Core 2 Duo Overclocking Components

[Sergio965]

Hi,

I've been researching about the different options (motherboard wise) that I can use to overclock my E6600 (Which I have yet to buy). Overall, I've seen amazing results with the ASUS P5W-DH Deluxe, but, I have also seen amazing (stunning even) results (500FSB) from the Gigabyte GA 965P-DS3.

The Asus board costs $100 more, and seems to yield 100mhz less than the Gigabyte board (FSB).

My goal, primarily, is to overclock the E6600 to 4ghz stabily, which seems to be incredibly possible with the Gigabyte board. I'm not sure whether I would have to change the voltage on the board, or the chip, so any help on that would be appreciated.

For the cooling, I've been looking at the Zalman CNPS9500 (Led or AT), the Tuniq Tower 120. The Tuniq tower doesn't looks like it could help the Motherboard (in terms of stress exerted on it), but it does seem to cool. Any other suggestions would be great.

Also, does the RAM matter to the overclocking of the chip? IE: Less ram = less clock speed for the E6600?

Any thoughts on these ideas? I'm leaning incredibly towards the Gigabyte board, and the Zalman - just wanted to see if they're a good catch or not.

Thanks!

 

[Skott]

From what I heard the Gigabyte can reach 501fsb (I think thats only one person though. No gurantee you will too). The ASUS has a new bios (not sure if its released yet or not) that will allow up to 500fsb from the original 450fsb. Just remember when OCing there are no gurantees you'll do as good as someone else. Of course its possible you could do better as well. I would lean towards the ASUS in this choice but thats just me. With the new bios I feel it has more potential. Of course thats an untested potential.

 

[theteamaqua]

forget that ... no way E6600 can do 4GHz stable ...

the highest stable E6600 can do is around 3.8GHz .. on P5W DH ...

also overclocking is not that easy.

the clock speed u can achieve lies on:
1. board
2. cpu steppings
3. RAM
4. overclocker's skill
5. cooling

a lot of people assume #4 automatically, they blame the baord primarily/ or cpu

also FYI
GA-965-DS3 is not so good with E6600 or above, actually thats not true, its only good with 8x multi (and PS yes u can lower multi via EIST) and 7x multi, there is no way 8x or 9x multi can reach 500+fsb with air cooling/water. (not even LN2, cuz most X6800 weere OC by imcrease multi) so with 8x or 7x multi, its a fair game for all the chips

This time overclocking the baord is holding the CPU back

 

[theteamaqua]

below is my prediction for good clock: for 24/7 stable, at elast pi 32m stable

E6300 : 7 x 450 to 480 ~ 3.3Ghz
E6400: 8 x 440 ~ 3.5Ghz

as for any chips (ie E6600 ) or above i dont really care cuz clock/price ratio sux for anything above

i doubt E6700 + a 975 board can do 4GHz stable with air cooling, even if it can thats a really costly 500Mhz which i dont think intel will make that money from me. E6700 + 975 board ~ 550+250= $800 , E6400 + DS3 ~ $250+ $150 = $400

so much for $400 USD ....

 

[Sergio965]

Well, I'm not going to step down to an E6300 or 400 only because they have a better overclocking advantage earlier in the game. If I have to, I'll buy the cheapest board I can for the meantime, and, when a true E6600 winner is released, I'll go ahead and upgrade to that.

I have read, many many times, that the E6600 has a huge overclocking potential. I have also read that the only thing keeping it down at the moment is/are the boards.

Any ideas/comments?

 

[Skott]

As Aqua mentioned we dont know for sure the full potential of the E6600 (actually all of the Conroes) because the early mobos so far are the bottleneck. They really arent that great of mobos. They were rushed out in advance of Conroe's launch. The next improved wave of mobos will show us a better potential of what the Conroe chips can do. Also I think if you want to hit 4GHz+ you'll need to go watercooling for better stability. Just a hunch on my part.

 

[Shimmishim]

yes, 4 ghz is unlikely on air but possible... most people that have gotten to 4 ghz on air is only 1M superpi stable or 32M stable... no prime testing or 24/7 testing.

 

[Sergio965]

Originally posted by: Skott
From what I heard the Gigabyte can reach 501fsb (I think thats only one person though. No gurantee you will too). The ASUS has a new bios (not sure if its released yet or not) that will allow up to 500fsb from the original 450fsb. Just remember when OCing there are no gurantees you'll do as good as someone else. Of course its possible you could do better as well. I would lean towards the ASUS in this choice but thats just me. With the new bios I feel it has more potential. Of course thats an untested potential.

Do you have a link to where it states that about the new ASUS bios?

Thanks.