New to overclocking...

[BetterThanTofu]

As the title says I'm new to overclocking PC's because this is the first time I have had a PC that I have built and I was wondering if overclocking could possibly harm my PC? Like ruin a component to the point that I need a new one. I have an FX-8320 and plan to overclock it but because I don't know if it can cause harm and don't have the means to replace it (only 17 y/o, no job) I just wanted to ask a forum I trust. Thanks! :)

[target39]

The FX-8320 has a lot of overclocking potential. Before you do anything, can you tell us what cooler you are using?

[5lay3r]

it will also be helpful to know what motherboard you have as one with a lower amount of power phases cant be pushed as far

[BetterThanTofu]

I have a Cooler Master Hyper 212 heatsink and a ASRock 970 Extreme3 motherboard.

[Dave :)]

I have a Cooler Master Hyper 212 heatsink and a ASRock 970 Extreme3 motherboard.

You have a decent cooler - so that's good. Download a good CPU temperature monitoring program: I use HWMonitor and CPUZ.

Will overclocking damage your components? Short answer: No, not really. The only real way to damage your chip would be to completely knock the voltages up, which will basically supply the CPU with too much power, thus 'frying' in and it not working anymore. Depending on how much of an overclock you put on it, it will degrade life of the chip; however, it won't be that significant that you will notice in day to day use, it may just need tweaking further down the line.

My advice would be to take it slow, doing small incremental overclocks, stress test each overclock before continuing and making sure to only bump up the voltages if necessary - AFTER you either BSOD or get any errors.

[target39]

What are your temps at 100% load? (This is to see how much headroom you'll have to obtain a stable OC). Do you have proper testing software such as prime95? Also are you planning on OC'ing anything else, like RAM, or GPU? I think you should be able to reach 4.4-4.7ghz stable on air with all 8 cores on that CPU. Try setting the base clock at 200mhz, multiplier at x22 (4400mhz), Vcore=~1.42V, disable LoadLine Calibration as most experience vdroop more, around 100mv with it enabled. Keep everything else the same. At 4.4ghz, run prime95, and record temperatures, if it crashed, try setting the vcore higher to 1.44-1.45V. Let us know how it goes and post temps. Good luck! :D If all goes well, keep going 100mhz higher until temps are unacceptable and too unstable.

[target39]

What are your temps at 100% load? (This is to see how much headroom you'll have to obtain a stable OC). Do you have proper testing software such as prime95? Also are you planning on OC'ing anything else, like RAM, or GPU? I think you should be able to reach 4.4-4.7ghz stable on air with all 8 cores on that CPU. Try setting the base clock at 200mhz, multiplier at x22 (4400mhz), Vcore=~1.42V, disable LoadLine Calibration as most experience vdroop more, around 100mv with it enabled. Keep everything else the same. At 4.4ghz, run prime95, and record temperatures, if it crashed, try setting the vcore higher to 1.44-1.45V. Let us know how it goes and post temps. Good luck! :D If all goes well, keep going 100mhz higher until temps are unacceptable and too unstable.

This will probably not work, I just read up on that motherboard. ASRock Extreme3 only has a 4+1 phase count, so the weak power delivery won't be beneficial in overclocking 125W TDP 8 core CPUs. Most people said they were only able to reach 4.2ghz with this or even the 990fx motherboard. Check this thread:

www.overclock.net/t/1352074/asrock-970-extreme3-good-enough-for-8-cores

[BetterThanTofu]

What are your temps at 100% load? (This is to see how much headroom you'll have to obtain a stable OC). Do you have proper testing software such as prime95? Also are you planning on OC'ing anything else, like RAM, or GPU? I think you should be able to reach 4.4-4.7ghz stable on air with all 8 cores on that CPU. Try setting the base clock at 200mhz, multiplier at x22 (4400mhz), Vcore=~1.42V, disable LoadLine Calibration as most experience vdroop more, around 100mv with it enabled. Keep everything else the same. At 4.4ghz, run prime95, and record temperatures, if it crashed, try setting the vcore higher to 1.44-1.45V. Let us know how it goes and post temps. Good luck! :D If all goes well, keep going 100mhz higher until temps are unacceptable and too unstable.

I new buying a cheaper motherboard was going to bite me in the ass someday haha. Oh well I guess I could get a new one at a later date.

[target39]

What are your temps at 100% load? (This is to see how much headroom you'll have to obtain a stable OC). Do you have proper testing software such as prime95? Also are you planning on OC'ing anything else, like RAM, or GPU? I think you should be able to reach 4.4-4.7ghz stable on air with all 8 cores on that CPU. Try setting the base clock at 200mhz, multiplier at x22 (4400mhz), Vcore=~1.42V, disable LoadLine Calibration as most experience vdroop more, around 100mv with it enabled. Keep everything else the same. At 4.4ghz, run prime95, and record temperatures, if it crashed, try setting the vcore higher to 1.44-1.45V. Let us know how it goes and post temps. Good luck! :D If all goes well, keep going 100mhz higher until temps are unacceptable and too unstable.

You can still OC, just not as much as I recommended. You could probably get to 4.2ghz....if you want.