I want to setup a C2D E4300 OC Rig.

[homestarmy]

I'm setting up a rig for my girlfriend for video and photo editing, etc. I am looking into building an E4300 rig that will be able to be well (if not extremely well) overclocked.

I already have a 500w PSU, Case (MicroATX Cube with very good ventilation), Memory (2x512MB Kingston DDR2 533 IIRC), and Vid Card (7600GS).

I am also considering playing around with the Mac OS. I was advised that the chipset to get was the Intel 965P, but it appears that they don't make it in MicroATX - at least not as listed on Newegg. Anyone familiar with another good chipset that would work well in that scenario?

And what are my choices of chipsets for overclocking the E4300? Do I have choices, or is there just one that I need to go for? Will I be limited in requiring the MicroATX form factor?

Any motherboard recommendations specifically? Or do generally all of these Intel chipset boards now have the required changes?

Last, with the E4300, we OC using the FSB, correct? These chips aren't multiplier-unlocked upwards, are they?

Please forgive my n00b-ish questions. I generally work with AMD, but with the leaps and bounds that Intel has made (plus the direct compatibility that makes playing on the Apple platform possible), it is a no-brainer to go with Intel. Please feel free to link me elsewhere if there is other relevant material I should be reading.

And please forgive if you feel that talking about this MacTel stuff is against your morals/religion/whatever people like to moan about.

Thanks!

 

[homestarmy]

Also, what kind of idle/load temps are these things putting out stock and OC'ed on the stock HS/F?

 

[homestarmy]

?

 

[heatpipe]

Sorry you didn't get any replies. I just think most people here don't use and aren't familiar with micro atx boards (including me).

 

[magreen]

Originally posted by: homestarmy
I already have a 500w PSU, Case (MicroATX Cube with very good ventilation), Memory (2x512MB Kingston DDR2 533 IIRC), and Vid Card (7600GS).

And what are my choices of chipsets for overclocking the E4300? Do I have choices, or is there just one that I need to go for? Will I be limited in requiring the MicroATX form factor?

You'll be limited compared to ATX boards... with mATX you probably can't OC much past 266 FSB. Fortunately, that's called an overclock with the E4300 which runs at 200 FSB at stock... so you could OC it up to about 2.4 GHz (assuming the board's BIOS lets you set the FSB and doesn't just fix it at 200), maybe a touch past 266. Yes, its multiplier is locked so you OC by raising the FSB. Among Intel procs, only Extreme Editions have the multi upwards unlocked.

You have to look at the 945G and 965G chipsets. Those are the ones they put in mATX boards, and they have integrated video (not terribly useful for you since you have a graphics card). I'd recommend the 945G since it's good and stable and less expensive than the 965G. I don't see any advantage in getting a 965G motherboard.

It seems like there's some decent value choices in the $75 range on Newegg for a 945G mb... maybe look at the customer reviews there.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

check out Foxconn G9657MA-8EKRS2H also, reviews said it can overclock to almost 300
ib90-hd is from abit and was supposed to hit the market this month...not much info on this board besides some rumours sayin it will oc great. but we will see when its there.

on the other hand i dont think its really necessary to oc a rig for ur girlfriend but thats just me.

 

[Zap]

There are a couple of 945G boards that can hit above 300MHz FSB, but for some reason I haven't heard of great success with 965G. The Q965 chipset boards are supposed to overclock nicely, but nobody knows yet. Some also claim that there's a VIA chipset Abit board that overclocks nicely, but the jury's still out on those (some claims put the FSB at above what others are seeing as available options so maybe they're talking about different boards).

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

945g eh? drop some names pls iam lookin for a low power box myself - ML30@250gb is gettin old :]

 

[Skott]

Watch for the ABIT IB-90 HD. Its ABIT's new Conroe mATX mobo. ABIT said they were going to make a Conroe version of their NF-M2 mATX mobo (which is a really good OCer) and people are hoping the IB-90 HD is it. It hasnt released yet though.

ASUS currently has two Conroe mATX mobos that OC to about 300fsb. Thats about the best there is for now.

 

[magreen]

Originally posted by: BlingBlingArsch
on the other hand i dont think its really necessary to oc a rig for ur girlfriend but thats just me.

You don't know his girlfriend :laugh:

 

[renethx]

• ASRock ConRoe945G-DVI, ~$82, FSB 350MHz (a user report in AVS Forum)
• ASUS P5LD2-VM (R2.0), ~$103, FSB 348MHz (Newegg.com user review)
• ASUS P5L-VM 1394, ~$95, FSB 320MHz (Newegg.com user review)
• ASUS P5L-MX, ~$76, FSB 320MHz (Newegg.com user review)
• Foxconn G9657MA-8EKRS2H, ~$125, FSB 326MHz (the SysOpt.com review article); PCIe and FSB must be overclocked exactly by the same percentage.

FSB with E4300 could be different though.

 

[pxa270]

Unfortunately the "easy" 2.4Ghz E4300 on a 945G mATX board is not as easy as thought. The Asrock Conroe945G can't get past 224mhz fsb:
http://forums.ocworkbench.com/bbs/asroc...e945g-dvi-and-e4300-problem-58373.html
The P5LD2 is even stuck at 200mhz:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=900405&page=39

 

[renethx]

Even the P5B-VM (G965) is stuck at 200MHz:

http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1030563300&postcount=763

I just read this post in the thread E4300 Overclocks?

Originally posted by: Soulkeeper

i just got a 4300 setup 2 days ago
it is running happily at 2.65GHz on stock voltage
i havn't tryed to go higher yet as i don't wanna lower my ram speeds and am happy with this speed for now
also my board doesn't have vcore adjustment for some reason ... ASUS P5L-MX


i just updated my bios to the latest and pushed mine to 3.1Ghz on default voltage
tryed 350fsb but it wouldn't post right even with lower mem speeds
this looks like the limit for my chip without more vcore and/or better cooling
possibly the chipset/motherboard's limit also


i had to back down to 2.9GHz to be stable
the problem for me definately appears to be the motherboard not liking fsb speeds over 1300Mhz
if i could set the clock mult higher the cpu would almost certainly function over 3GHz stable

(FSB 1300MT/s = FSB 325MHz = CPU 2.93GHz.)

So the problem is definitely not the chipset. Maybe BIOS update would fix it?