Guild Wars 2

Hello!
I am planning to upgrade my CPU
from Phenom II 955 to FX 8350
I have a Real Power Pro 460W, which I think it is not enough for overclocking.
Any PSU suggestion?

Also, I have heard that Antec Kuhler H2O 620 & 212 EVO is a good cooler,
Which one I should get to OC the 8350 to around 4.5 Ghz?

Thanks for the attention!

Hello Duron first question is whats your budget? 460w psu wont be nearly enough to overclock an FX because that’s a power hungry chip. If you are going to o/c to just 4.5 evo will be enough but believe me if you have a tendancy to try and get more out of your stuff you will surely be pushing that chip to 5ghz which should be possible for majority of 8350 but an evo cant cool it down but antec h20 should do the trick unless you go crazy with the voltages. anyways you will need 650/700(+80bronze atleast)watt psu assuming you have a latest gen 7xxx radeon / 6xx nvidia card which are quite power efficient which does not consume more than 200watt at 100% so yeah give a price point and your exact intention of overclock also your gpu model. but basically 4.5 evo could do the job/antec would be perfect and a 600/650/700watt psu beyond 4.5 atleast 700-800watt would be needed to keep the rig running nice and smooth.

Thanks for the response!
My budget is > $300
I am satisfied with 4.5 Ghz
Actually, I am using HD6850 video card, in this context, do I really need a >600W PSU?

Well you dont need more than 600w just for 4.5ghz 3850 and a single R6850 but if one of my friend asked for an advice about the same parts this what I’d say.

600w psu wont be providing 600w forever, it will degrate over time also 6850 wont be enough soon so adding a secondary 6850 to the rig will be considered or upgrading to another and more powerful card then 600w might not be enough so you may spend a bit more on it to save yourself from that kinda problems and you have enough budget for both watercooling and 700+ psu.

I see.
So do u suggest any brand’s PSU? Antec/Cooler Master?
Actually, i am new to OC, is there any guide recommend?
Once again, thank you for the help :-)

Seasonic / Corsair brand psu’s are very popular i’d suggest you to check newegg comments on particular products. And btw your budget is 300 for cpu / psu and cooler? or just psu and cooler? and whats your current Mobo model gonna check if its compatible with Fx8350

You sir are getting bad advice. FX8350 OC to 4.5GHz thinking you will need to bump up from 1.3 Volts to 1.4 with a 6850 video card will draw about 350 WATTS at full load!
I would be more concerned if the FX 8350 will work with the motherboard you have since you never listed it.

EDIT they got it to 4.8 stable with 1.375 volts.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-8350-vishera-review,3328-2.html

Personaly i would get a 600/650W. its a good mid range Wattage for a PC specialy when OC’ing and thinking ahead for future parts like possible SLI, also it makes sure the PSU is never under any strain.

That said if u cant afford a good brand 650W PSU like a Corsair TX,HX, AX, or Seasonic series, then drop down to a 500W and u will still be perfectly fine. Most PSU’s have peak efficiency at 50% load.

Another brand that is good is the NZXT hale90 series(they come in WHITE !). Lowest wattage in the series is 650W.

CPU Cooler wise i think the CM Evo 212 will be fine for u. its very widely used and is great value for money. if u want betetr air cooling over that then u might aswell go straight to the top and get somthing like the Noctua NH-D14..after that ur looking at AIO water cooling units like the Corsair H100i.

zerk.9701:

You sir are getting bad advice. FX8350 OC to 4.5GHz thinking you will need to bump up from 1.3 Volts to 1.4 with a 6850 video card will draw about 350 WATTS at full load!
I would be more concerned if the FX 8350 will work with the motherboard you have since you never listed it.

EDIT they got it to 4.8 stable with 1.375 volts.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-8350-vishera-review,3328-2.html

Yes because all chips are made equal and we are living in the world of pollyanna… even the slightest bump of Vcore is increasing voltage draw and heat obviously so I’m just assuming that you are not using an FX processor…

Most likelly u will get 4.5 without a lot extra voltage, any cooler, even stock one will support this overclock, a 212EVO will be just fine at this point. I recomend 4.8/4.9 using a Corsair h80 or h100 and 650w power supply will be more than enough considering ur videocard.

For mobo, I am using Gigabyte 880GMA-USB3, which support AM3+.
I’ve been searching for the performance when this mobo comes to OC, but I can’t find any.
Is it good for that?

Considering future upgrades for my rig, I agree that having a higher Wattage PSU is a good choice, thanks for the opinions :-)

For budget, actually I expect ~$350 is including the FX8350, PSU & Cooler.
If I want to get both 650W’s PSU and Antec 620, it should be enough.

