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If you had to choose a between a mobo/cpu...

SonnyDaze

Diamond Member
So if you had $215 to spend on a mobo/cpu upgrade and knew you were going to OC which would you choose?

Combo 1:

ASUS P5QL PRO P43 mobo - $87
OR
GIGABYTE GA-EP43-DS3L mobo - $80
OR
MSI P43 Neo3-F LGA mobo - $90
AND
E7200 Wolfdale - $119

Combo 2:
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R - $120
OR
GIGIABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L - $99
OR
ASUS P5Q Pro P45 - $115
AND
E5200 Wolfdale - $83


Or possibly combo 3 being a P43/E5200 combo? Would the E5200 OC well on a P43?



Any and all input is greatly appreciated. 🙂
 
UD3R + e5200

Most people get into the 3-3.2GHz range with the e5200. That's plenty of horsepower for now for most apps.

Wait a few weeks - in the AT article on the newly launched Phenom II they indicate that Intel has price drops "quietly" coming for late January. From what I've heard the e5200 should drop into the $60 range.

Then, in about a year or so, upgrade to a Q9550 (probably ~$200) and you'll be good for several years.
 
There are more componets to consider in a stable OC rig than simply MB & CPU.

A blown 454 in a Vega body won't hold up in the long run. 😛
 
I would actually strongly consider the E7300 and P43, although the ideal would be to stretch a little bit for the E7200 and P45.

P43 should be able to reach 400 FSB or close to it, which will take that E7200 pretty darn far. Further than a 5200 would go.

All of that said, it would help to know what he's doing with the computer. Most people don't have a real use for a 3 GHz Core2Duo.
 
Originally posted by: Blain
There are more componets to consider in a stable OC rig than simply MB & CPU.

A blown 454 in a Vega body won't hold up in the long run. 😛

Right. :thumbsup: He has a Corsair 550W PSU and 2 GB of AData ram that he'll be carrying over from his current rig. Not sure how that ram will hold up but I advised him to go to 4GB when he could.

Originally posted by: DSF

All of that said, it would help to know what he's doing with the computer. Most people don't have a real use for a 3 GHz Core2Duo.

He plays WoW constantly. :laugh: That's his only use for a computer really. He currently has an A64 3700/8500GT PCIe rig that he uses. He said he got a 4850 video card for Christmas and wants to use that in his new build.
 
Originally posted by: SonnyDaze
Originally posted by: Blain
There are more componets to consider in a stable OC rig than simply MB & CPU.

A blown 454 in a Vega body won't hold up in the long run. 😛

Right. :thumbsup: He has a Corsair 550W PSU and 2 GB of AData ram that he'll be carrying over from his current rig. Not sure how that ram will hold up but I advised him to go to 4GB when he could.

Originally posted by: DSF

All of that said, it would help to know what he's doing with the computer. Most people don't have a real use for a 3 GHz Core2Duo.

He plays WoW constantly. :laugh: That's his only use for a computer really. He currently has an A64 3700/8500GT PCIe rig that he uses. He said he got a 4850 video card for Christmas and wants to use that in his new build.

Ah well if its for WoW then go for the E7200 with the EP43-DS3L
 
I would go with the E7300 to get something like a 3.3GHz OC on a standard 1333FSB.
A cooler like the AC Freezer 7 Pro would work well. The A-Data memory would still be underclocked with the CPU @ 3.3GHz.
 
Originally posted by: Blain
I would go with the E7300 to get something like a 3.3GHz OC on a standard 1333FSB.

That would be possible on a P43 mobo?

Originally posted by: Blain
A cooler like the AC Freezer 7 Pro would work well. The A-Data memory would still be underclocked with the CPU @ 3.3GHz.

Damn I just thought of that A-Data memory in his old rig.......it would only be DDR and not DDR2 wouldn't it? 😕 I'll have to go back and look at it.
 
If it's your friend's comp, how do you know if he'll even want it overclocked??? You said it's only for WOW so I would just go with the E7300 and P43 mobo. Should be just fine for WOW. Also I would spring for 4GB ram and I'm sure it would help with places where there's a lot going on.

A P43 mobo could easily hit 3.3GHz with an E7300 as it's only bringing the FSB to 333 compared to 266 for the E7300 stock. I have my E6300 FSB running at 400 on a P43 mobo.
 
I have an E5200 and P5QL-E (P43) running 272x12.5 for 3.4GHz at 1.232v (not the lowest it can go, i am gradually lowering to see what the minimum I can run at is. I started off very high, >1.3v and haven't invested much time in finding the minimum yet).
If you get an E5200 a P45 is a waste unless you need what P45 offers (2x x16 PCIe slots basically). P43 has way more than enough headroom for an E5200 overclock to almost anything you could imagine hitting.
I've got my DDR2 800 RAM running 2.04v at 4-4-4-12 818MHz (2:3) as well, and the only reason I haven't tried overclocking higher is because of temps.

Obviously YMMV with E5200's (and also with E7xxx), but P43 is far more than an E5200 could ever need.
Any P43 that will do 333MHz (1333MHz) FSB and has voltage options up to 2.1v or so for RAM and 1.35~1.4v for CPU would be fine for an E5200 overclock.

There's (IMO) not much point in investing lots in dead technology, hence when I bought (1 week ago) I went for cheap DDR2-800, a fairly cheap P43 and a cheap E5200.
 
Originally posted by: zerocool84
If it's your friend's comp, how do you know if he'll even want it overclocked???

