Inexpensive mobo to overclock E2140

[MegaVovaN]

Hi all!

I wanna get my brother an inexpensive set-up to watch HD video and do some light gaming (he has MY computer for extreme gaming 😉 ).

I looked around and came to this set-up:

E2140 Allendale
2x 1gb Jetram DDR2-800
8600GT 256mb

and...
ASRock ConRoe1333-D667 R1.0 LGA 775 Intel 945GC A2 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

(I already have case, PSU, hard drives, etc)
I want to overclock using stock cooling. I read that E2140 got lots of headroom for OC, even on air and stock cooling.

Would the set-up I listed OC well? I am confused that mobo says "D667" in model name, yet some of commenters on newegg say they run their RAM at 800 mhz and even 900 mhz!

If RAM I chose is junk, please let me know, but keep in mind this is an inexpensive build!

TIA

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Possible IP35-E for sale. If RAM is rated for 1.8V, then it should work well with these P35 boards. Use 1:1 memory divider.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2135230&enterthread=y

 

[renethx]

945GC officially supports only DDR2-533 and DDR2-667. But you can use DDR2-800 as it is able to run at a lower frequency. In general 945GC does not overclock well with FSB 800 processors. You will need to do BSEL mod to achive good overclocking (FSB 266-350MHz) with this board.

If you don't want to do mod, then you'd better choose a GeForce 7100/7150, P965, P35, G33 or G35 motherboard with good oc options. For example, eVGA GeForce 7100 or 7150, GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L. Yeah, you have to pay more.

Memory: Brand does not matter as long as it works (unless you want to overclock it).

 

[BlueAcolyte]

The IP-35E is on newegg for $90 and the ga-p35-ds3l is on zipzoomfly for $90.

Also, you could look at the p31 chipset, its $20 less expensive but doesn't officially support 1333FSB.

 

[Denithor]

Might consider this motherboard based on the GeForce 7100 chipset.

EVGA 112-CK-NF75-K1 mATX $65 after $15MIR

EDIT: And that's going to be some very light gaming with an 8600GT. While gaming won't be much improved, you could use the GeCube 2600XT with GDDR4 memory and an upgraded dual-slot cooler (perfect for HTPC, dumps hot air out of the case). I think the 2600XT cards have slightly better HD playback features than the 8600GT (don't recall where I heard that though).