Most bang For my Buck, Best overclocker!

[Desisuperman]

I've been out of the scene for a very logn time an di have been lloking to buy a new system. The last time i was one here the xp1700 Type B was the best overclocker fot it's money.

I'm considering a 3500+ but i'm noty sure if it's a good overclocker for it's money. Is there anything i need to know about this chip and it's overclocking ability?

I'm having the same problem with selecting a motherboard. I've been reading a a lot of articles on MB reviews and i have a good idea what to consider. Antyhign i need to be aware of as far as selecting a MB goes if i'm going to be OC?

 

[Duvie]

NOt at that price of the 3500+...Since ram has been found to be a non factor an cheapo stuff can do just as well...

I would get the 3000+ sckt939 Winchester. Chances are it will do as high as the 3200 and 3500+ flavors...

3500+ has a terrible price/performance ratio versus the other 2....

 

[mwmorph]

whats the multiplier of a 3000+? 9?

 

[Duvie]

YEP!!!!

Get it 300fsb for 2.7ghz you can run 600ddr (maybe unlikely without expensive ram running cas3) or 500ish ddr (can be done with modrate and cas2.5 stuff) or 400ddr (pc3200..pretty much everything just depending on cas you want to run...)

only a few boards will do 300fb reliably....

so if you think the fsb is too high save the money on the board and get a 3200+...a lot more boards can do the fsb this w ill likely need...

 

[SrGuapo]

All the winchester flavors will top out around 2.6-2.7 on air. I would suggest either a 3000+ or a 3200+. With the 3000+, since there is a lower multi, you will need a much higher HTT to keep up (which hey are perfectly capable of), so you will need to buy a very good OCing board (MSI neo2 Plat, or Epox 9NDA3+ for AGP - ot sure about nForce4). I personally got the 3200+ because I wanted to OC a bit and not have to mess with my vcore too much (I'm at 240x10 w/out touching the vcore).

 

[mwmorph]

crap so i have to do 280 and 7:5 mem divider.

 

[Desisuperman]

so lets say i go with the 3200. Which model do i go with the s754 or the s939. Which is the newer one, i'm guessing the 939. Any differnce in performance?

 

[mwmorph]

s939 is slightly faster if you have 2 sticks of identical ram.

 

[ts3433]

Yeah, dual channel makes up for the 200MHz loss in clock speed when comparing 754 vs. 939. A Winchester core, which is only on S939, will also overclock a bit better than a Newcastle variant. The main argument between the two sockets is more or less an upgradeability debate.

 

[Mrvile]

I hate when people rip on the 3500+.

Guess I can't argue though when I got it for 250 bucks

Anyway my best bang4buck OC system would be like:

3000+ Winchester
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
2x 512mb OCZ EL Plat Rev2 DDR400
6800GT

Duvie I'm on 306fsb right now and I don't even know how high I can go...

 

[Zebo]

Best bang for the buck is still the mobile 2400 for $77 and Shuttle AN35N for $50. The whole set up is less than a 2800A64 alone and both will get 2500Mhz.

Problem is features and future with that setup. I can't put a value on it maybe you can.

-A64 is 64 bit compatable XP 64 is coming out, programers will then start writing for 64 you XP will be obsolete in a couple year maybe?
-A64 is about ~18% faster clock for clock.
-A64 has incredibe latency for snappyness
-A64 has NX bit for anti malice/virus
-A64 comes on PCIe, the video slot of future cards.
-A64 mobos will have furture chips so you can upgrade

Best bang for buck A64 is 2800 w. Chaintech VNF3-250 ($200)

Best bang for buck A64 939 is 3000 w/ Epox 9NDA3J ($250)

Best bang for buck A64 939 PCIe is not out yet.

IMO since you seem an irregular upgrader wait 1-2 months for DFI's 939 PCIe boards, PCIe prices will fall like the $300 800XL, and get into a 3000 + DFI PCIe board for $300.

Future, rock stable, lightning fast overclocking.

 

[CheesePoofs]

Originally posted by: Mrvile
I hate when people rip on the 3500+.

Guess I can't argue though when I got it for 250 bucks

Anyway my best bang4buck OC system would be like:

3000+ Winchester
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
2x 512mb OCZ EL Plat Rev2 DDR400
6800GT

Duvie I'm on 306fsb right now and I don't even know how high I can go...

I wouldn't get that ram, waste of money IMO. You don't need good ram to OC an athlon 64, and getting the good ram will give you only the slightest increase in performance. Get value ram for half the price and use the money saved to upgrade to a 3200+ if you don't want to have to use the high FSB, or just keep it.

 

[BlindBartimaeus]

Most of the newer 3000 754's will hit 2.5 at 250 fsb which is your best bang for your buck

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: CheesePoofs

Originally posted by: Mrvile
I hate when people rip on the 3500+.

Guess I can't argue though when I got it for 250 bucks

Anyway my best bang4buck OC system would be like:

3000+ Winchester
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
2x 512mb OCZ EL Plat Rev2 DDR400
6800GT

Duvie I'm on 306fsb right now and I don't even know how high I can go...

I wouldn't get that ram, waste of money IMO. You don't need good ram to OC an athlon 64, and getting the good ram will give you only the slightest increase in performance. Get value ram for half the price and use the money saved to upgrade to a 3200+ if you don't want to have to use the high FSB, or just keep it.

