Overclocking with a stock cooler?

I have an fx 6300 non black edition at stock clock speed of 3.5Ghz. Although i do know that aftermarket coolers are pretty cheap, Im getting 24 C idle with a stock cooler right now, making me feel as if I wouldn't need to buy another one. From basic research, many look down on stock cooling overclocks. Due to such low temperatures, I wanted to know if it was safe to to overclock to at least 4 GHZ currently?

IDLE 20-30 C
Gaming 40-50 C

GPU temps (just in case it affects anything)
IDLE 30 C
Gaming 50-60 C

Thanks

I'd ratchet things up slowly and see how it goes. It's not just temperatures you need to worry about, but voltages and clock multipliers, etc. Given various imperfections in manufacturing, sometimes one motherboard is able to handle any kind of overclock you throw at it, while another one of the same make and model will pitch a fit at even the slightest bit of overclocking. So move things up a little at a time, with some time to test in between each step up. Remember you're dealing with a highly sensitive bit of electronics that'll cost you a minimum of a couple hundred dollars (or convert to your local currency) to replace. Unless you've got money burning a hole in your pocket -- and if you do, allow me to tell you about the Alvin Svent Wellness Foundation, where all funds go to my general well-being and happiness -- to replace that CPU, maybe even motherboard, it doesn't pay to be impetuous.

But don't voltages and multipliers only apply to the CPU itself? Like no matter what cooler I'd use, that wouldn't change how much voltage I would need to increase. Also, would you recommend BIOS overclocking or software? I find software for efficient due to the fact that you can immediately start stress testing after rather than having to restart over and over. Many say BIOS is better cause of the accurate results.

A CPU does not function in isolation but as part of a system, the motherboard being a large part. There are many variables in this combination that influence how well they will tolerate overclocking. Overclocking is operating a system outside the parameters defined by the manufacturer. When you do this you must expect that at some point the CPU will start to make mistakes. Computers systems have zero tolerance for errors. Such errors may occur either before or after temperatures reach unacceptable levels. Such errors may only occur when specific instructions or sequences of instructions are executed or when higher temperatures are reached. Only hours of testing when the CPU is pushed hard will tell how far you can go.

Software overclocking is convenient but that is about all it has going for it. You will find few people that recommend it.

panda4cash said:

But don't voltages and multipliers only apply to the CPU itself? Like no matter what cooler I'd use, that wouldn't change how much voltage I would need to increase. Also, would you recommend BIOS overclocking or software? I find software for efficient due to the fact that you can immediately start stress testing after rather than having to restart over and over. Many say BIOS is better cause of the accurate results.

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Yes and no. Voltages yes, but clock multipliers have an impact on the rest of the system. All components within a computer operate by operating off of the CPU's clock. So certain changes in the CPU config will require that other parts of the computer operate differently to maintain the ability to communicate reliably.

And keep in mind that companies like AMD will not throw out anything if they can possibly salvage it. Most CPUs will start out life as being fabbed as the highest end CPU the company offers. However, only probably 5-10% will make the cut for such demanding standards. So the ones that fail the test for the top end get put into a pile to be tested against the next tier and so on until you reach the lowest end CPU offered. Only chips that fail the last round of tests will be scrapped. Otherwise they'll just disable the features that didn't pass testing. Within each tier you'll always have a range as well. Some CPUs will just barely miss the cut for the top tier, so will pass the second tier with ease, while others will just barely make that cut. If yours is on the lower end, you will likely have problems doing any kind of overclocking, but if it's in the top half you can probably get away with quite a bit.

That all said, back when we were stuck with single core CPUs and tasks had to be processed one at a time, it made a lot more sense to overclock. These days, with such a glut of parallel processing power that the average quad-core system has, you really don't gain much by overclocking. I believe AMD also has something similar to Intel's dynamic overclocking in it's Core series CPUs, where the CPU will automatically overclock individual cores to a certain degree based on how many cores are active and the temp of the CPU. So there's even less need to overclock yourself because the CPU will already do it automatically on an as-needed basis. Overclocking is largely a relic of an age now past.

One simple rule for OC, cool first, OC later. Do yourself a favor, get a good CPU cooler, those factory ones from AMD are barely enough for normal use at full load. Those 24c you got must be at idle, as soon as voltage and load jumps, temps go up fast.
Another rule is to turn off all power saving, turbo and C&Q and do it all manually thru BIOS which means to familiarize yourself with every aspect of BIOS and what things in it mean. There are definite limits to voltages, temps and frequencies of every component including VRM (Voltage Regulator Module) on the MB and lower number of chips in it (like let's say 3+1 or 4+1) are not suitable to almost any OC.

You could look into an anti-griddle also if you do get too hot The Anti-Griddle

adamf said:

You could look into an anti-griddle also if you do get too hot The Anti-Griddle

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Or move to Alaska, whichever is easier.

CountMike said:

Or move to Alaska, whichever is easier.

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I have a macbook so I can't overclock at all - it simply isn't possible afaik

adamf said:

CountMike said:

Or move to Alaska, whichever is easier.

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I have a macbook so I can't overclock at all - it simply isn't possible afaik

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Oh, I'm sorry (or jealous, not sure).