Overclockable AM3+ Motherboard

SprinqRoll · November 5, 2016

So I'm in the process of building a budget computer for my friend to get him start in PC gaming, but I don't know much about the AMD side. I recently picked up a FX-4350 for $20, so I figured that'd be a good start for him. My question is, what am I looking for in an AM3+ motherboard that would allow me to overclock? I know with Intel for example, I needed a z170 to OC my skylake. Is AMD the same? Do i need a specific type of board? I figured since this isn't AMD's most powerful processor, an aggressive OC should help with bottlenecking.

Robby DeNo · November 5, 2016

I would say that you should just go with a higher tier if you plan to push the processor. But with it being an FX-4350 your really not going to be drawing as much power as say the FX-9590. For functionality purposes you can pick up a nice AM3+ 990FX board so you have the perks of USB 3.1 and thunderbolt etc

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SprinqRoll · November 5, 2016

Above all, I want to make this a budget friendly build. The 990fx motherboards seem a bit out of budget. Would a 970 motheboard still overclock well? I'm hoping to keep the price around $80, lower if I can.

LeStringMan · November 5, 2016

2 minutes ago, SprinqRoll said:

Above all, I want to make this a budget friendly build. The 990fx motherboards seem a bit out of budget. Would a 970 motheboard still overclock well? I'm hoping to keep the price around $80, lower if I can.

You can overclock on any AMD board, at 5ghz a 4350 pulls about 5-10 watts (usually) more than a non overclocked 8350, so you don't necessarily need the greatest board in the world. Here is a solid board with newer features and such, with a decent enough power delivery to get a FX 8XXX to 4.5 ghz.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157688

SprinqRoll · November 5, 2016

3 minutes ago, LeStringMan said:

You can overclock on any AMD board, at 5ghz a 4350 pulls about 5-10 watts (usually) more than a non overclocked 8350, so you don't necessarily need the greatest board in the world. Here is a solid board with newer features and such, with a decent enough power delivery to get a FX 8XXX to 4.5 ghz.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157688

Awesome. This is exactly what I was hoping to hear. Thanks for the link to the mobo. I'll get with my friend later today and see if he is ready to order it.