He's dabbled with OC'ing his 939 setup he has now so I'm sure he'll try it with this build. And I'll probably/most likely/will end up putting this all together for him. So I myself :evil: am interested in seeing what Intel has to offer in an OC as I've always been an AMD buyer/enthusiast/fanboy.

Originally posted by: Lonyo
I have an E5200 and P5QL-E (P43) running 272x12.5 for 3.4GHz at 1.232v (not the lowest it can go, i am gradually lowering to see what the minimum I can run at is. I started off very high, >1.3v and haven't invested much time in finding the minimum yet).
If you get an E5200 a P45 is a waste unless you need what P45 offers (2x x16 PCIe slots basically). P43 has way more than enough headroom for an E5200 overclock to almost anything you could imagine hitting.
I've got my DDR2 800 RAM running 2.04v at 4-4-4-12 818MHz (2:3) as well, and the only reason I haven't tried overclocking higher is because of temps.

Obviously YMMV with E5200's (and also with E7xxx), but P43 is far more than an E5200 could ever need.
Any P43 that will do 333MHz (1333MHz) FSB and has voltage options up to 2.1v or so for RAM and 1.35~1.4v for CPU would be fine for an E5200 overclock.

There's (IMO) not much point in investing lots in dead technology, hence when I bought (1 week ago) I went for cheap DDR2-800, a fairly cheap P43 and a cheap E5200.

And I'm thinking along the same lines but he might have to go with an E5200/P43 setup since he has a $215 cap and will need memory too (I'm sure the memory in his 939 rig is only DDR not DDR2 so he can't use that). I might help him out there though if he can scrounge some $$ for the E7200/P43 upgrade. I just don't want to sell the kid short on his expectations for more FPS in WoW 😎 in this upgrade (But with that 4850 video card I wonder if an OC'ed E5200 would be a bottleneck?).

 
GIGABYTE GA-EP43-DS3L mobo - $80

I've been using this with an E8400 at stock speed since July and it's been flawless. I don't OC but it's supposed to be a good choice for OC to at least 800 FSB.
 
Originally posted by: SonnyDaze

Damn I just thought of that A-Data memory in his old rig.......it would only be DDR and not DDR2 wouldn't it? 😕 I'll have to go back and look at it.
You're the one picking out the C2D processor options.
I assumed that you knew if the rest of the components were compatible or not. 😕

 
Originally posted by: SonnyDaze
Originally posted by: zerocool84
If it's your friend's comp, how do you know if he'll even want it overclocked???

He's dabbled with OC'ing his 939 setup he has now so I'm sure he'll try it with this build. And I'll probably/most likely/will end up putting this all together for him. So I myself :evil: am interested in seeing what Intel has to offer in an OC as I've always been an AMD buyer/enthusiast/fanboy.

Originally posted by: Lonyo
I have an E5200 and P5QL-E (P43) running 272x12.5 for 3.4GHz at 1.232v (not the lowest it can go, i am gradually lowering to see what the minimum I can run at is. I started off very high, >1.3v and haven't invested much time in finding the minimum yet).
If you get an E5200 a P45 is a waste unless you need what P45 offers (2x x16 PCIe slots basically). P43 has way more than enough headroom for an E5200 overclock to almost anything you could imagine hitting.
I've got my DDR2 800 RAM running 2.04v at 4-4-4-12 818MHz (2:3) as well, and the only reason I haven't tried overclocking higher is because of temps.

Obviously YMMV with E5200's (and also with E7xxx), but P43 is far more than an E5200 could ever need.
Any P43 that will do 333MHz (1333MHz) FSB and has voltage options up to 2.1v or so for RAM and 1.35~1.4v for CPU would be fine for an E5200 overclock.

There's (IMO) not much point in investing lots in dead technology, hence when I bought (1 week ago) I went for cheap DDR2-800, a fairly cheap P43 and a cheap E5200.

And I'm thinking along the same lines but he might have to go with an E5200/P43 setup since he has a $215 cap and will need memory too (I'm sure the memory in his 939 rig is only DDR not DDR2 so he can't use that). I might help him out there though if he can scrounge some $$ for the E7200/P43 upgrade. I just don't want to sell the kid short on his expectations for more FPS in WoW 😎 in this upgrade (But with that 4850 video card I wonder if an OC'ed E5200 would be a bottleneck?).

Actually... my video card is an HD4850 too. 😎 Res is 1680x1050.
I was using an X2 4200+ (@ stock) 939, and while it seemed alright (in Bioshock etc, 2007's games), when I tried playing this years games (Fallout 3, Farcry 2) it chugged along somewhat.
Upgrading from the 4200+ to an overclocked E5200 has made a huge improvement to Fallout 3, absolutely massive. It no longer lags at all, it's much much nicer, and I've been able to turn up graphics options.

While I don't know if the E5200 and HD4850 are a perfect match, I do know that an E5200 will unleash a lot more of the potential of an HD4850 than a 939 rig will, at least in some newer games. It's a much sweetened experience IMO.

Not sure what the WoW change would be like, since I don't have it, but certainly a 939 system will likely be limiting the HD4850 quite a lot.
 
Originally posted by: Blain
You're the one picking out the C2D processor options.
I assumed that you knew if the rest of the components were compatible or not. 😕

My brain farted and I had a momentary lapse of 😕.

Looks like it will be an E7300 (Newegg has the E7200 as deactivated but the E7300 is the same price) and the GA-EP43-DS3L. He scrounged a few more $$ for 4GB of G. Skill DDR2 6400.

Thanks.
 
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