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Any old-school 'budget cpu' overclockers on here?

dug777

dug777

Lifer
It feels like that's no longer the over clocking route of choice, however I understand that even low end pentiums and celerons based on core architecture are both excellent overclockers and also pretty good in their own right, clock for clock (with the possible exception of gaming, where I understand the reduced cache hurts them)...

Thoughts? Any of you still do this/follow this with interest?
 
You can do a pin mod on any 2xxx, 4xxx, or 6xxx core 2 duos and celerons. Just do a "cpu pin mod" search on yahoo. My e4300 went from 1800 to 2400 and only cost me $60; the previous owner had already done this with copper tape.
 
Some people went that route, but most don't these days, since the release of the E7200's @ ~$130, with 3x the L2 cache, plus it being 45nm. For an office/e-mail type system, though, an E21x0 is really all anyone needs, IMO.
 
Up here in Canada, pricing doesn't appear to be as competitive as in select places in the US (E4500 is $132.99, etc.) so I've always been a fan of budget CPUs and taking performance to the max. I got my E2160 for $70 several months ago and prices have not changed, and I doubt my E2160 @ 3GHz is much slower than an $133 E4500 at the same clock. Sure, a 45nm C2D @ 4GHz will beat my system but despite having only 1MB L2 cache my E2160 can play every modern game I throw at with max settings minus Crysis so I'm not complaining. I'd rather save the extra money and wait for a budget Nehalem core hehe...
 
I think there are plenty still around. I'm perfectly happy with my e4300 @ 3GHz that I picked up used for $50. I think you'll see the 'budget' overclockers out in full force when the e5200 is released.
 
I don't see myself replacing my E2180 @ 3.2ghz anytime soon. I seriously don't think the 1mb L2 cache hampers me all that much. I could replace my X1950pro with a 4870 or something and the CPU wouldn't be much of a concern for me.
 
Core 2 duo's just came out like a year or two ago is that really "old school" already?

I figured any overclocking that you could do in the Bios was new school?



 
lol quad owners are bloody?

i better run out of this thread seeing how i have 2 of the highest end models. :X

*running like a tech geek on black friday ps3 hunts*
 
Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Two E2140s @ 3.2Ghz here, each with Radeon X1950Pro/GT video cards. Budget gaming rigs. 🙂
Click to expand...

And damn good ones. 🙂 We're at the same clockspeed and graphics level and you know as well as I -- unless you absolutley must have all the details cranked to max, gaming is a breeze with the platform. Mid-high settings works great. I get great frames even in Crysis with a balance of settings. The game still looks outstanding. I wholly disagree that you need a 4ghz wolfdale to get good frames in Crysis.
 
I overclock anywhere from budget stuff all the way to midrange. So yeah, I've had some Celeron 420 chips (two of them), several E2140, one E4300, several E4500 and I'm hoping to score a cheap E7xxx chip some day. Overclocked on overclocker boards as well as cheap boards (ASRock, ECS, MSI low end, etc). Have done BSEL mods to several of them.

Great fun!
 
I'm budget all the way. I did the pin mod on my E4400, which gave it an instant boost from 2.0 to 2.66 Ghz - even when used on a cheap AsRock Dual VSTA motherboard (although now I use a Foxconn MB). I overclock the cpu to 3.0 Ghz from within windows for gaming or whenever I need extra power (movie conversions, etc...). I really don't think I'd gain much from a more expensive cpu.

Combine that with my 2900Pro (converted to 2900XT) that I bought for $120, and I have a great budget gaming system. My PMVA 24" LCD was also a great deal at $299.

My other cpu's are an overclocked 2160, and an overclocked Toledo X2 3800+. So, there still are a few budget overclocker's around here.
 
I did a BSEL-1066 mod on an E2200 bringing it to 2.93ghz on an ECS motherboard that came with a Fry's bundle. I only paid $85 after taxes, which is cheaper than the cost of the CPU on its own. Not a bad deal if you ask me! I was considering getting an E2180 and an Abit IP35-E, and granted, I probably would have gotten a better speed, but it would've been close to double the cost! I figured it wasn't worth it.