Yeah Cheesepoofs I thought it over and the OCZ ram is pretty expensive (260 bucks). But if you wanna OC the crap outa your CPU you really can't settle with Valueram, as with Valueram you can only OC to like 2.2ghz. I don't know where to go with this one maybe you can suggest a ram.

 

[ts3433]

Zebo's memory tests, stickied to the top of this forum, demonstrate that that isn't the case; his CPU speed was kept constant at 2610MHz for everything, and he even used some mildly overclocked PC2100 with the setup successfully. You can go with value PC3200 and be fine. 1:1 isn't important with an A64.

 

[Mrvile]

Oh wow I never read Zebo's Memory Matrix, now I know. I guess value is fine eh.

 

[shira]

Originally posted by: CheesePoofs


I wouldn't get that ram, waste of money IMO. You don't need good ram to OC an athlon 64, and getting the good ram will give you only the slightest increase in performance.

I agree, with one exception: Applications which are extremely CPU/memory intensive will benefit greatly from high-quality RAM. Even Zebo's test bore this out:

"Winrar in KB/s
PC2300 - 3-3-3 1T- 496
PC3000 - 3-3-3 1T- 564
PC3000 - 2-2-2 1T- 636
PC4700 - 3-4-3 1T- 651
PC3800 - 2.5-2-2-1T - 703!!!
Here we see pretty signifigant gains due to bandwidth 41% diff top to bottom. This test obviously is very beneficial to have bandwidth or LL. Update: Crucial Ballistix owning all, Winrar seems the like LL even more than bandwidth. We sorta saw this already by the very close scores of PC3000 LL VS PC4700 high bandwitdh."

So, there might be cases in which the extra cost for RAM could be justified.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Mrvile
Oh wow I never read Zebo's Memory Matrix, now I know. I guess value is fine eh.

Absoluty. No way you'll percive a difference; even in the small selection of application the showed improvment with high dollar ram , not to mention no improvment on most apps.

 

[fireontheway]

Thank you Zebo:

 

[SunSamurai]

Originally posted by: shira

Originally posted by: CheesePoofs


I wouldn't get that ram, waste of money IMO. You don't need good ram to OC an athlon 64, and getting the good ram will give you only the slightest increase in performance.

I agree, with one exception: Applications which are extremely CPU/memory intensive will benefit greatly from high-quality RAM. Even Zebo's test bore this out:

"Winrar in KB/s
PC2300 - 3-3-3 1T- 496
PC3000 - 3-3-3 1T- 564
PC3000 - 2-2-2 1T- 636
PC4700 - 3-4-3 1T- 651
PC3800 - 2.5-2-2-1T - 703!!!
Here we see pretty signifigant gains due to bandwidth 41% diff top to bottom. This test obviously is very beneficial to have bandwidth or LL. Update: Crucial Ballistix owning all, Winrar seems the like LL even more than bandwidth. We sorta saw this already by the very close scores of PC3000 LL VS PC4700 high bandwitdh."

So, there might be cases in which the extra cost for RAM could be justified.

Yes, if all you do is compress files all day.

 

[Moosemilk]

So I'm wondering what the best overclock I can expect from my recent best bang for the buck system purchase (The vid card carried over since I can't afford a new one yet.) Anyone have a similar rig? Should I lower the multiplier to get the best results (ie 280mhz x 8 and mem divider of 7:5)? Or just raise the HTT and leave the mem divider at 1:1? Any advice would be appreciated.

Also, I noticed the Vcore is at 1.4. Isn't that a bit low?

Thanks. I really appreciate the forum and the time and effort you guys put into helping others out.

Cheers,

MM

 

[xbdestroya]

1.4 vcore is the normal voltage for a Winchester core Athlon 64; In fact the 3000+ can be made to run stable at that speed even down to 1.35 and 1.3 vcore - something to keep in mind. But you should be able to overclock it a pretty good deal just by keeping it at 1.4. 1.5 should get you most of the rest of the way on air; you may not even need to up it.

1.5 is the normal voltage for the .13 process chips, 1.4 for the 90nm.

If you look at the AMD official tech docs for their Cool n' Quiet, that's where you glean the info that these chips really are capable of running at lower vcore's when dealing with the 2800, 3000 speed grades. Which of course all points to better overclockability.

 

[Zebo]

PM super he got your abit board...it's tempermental..I could not get it past 250HTT but he gots secrets

http://forums.anandtech.com/se....aspx?ProfileID=149607

 

[cryptonomicon]

best bang for buck?

if i am reading that correctly the choice is undoubtably a 754 mobile or sempron. cheap as hell. almost any sempron will do 2.5ghz, and mobiles get at least that.

 

[MrK6]

Best bang for your buck system right now is still a standard socket 754 Athlon 64 (the dual channel RAM of S939 DOES NOT make up for the 200MHz decrease in speed). I've heard of people having alot of issues with using mobiles on desktop boards (my guess as to why they didn't take off as well as the Mobile XP's did), and Semprons are just too neutered for the little money that you save. My 3000+ (CG revision) is happily doing the specs below 30hrs.+ prime 95 tested :thumbsup: (and I'd believe I could get to at least 2.45GHz on 1.7v). It's not future proof, but unless you upgrade constantly, by the time this set up rolls around to being too slow, technology will change enough to warrant an entire new computer. One thing though, when you're getting RAM, make sure you don't go too cheap. I had alot of issues with my Kingmax RAM ($145 for a GB, what can I say) and ended up RMA'ing both sticks until I got something that worked (so far). I'd recommend mushkin or kreton RAM if you're going to go for value RAM. Good luck with your new system man.