Here comes the question
Is Antec 620 worth to buy?
I’ve found some reviews for it and the comments are good.
Or maybe CM EVO 21 is all I really needed?

As far as PSUs I like the Corsair line.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012

Both the H2O 620 and 212 EVO are both decent coolers. I am partial to custom water as air is about as good or on par with entry level water.

Sorry mate, that board won’t support OCing the 8350, the VRM don’t even have a heatsink, most likelly they will explode soon if un inrease the CPU voltages, i’d recomend 4.2 which u can achieve without any voltage increase, and get the CM 212Evo it will make the CPU run cool as hell for 30$ it is a insane improve from AMD cooling solution. 600w PSU will be more than enough without OCing

High end AIR coolers are actually better than water cooling solutions since they improve in case air flow making ram and videocards run cooler. Water cooling is only better for extreme overclockers and if u use waterblocks on the videocards otherwise a noctua nh-d14 is about the best cooler u can put inside your case (it is ugly tho).

I agree with Rampage
The Noctua NH-D14 is a great cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018

I haven’t used air in a long time but I know many people that swear by the NH-D14 . I’m personlay using custom built high end water for extreme benching at clocks above 5G and a 24/7 4.7G clock.

Let alone overclocking I’m not even sure whether that board supports 125w tdp fx cpus…

Explosion! OMG I will take you guys’ advise.
With all the comments above, I decided to buy the 8350, 650W & Evo 212.
Someday else for the board :-)

Anyone knows how many FPS do i get if the 8350 @ 4.2Ghz in WVW?

well glad we have been helpful just make sure your board supports 125w tdp fx series either google it or contact to gigabyte i couldnt see the cpu support list of the board in the related page of gb web site… and before installing the cpu make sure your board is on latest bios.

I searched again and found these posts:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/361518-28-does-8350-work-880gma-usb3
http://www.game-debate.com/hardware/index.php?pid=1140&moboList=FX-8350

Are these information worth to trust?

If you are just looking for compatibility here is a link to Gigabyte’s CPU compatibility list for the GA-880GMA-USB3
http://www.gigabyte.in/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=3817

If the CPU is not listed, I would contact Gigabyte and see if they are going to, or have added compatibility for your CPU. If it is not supported it may be as easy as them adding in the micro code for the CPU in a later BIOS release.

Yes i did found that list before, but i found some information in the above two links

So I doubt with the list. Is the list true or just didn’t update?

They may not have updated it, so contacting them would be the safest route. On forums you will find miss information so taking a form post at face value can yield poor results. Contacting the manufacturer would give you a clear and concise answer without the guess work.

Looks like the processor was released in Quarter 4/2012 and the latest BIOS for the GA-880GMA-USB3 was released in Q2.

There is also a revision of the board. 2.1 to 3.1 so this is a hardware change.

I am sorry that I don’t quite understand these information. What do they mean?

Looks like they may not be compatible. This means it is a gamble. The processor may not work on this board. Definitely contact Gigabyte to make sure.

Some processors will work even when not on the compatibility list but Gigabyte will not support them.

:-( It is sad that there is no Hong Kong hotline to contact them. Sent them an E-mail instead.

If I really need a new board, do u hv any suggestion?
I prefer a cheap one which is stable when overclocking the 8350 to around 4.5Ghz (I know I am greedy lol)

Really appreciate for the help :-)

muslumgurseks.4951:

zerk.9701:

You sir are getting bad advice. FX8350 OC to 4.5GHz thinking you will need to bump up from 1.3 Volts to 1.4 with a 6850 video card will draw about 350 WATTS at full load!
I would be more concerned if the FX 8350 will work with the motherboard you have since you never listed it.
A 550 watt PSU is fine for my PC and with a 6850 video card their no reason for him to spend the $ upgrading his.

EDIT they got it to 4.8 stable with 1.375 volts.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fx-8350-vishera-review,3328-2.html

Yes because all chips are made equal and we are living in the world of pollyanna… even the slightest bump of Vcore is increasing voltage draw and heat obviously so I’m just assuming that you are not using an FX processor…

The 350 Watt figure I gave was including the extra 30 Watts for the overclock some people really need to figure out how many watts a PC really uses.
A 550 Watt power supply will power any single card PC on the market unless you just throw some bull kitten in their it will power a GTX680 or AMD 7970

Now to really set this straight here are my PC specs.
i5 2500k @ 4.4 GHz, H100 CPU cooler, 16GB 2133 ram, 2x SSD’s 1 HDD, 6970 video card, 10 LED case fans, 4 LED strips.
With GW2 running I draw a whopping 326 watts from the wall (Kill-A-Watt meter)
With a 85% efficency PSU that means its using a whopping 277 watts with this game running. Here are the picks of the game running and my meter.
http://s1274.photobucket.com/user/Zerk2012/library/#/user/Zerk2012/library/?page=1&_suid=136527316702908169955982213668
During a full system stress test it draws less than 450 Watts.
People get so carzy when it comes to power supplies.