Budget OC'ing rules. I had to do a fair amount of digging to get this oc to work (which is surprising since many people here are familiar with the pin mods) but it was totally worth it for the savings. I went from an AMD A64 3300+ socket 754 with 768 MB of ram to my current system for about $100 with all the changes, which includes the cpu and mobo ($85), cooler ($2 after rebate, Freezer 7 Pro style), OCZ Freeze ($5), Ram ($6 for 2GB) and defogger paint for the pin mod ($10). Not bad if you ask me!

I certainly hope that Nehalem's half cache line is as easy and cheap to overclock. If so, I'll be upgrading in a year.
 
Originally posted by: dug777
It feels like that's no longer the over clocking route of choice, however I understand that even low end pentiums and celerons based on core architecture are both excellent overclockers and also pretty good in their own right, clock for clock (with the possible exception of gaming, where I understand the reduced cache hurts them)...

Thoughts? Any of you still do this/follow this with interest?
Click to expand...

Sort of, in the sense that my CPU is still an E2200 @ 3.2 GHz, stock volts.

I don't upgrade because something newer came out. To me, you either have to be a sucker or an enthusiast to do that, and I don't think I'm either in particular. (Not making fun of enthusiasts, if it's your hobby, why not go for it?)

In fact, I'd still be on my Opty 165 @ 2.4 if I didn't have a desire to upgrade my HTPC. I shifted the Opteron there, replacing a Barton @ 2.2 Ghz. The nice part is that between the HTPC and my main computer, I can transcode recordings to H264 pretty quickly, basically being able to keep more of the shows I like archived 🙂
 
Originally posted by: sjwaste
Originally posted by: dug777
It feels like that's no longer the over clocking route of choice, however I understand that even low end pentiums and celerons based on core architecture are both excellent overclockers and also pretty good in their own right, clock for clock (with the possible exception of gaming, where I understand the reduced cache hurts them)...

Thoughts? Any of you still do this/follow this with interest?
Click to expand...

Sort of, in the sense that my CPU is still an E2200 @ 3.2 GHz, stock volts.

I don't upgrade because something newer came out. To me, you either have to be a sucker or an enthusiast to do that, and I don't think I'm either in particular. (Not making fun of enthusiasts, if it's your hobby, why not go for it?)

In fact, I'd still be on my Opty 165 @ 2.4 if I didn't have a desire to upgrade my HTPC. I shifted the Opteron there, replacing a Barton @ 2.2 Ghz. The nice part is that between the HTPC and my main computer, I can transcode recordings to H264 pretty quickly, basically being able to keep more of the shows I like archived 🙂
Click to expand...


Sheesh dude. My story is eerily similar to yours in the sense of how I ended up buying an intel platform for the first time in forever.

I did just get the 780G/4850e setup this week so I'm still keeping my roots watered. Low power office machine with some gfx balls sounds good to me with 45w TDP.

 
I've been doing budget OCing for a while now. I think the fun for me is to push a sub 100 CPU to the level of a high end stock model and some more. So getting the lowest line in the family is the way to go, E2140 for the E2xxx and E7200/E8200/E5200s are all good choices depending how much cache you need out of the chip. I think E5200s will be my next target.

Edit: oh don't forget the Q9300. BUt that chip has too low multiplier for OC, gotta wait until intel release a budget Quad 45nm with decent multipliers. I need it to be sub 100 too! :] maybe in a few years.
 
Originally posted by: sjwaste
Sort of, in the sense that my CPU is still an E2200 @ 3.2 GHz, stock volts.
Click to expand...
There's no WAY that you have an E2200 at 3.2Ghz at only stock volts.

