New budget Intel o/c rig

[jesterb84]

The last time I bought a new system/upgraded was in 6 years, but thanks to this forum, I believe my knowledge is "reasonably" caught up (especially the great o/c sticky). My goal is to build a very budget system with good o/c potential and decent for expansion (looking to replace CPU to quad-core and upgrade video card in about 1-1.5 years). Here is what I came up with:

PSU: Corsair CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX 12V 41A 24PIN
Mobo: Asus P5K-SE (P35 + ICH9)
CPU: Intel Pentium Dual Core E2160
RAM: Mushkin HP2-6400 2GB(2x1GB) DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 (2.1v)
GPU: <deciding>

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Question #1: People have been saying on this forum how great an overclocker the P35 chipset is. I wanted the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L as people were raving about this but it's out of stock and don't know when more will come. So, I found an Asus P5K-SE and did a search on this forum with only 1 hit. My question is, does the P5K-SE have any known issues with o/c? I'm slightly worried about the "SE" suffix and didn't want anything to be gimped w.r.t o/c. I'm aware it has only 2 PCI slots but that's not an issue for me!

Question #2: I read in a thread here that out of the E2140, E2160, E2180 series that the E2160 was the best out of the bunch for o/c. Since E2140 to E2160 is only $3 difference, I went with the E2160. Here's the thing, people are saying that the E2200 is even better because you just up the FSB to o/c but where I'm buying, it's almost +$20 more expensive. Is the E2200 really much better than the E2160 in terms of o/c? I want to hit 3.0-3.2GHz on stock cooling with air if possible.

Question #3: The RAM. The description said 2.1v on the Mushkin HP2 and I saw others at 1.8v instead. Will the higher voltage have any impact on my system? I can also pay a little cheaper and get 5-5-5-12 or OCZ 5-5-5-15 RAM @ 1.8v - would those higher timings make any significant impact in system performance?

Phew...that was a long post but I'm hoping some people on here can give me some insight into what I've assembled so far. I'm very tight on budget and I just don't want to make any silly screw-ups.

 

[jesterb84]

Whoops, can a mod kindly move this to the CPU section? Clicked on something wrong.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Were it my build I would get the Abit IP35-E, there has been some great OC sucess with this board both here and over at XS.

The main advantage to the 2200 is the higher multiplier. Higher multiplier means it takes less FSB to get to the same total Ghz given that you want to reatin stock cooling, I think the extra multiplier could be a pretty large advantage for you but, not a necessity.

As for the ram, I would just get the cheap red G.Skill DDR2-800, it's doubtful you'll actually be overclocking the ram anyways.

 

[jesterb84]

Thanks Derwen for answering my questions. I did find out about the IP35-E from some further reading here but my local store doesn't seem to carry any. It's seems cheaper than the P5K-SE too so I'll try and see if I can find one. Based on your comments above, I will probably try and up the processor to the E2200 while skimping off on the RAM and getting some higher latency DDR2-800 with 5-5-5-x timings.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Originally posted by: jesterb84
Thanks Derwen for answering my questions. I did find out about the IP35-E from some further reading here but my local store doesn't seem to carry any. It's seems cheaper than the P5K-SE too so I'll try and see if I can find one. Based on your comments above, I will probably try and up the processor to the E2200 while skimping off on the RAM and getting some higher latency DDR2-800 with 5-5-5-x timings.

ther overall performance gain from running cas 5 down to cas 4 is pretty minimal in practical applications and much smaller than the extra overclocking potential of having the extra multiplier headroom, good choice.

 

[Mondoman]

I'll differ and say the e2160 is better than the e2200 in this case, because of its "just right" multiplier. The e2160 will reach 3GHz at a 1333MHz FSB, which is now a "standard" FSB that any decent modern MB should handle without trouble. By contrast, to run the e2200 at 3GHz, you'd use a 1090MHz FSB because of the CPU's higher multiplier. That means it will perform a bit more slowly than the OC'd e2160, since memory throughput will be limited by the 1090MHz FSB vs. the e2160's 1333MHz FSB.
If you wanted to try for 3.66GHz CPU OC instead (which would be very hard to reach with either the e2200 or e2160), then I'd go for the e2200 instead, as it would reach 3.66GHz while still running a "standard" 1333MHz FSB, while the e2160 would require a roughly 1600MHz FSB for the same core speed.

 

[blanketyblank]

the higher the multiplier the more options you have for OCing. The e2180 is pretty cheap at about 60 AR from tigerdirect, and has a higher multiplier than the e2140 and e2160. Remember you can always use a lower multiplier, but you can't go higher.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Originally posted by: blanketyblank
the higher the multiplier the more options you have for OCing. The e2180 is pretty cheap at about 60 AR from tigerdirect, and has a higher multiplier than the e2140 and e2160. Remember you can always use a lower multiplier, but you can't go higher.

exactly my point and apparently the one mondoman missed, you don't have to use the stock multiplier but, if you have it there's atleast the option there and I know very few overclockers who guy a chip to specifically do 3ghz or 3.66ghz. They buy a chip and see what it'll do, hoping for 4ghz(cause we all secretly are).

 

[jesterb84]

Just as an addition to my original post - how is o/c for MicroATX so far? Would the size of the case be a significant factor and are there any known good o/c mobos for the MicroATX architecture? I had hoped for a smaller form factor prior but it seems most who o/c go for the full ATX architecture instead.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

you'll have to check in motherboards probably but, I seem to remember hearing about an ASUS uATX that oc'ed pretty well.

 

[Tweakin]

Originally posted by: Mondoman
By contrast, to run the e2200 at 3GHz, you'd use a 1090MHz FSB because of the CPU's higher multiplier.

I have yet to see an E2200...am I missing something?

 

[jesterb84]

Originally posted by: Tweakin

Originally posted by: Mondoman
By contrast, to run the e2200 at 3GHz, you'd use a 1090MHz FSB because of the CPU's higher multiplier.

I have yet to see an E2200...am I missing something?

They're on sale near where I live for $94.99 CAD and the E2160 @ $77.99 CAD.

 

[Tweakin]

Originally posted by: jesterb84

Originally posted by: Tweakin

Originally posted by: Mondoman
By contrast, to run the e2200 at 3GHz, you'd use a 1090MHz FSB because of the CPU's higher multiplier.

I have yet to see an E2200...am I missing something?

They're on sale near where I live for $94.99 CAD and the E2160 @ $77.99 CAD.

Link please...

 

[jesterb84]

Originally posted by: Tweakin

Originally posted by: jesterb84

Originally posted by: Tweakin

Originally posted by: Mondoman
By contrast, to run the e2200 at 3GHz, you'd use a 1090MHz FSB because of the CPU's higher multiplier.

I have yet to see an E2200...am I missing something?

They're on sale near where I live for $94.99 CAD and the E2160 @ $77.99 CAD.

Link please...

Go here, I live about 10 minutes from this place...

 

[Tweakin]

Thanks...I'll check it out!

 

[Markfw]

Here is the list on newegg, E2140 through E2200
Plus some others....