered my new parts this weekend, and have begun receiving them... Today I got my cpu which is a AMD FX-8300 3.3 ghz, I already got my psu, which is a Coolmax 700w. I'm still waiting on my motherboard which is a GIGABYTE 970A-UD3P. My cooler should be here tomorrow, it is a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO, and my memory is 2 x 8 gb Team Dark DDR3 1600. And just to say I included my full specs, this rig will include a HD 7870 and obviously ill have a tb hdd, a dvdrw drive. All this will be mounted in an open air case, kept in a cool environment.

I dont have a whole lot experience overclocking, but have don't a little way back when in like Pentium 3 days... anyhow thats my goal with this rig. I did quite a lot of research before ordering my parts and would like yall's opinion on if this rig is a fair candidate for overclocking, and what you think my realistic goals should be..... tbh I'm wanting to shoot for somewhere around 4.4 or 4.5 ghz.... is that realistic? If not what should I shoot for? Might I add, that supposedly the team dark memory is supposedly pretty good for overclocking, I must say that I do worry the most about setting my timings, and the memory overclocking.... seems the most complicated to me...

Also, as I said I have been doing a LOT of reading, but by all means please if you have any good literature on overclocking, anything that applies to my rig i'm setting up, or general, please link it to me. I don't mind educating my self!!! Thanks

 

[EarthDog]

Welcome!!!

A couple of things...

1. Coolmax PSU = garbage. Return it and buy something that is a quality unit. Assuming a single GPU and overclocking, I would grab an EVGA G2 650W or B2 650W.
2. The cooler will likely not allow you to get great overclocks...I doubt you can reach 4.4GHz+ with that cooler.
3. Any reason you didn't grab an SSD?
4. Don't worrry about overclocking your ram. It helps very little in most cases.

As far as an overclocking guide.... in my signature is a bulldozer overclocking guide... check that out!

 

[Witchdoctor]

Not up on AMD boards TBH, However the power supply looks to be suspect.

I would see if you can return it for something with a little more going for it

Here is a decent unit

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207033

 

[Janus67]

to the forums.

Agreed with everything EarthDog said above. The CoolMax PSUs are generally regarded as very poor power supplies. We have a sticky in our power supply section with recommendations or buying one of the two that he listed would get you very far.

If you don't have an SSD it would have been a very worthwhile purchase, you can find a good 250GB SSD for around $75 which would give you the biggest noticeable improvement in snappiness of your system than any other upgrade/purchase you can make today.

 

[kcscott11]

I was concerned that the psu would be risky, I read up on it on a different forum (not sure which on now) and they said it wasnt the best but it was "capable enough" of course this was after it was already in-route.... how against using it until a different one came in would you guys be? Worth a try?

Dang, I thought the evo was a decent air cooler for oc'ing seen it recommended more than I can count... what coolers are recommended? I know building stuff to overclock you cant really cheap out, so I use this term loosely, but what is the best "budget cooler"

Yea, I definitely considered a solid state drive, however Im waiting on the next check lol. Im going to order some more stuff once I get more money. To get me by I'm going to use a hard disk I have on hand.

Glad to here it about the memory, I will get a stable overclock before I even mess with that, if I decide to mess with that...

 

[EarthDog]

You can use it, I would just make sure that you have another one en route sooner than later. I am sure it will work ok, but for how long and what will it take out if it craps out on you is the question.

Its decent for minor overclocks that are not an AMD FX Octo core. Once you start overclocking that CPU, it will pour on the wattage leaving that cooler in the dust pretty quickly. I would GUESS you can get 4GHz out of it... but it depends on the quality of the CPU and what voltage is needed at that clock speed.

 

[Janus67]

The 212 Evo is a great cooler for the money, but it is still also a budget cooler (and the AMD octocores put out a lot of heat when you start putting in more volts and overclocking). Once you get everything in you can start by stress testing at stock to see how your temps are sitting and move up from there, but I think that shooting for mid-4s maybe stretching what that cooler is capable of.

 

[kcscott11]

Wow, I have been on many forums over the years, of all different categories.... YOU GUYS ARE QUICK... its very nice lol.

The Antec Kuhler 920 mentioned in the tutorial, is that an air cooler, or a waterblock/radiator? I searched and all I find is Antec Kuhler H20 920... and I cant even find any of those in stock I did however find antec H2O 650 in stock...

Im actually building 2 pc's at the moment, however I already had another psu which I figure is probably worse than the Coolmax, but the pc is to be running at stock speeds..... anyhow the other power supply I have is a Logisys 480w.... So when I order my new one, which would be the on to keep for the other build? I'll have more money in a couple of days... So I will be placing a couple more orders :-D

 

[EarthDog]

Its water/AIO: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835209054

Logisys... yikes, likely another hunk of garbage. I wouldn't keep either honestly.

 

[Janus67]

Agreed with Joe, if you have the ability to do so I would return both of the power supplies and get something that is a quality unit. The power supply is a greatly underrated part of the computer, and having one that is a quality unit will:
a) most likely not die on you unexpectedly
b) run at the rated watts/amps without a lot of jumping around
c) run cooler
d) if it would die, there's a less likely chance it catches on fire and/or takes out other parts with it.

 

[kcscott11]

Well I couldnt find the Antec 920 in stock but I did find the Kuhler 1250 which looks like a beast...

So this is me, waiting for payday lol..

 

[Janus67]

The one that was in the guide was just what was used for the guide. You can likely google around various heatsink reviews and come up with something nice that can fit your budget (depending on what that is). Something like a Noctua DH-14 (or 15) or a Phanteks or something along those lines may do just fine for around $65-70 instead of the $100+ that most decent AIOs cost (and the air coolers run quieter than most of the $100 AIOs)

 

[trents]

Dang, I thought the evo was a decent air cooler for oc'ing seen it recommended more than I can count... what coolers are recommended? I know building stuff to overclock you cant really cheap out, so I use this term loosely, but what is the best "budget cooler"

It is a decent cooler but not enough to get a good overclock on an 8 core FX CPU. It would be great for less power hungry, heat making CPU.