I use Intel myself, maybe someone else more familiar with AMD can chime in.

A few comments and possible options for you:

1. After many builds over the years for myself, others, and various businesses, I base my systems around the best motherboard fit for my purpose so seeing that you’re interested in OCing, a new motherboard would personally be my first concern. If you can find a good 990FX motherboard on sale get it.

2. A GOOD (high efficiency) 500w power supply is all you really need. If you can find a good 600w+ unit on sale, great, but it’s not necessary. Rosewill and PC Power & Cooling are other brands worth looking at besides those already mentioned. Take your time and shop around. Check Newegg, Tigerdirect, Superbiiz, Microcenter, Provantage, Directron, and Amazon for sales and go with whatever quality unit you find the best deal on. Newegg currently has the Rosewill Capstone 650W on sale for $90 plus an additional $15 rebate. This is an extremely high quality 80 Plus Gold PSU at a phenomenal price.

3. Water cooling is not worth it unless you’re going all out. CM 212 Evo will do nicely or for $10-20 more you can get a Thermalright True Spirit 140 which dollar per dollar is probably the best CPU cooler out there and is only matched or beaten by high dollar units.

4. If you’re planning on OCing anyway and definitely want the 8 core chip an FX 8320 is more cost effective than an 8350 as it will probably hit similar numbers. They can be had as low as $140 whereas the $8350 is gonna run you at least $170.

5. If you live near a Microcenter they’ve got some great deals going on right now. You can get $40 off most AM3+ motherboards with the purchase of a processor. They carry the ASUS M5A99FX Pro R2.0 mobo which is an extremely high quality mobo with beastly OCing options and power delivery (they have plenty of other good mobos but IMO that one is the best for the money). You can get the FX6300/M5A99FX combo with a CM 212 Evo for $255 plus tax, the FX8320 for $20 more, and the FX8350 for $60 more. Personally that is what I would do with the budget you’ve indicated as that ASUS board is a gem and will likely need only a BIOS update to accept a next-gen Steamroller processor when they come out. That would allow you to sell your current processor/mobo combo or keep it as a backup or basis for another system. This setup along with the Rosewill PSU I mentioned would total $365 for the FX8320 before taxes and shipping and give you some serious firepower and plenty of room to upgrade in the future. I think you’d be hard pressed to find more performance and quality for the money.

Big thanks to your precise suggestion.
I took a look of the products you’ve mentioned and was happy to know the price of CPU + mobo is surprisingly cheap.

However, I am not living in USA and Microcenter offers In-stock pickup only.

This is sad because
FX 8320 = HKD$1500
M5A99X Pro R2.0 = HKD$1370
Evo 212 = HKD$240
Total = HKD$3110 = ~USD$400
Which is $125 more than Microcenter’s offer

WTF!

Sorry to hear that.

You might also look into the Biostar TA990FXE board. I really like Biostar (though not everyone does) and they have been around a long time and carved out a nice niche building inexpensive but reliable boards. I’ve also seen the ASRock 990FX Extreme board cheap in the past and they’ve gotten a pretty good rep as enthusiast boards, though I’ve never personally used an ASRock. In any event do your research, find a good board, and then match it with a good power supply. A good mobo/psu combo can last you through several processor generations with AMD, since they actually support their socket designs.

Cooling wise you’ve already made a good choice for the price with the 212 Evo so I’d stick with that.

In order to stay within your budget you might think about going with a 6 core FX6300 for right now. They have the same L3 cache as the 8 cores do, will run pretty similar in most applications, and OC at least as well. This might allow you to get a good mobo and PSU and you can then upgrade to a Steamroller chip when they come out as they should be a good improvement on the current Piledriver gen chips.

A Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 would be a decent motherboard choice. You could also do an ASRock 990FX Extreme3 for a bit less, but the VRM isn’t quite as good (but should be sufficient). The Asus M5A99X Pro or ASRock Extreme4 are around the same as the Gigabyte.

Here’s the VRM info on all 4 boards (along with some links about why it matters):
http://www.overclock.net/t/946407/amd-motherboards-vrm-info-database

For PSU, Seasonic or Corsair are your best bet. It might be worth getting a 500-600W PSU, I’m never one to cut it close on how much power you need (especially because PSUs run more efficiently when they’re well below their max).

For coolers, the Noctua or Phanteks monsters are definitely among the best. I use a Xigmatek Aegir (somewhat smaller), and have had excellent results. The 212 Evo is definitely the best budget cooler IMO.