I dare you to run CoreTemp, get your VID, and then manually set your Vcore equal to that VID rather than leave it on AUTO, and then run some stability tests and get back to us.

 
always go cheapo... too many pc's in the house not to... latest upgr's are a couple 4850's since they were <$150 with rebate and needed to swap out the last of my < 8800 class vids... most of my buys now are when i fly into somewhere that has a fry's...

fyi, stay away from the ecs 945 boards... they aren't good oc'ers in my experience... the 7050 board is better imho...

and altho it's a heater, the 6000 on sale at ne is a great eol for any am2 system, and it runs @ 3.2 in the ecs 890 boards... and performs great with a 8800...

2xxx's and 4xxx's give very satisfactory performance @ 3+ghz's...
 
Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Originally posted by: sjwaste
Sort of, in the sense that my CPU is still an E2200 @ 3.2 GHz, stock volts.
Click to expand...
There's no WAY that you have an E2200 at 3.2Ghz at only stock volts.

I dare you to run CoreTemp, get your VID, and then manually set your Vcore equal to that VID rather than leave it on AUTO, and then run some stability tests and get back to us.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I wonder if he has "auto" as his setting for voltage. That often leads people to believe they're at stock when they're not.
 
Originally posted by: nerp
Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Originally posted by: sjwaste
Sort of, in the sense that my CPU is still an E2200 @ 3.2 GHz, stock volts.
Click to expand...
There's no WAY that you have an E2200 at 3.2Ghz at only stock volts.

I dare you to run CoreTemp, get your VID, and then manually set your Vcore equal to that VID rather than leave it on AUTO, and then run some stability tests and get back to us.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I wonder if he has "auto" as his setting for voltage. That often leads people to believe they're at stock when they're not.
Click to expand...

You're right, its on auto. Didn't realize that wasn't the same as stock, as it used to be in the past.

But VirtualLarry's response was sort of indicative of an enthusiast almost taking offense to my statement. In fact, I think he might've actually been offended. Seriously, lighten up. Not all of us are here to squeeze out every last bit of clock on our CPU's. I bought it, read that people were getting 3.2 on it, so I tried 8x400. It worked, so I left it. That's it, I had no interest in running stability tests, bumping the voltage for a little more FSB, etc. It boots, it's stable for the few things I use it for, so I'm happy.

Could I go past 3.2? Probably, seeing how easy it was to get there in the first place. But the fact that I'm not trying it probably doesn't make me "hard core" enough to post in this forum I suppose.
 
Originally posted by: sjwaste
Originally posted by: nerp
Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Originally posted by: sjwaste
Sort of, in the sense that my CPU is still an E2200 @ 3.2 GHz, stock volts.
Click to expand...
There's no WAY that you have an E2200 at 3.2Ghz at only stock volts.

I dare you to run CoreTemp, get your VID, and then manually set your Vcore equal to that VID rather than leave it on AUTO, and then run some stability tests and get back to us.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I wonder if he has "auto" as his setting for voltage. That often leads people to believe they're at stock when they're not.
Click to expand...

You're right, its on auto. Didn't realize that wasn't the same as stock, as it used to be in the past.

But VirtualLarry's response was sort of indicative of an enthusiast almost taking offense to my statement. In fact, I think he might've actually been offended. Seriously, lighten up. Not all of us are here to squeeze out every last bit of clock on our CPU's. I bought it, read that people were getting 3.2 on it, so I tried 8x400. It worked, so I left it. That's it, I had no interest in running stability tests, bumping the voltage for a little more FSB, etc. It boots, it's stable for the few things I use it for, so I'm happy.

Could I go past 3.2? Probably, seeing how easy it was to get there in the first place. But the fact that I'm not trying it probably doesn't make me "hard core" enough to post in this forum I suppose.
Click to expand...


For what its worth, it was a simple oversight.....and as for VirtualLarry's response, I wouldn't take offensive to it. Just a statement that I am sure he has seen many of times that some don't admit to their error or that there is no proof to their statement, as you have stepped up to admit to an oversight. Either way, from your statement of "hard core" enough, doesn't justify what you are considering as "hard core". I can go to other sights for that. As far as I know, no one in here has made them or anybody else feel inferior to their personal machines and have, to the most part, helped in many ways from personal opinions to their personal experiences.

That's my opinion 🙂

 
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