Does unlocked multi help for 790gx mobos?

[konakona]

I am not totally new to AMD cpu overclocking, I have read a few guides on s939 back when I still had my x2. Then I moved to c2d and only worked with a few c2d procs - e2200, e6400, e7200 etc. While I am not all that familiar how phonom OC works, I keep hearing HTT on mobo can be a limiting factor. If that is all unlocked multi is good for, does it help for mobos that have a high HTT ceiling?

The particular one I am looking at is Biostar TA790GX ($99 AR + shipping from egg). If 710 gets me a couple hundred mhz less OC, I don't think I will see the difference (though buyer's remorse is going to haunt me :evil On the flip side, as I am trying to keep the cost down, a $30 difference is a relatively big deal to me. I mean, that is probably the only justification in me to go with P2 instead of a (probably) better overclocking and better performing c2d. Oh btw, I don't do any encoding, folding, 3d rendering or simulation of any sort. This is going to be a strictly gaming machine, as far as performance critical apps go.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

The HTT is nearly a non-issue - you can just drop it in the BIOS. I've haven't done any extreme overclocking, bu the HTT on my Biostar TA790GX does 2300 with no problem. I currently have an X3 710 @ 3.3 Ghz, with the unlocked core.

Based on AT's latest PhII review, and also TR's, the X3 710 and e8400 are close enough in gaming benchmarks that there isn't a noticeable difference, IMO.

 

[konakona]

I see. AT's subjective note of P2 systems having better min frame rates kinda swayed me toward AMD direction, plus I would rather give my money to AMD if all things were nearly equal. So what you are saying is given that your mobo is good enough, there is nothing 720 BE would offer over 710 for OC?

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: konakona
I see. AT's subjective note of P2 systems having better min frame rates kinda swayed me toward AMD direction, plus I would rather give my money to AMD if all things were nearly equal. So what you are saying is given that your mobo is good enough, there is nothing 720 BE would offer over 710 for OC?

I'd imagine that 720BE might overclock by another 200mhz or so, since it's a higher-binned chip. There's more data for the 720BE because it's "easier" to overclock, although I would hardly describe overclocking a 710 as "hard".

On my mobo, I set the HTT @ 1600, the NB @ 1600, and the RAM (I have DDR2-800) at 667. The FSB (HT ref. clock in AMD parlance) is set to 256, and so now, the HTT/NB is only slightly over spec, the RAM is at ~845, the CPU is at 3.3ghz, at 1.45v.

I would expect many X3 710's to get to 3.5ghz at least, with good cooling. Of course, YMMV on that.

 

[konakona]

Fair enough. I will do a bit of final thinking and most likely end up buying that 710