New CPU or new PSU + Cooling + RAM?

[Wisey]

I have a Intel 2.6 Ghz and using Antec 320 W PSU, Asus P4P800, 2 DVD-rewriter, 2 Sata HD, Geforce 6600GT.

Recently I have been thinking of OCing my current Intel. This leads me to think of upgrading my PSU and maybe cooling and if necessary RAM.

Then it dawns upon me that I might as well buy a Intel Northwood 3.2 Ghz instead and save the rest of the purchases.

Which is the better choice?

 

[maluckey]

The current PSU that you list is borderline for daily use even if your setup is NOT OC'ed. I would suggest a faster CPU ONLY if you had a more solid PSU. I would reccomend the more solid PSU before anything, even with the current setup.

There are several solid PSU's on the market between 50-70 dollars, most noticeably a few FSP units. Steer clear of the Aurora units though. I say two excellent FSP units this week for 65-70 dollars. I saw an FSP-550 on E-Bay for 70 dollars recently.

 

[Wisey]

hmm...really? 320W Antec not good enough? You are suggested that I should change my PSU even if I stick to my current configuration?

My initial thinking was to either (1) upgrade CPU to northwood 3.2 Ghz and OCed a bit or (2) upgrade PSU and cooling to OC a lot on my CPU 2.6 Ghz, both will cost about the same to me.

Seems to me option 1 would be superior because I will get higher CPU speed and that is assuming I don't have to upgrade PSU and cooling and RAM.

 

[o1die]

I run my 2.8c at a 30% overclock with a lowly sparkle 300w power supply at 1.56 volts. Try yours before purchasing another power supply. I use an antec smartpower 350w now with a higher 12v rail of 21 amps, and it makes no difference in the overclock.

 

[mwmorph]

well 12v technically helps you co because you connect your fans to the 12v rail right?

 

[Wisey]

Currently I can only achieve 20% OC, at 30% OC WinXP won't boot.

So it's either the PSU or the cooling.

My main consideration is that if I purchase a new PSU and new cooling, it is almost the same outlay as buying a new Northwood 3.2Ghz and I might as well buy a Northwood 3.2Ghz and OC to 20% and I will get higher CPU speed.

What do you guys think?

 

[stevty2889]

What ram do you have? That could be limiting your overclock..also it may just be your chip not able to handle a 30% overclock, 30% would be running it at 3.38Ghz, a 780Mhz overclock. Have you tried overclocking by upping the FSB, rather than using the % based auto overclocks? 30% overclock would be like having your front side bust at 260mhz(assuming you have an 800mhz FSB P4), and is probably limited by your ram.

 

[maluckey]

o1die

First off, there's nothing lowly about Sparkle PSU's such as yours. They are made by FSP and are waaaaayyyy underrated as far as power output. Check out the Xtreme System Forums. FSP are well respected, if not outright worshipped by some.

Wisey

Antecs are middle of the road units, not bad, just not stellar. Overtax any PSU for too long and they will let go. It's ugly for the system when they do.

If you read the specs for the 6600GT, you will see that it is recommended to have a beefy PSU just to power it. Overclocking also taxes things. Sure the PSU can handle it, but at what price? MTBF is greatly reduced when a PSU is used at/near it's limits. Also used up as the PSU nears it's limit is safety, and flexibility to handle transients, spiking, as well as normally exhibiting increased ripple etc.

 

[MrK6]

Definitely go with a new PSU. 350watts is starting to become a minimum these days (as I learned when my Antec 350watt almost burned out on the system in my sig). I'm a personal fan of Enermax power supplies, as their dual 12v rails help ALOT in overclocking, however something 400watts+ from a good manufacturer would be a good upgrade for you. What's your current cooling situation like? If you have one or two fans on intake and one or two fans on exhaust, you should be fine. I haven't met a 2.6C that wouldn't do 250FSB, which would be 3.25GHz. Run that with a 5:4 divider and you wont have to change your RAM. Also the higher FSB speed would be faster than a stock 3.2GHz, and all of this would be significantly less than buying a new CPU. What applications do you use your comp for? I can't think of game that a 3.25Ghz Northwood wouldn't be more the fast enough for.

 

[Kogan]

Just check the voltages and as long as the 12v, 5v, and 3.3v are stable and close to what they're supposed to be, there's no need to change your PSU. Also, if removing 12v components (hard drives, dvd drives, fans) from your system makes it more stable and makes the voltages rise, it may be time to look into getting a PSU with better amperage on the 12v rail. But there's no need to throw away a perfectly good antec PSU if it's running your system fine now.

About your overclock, it's most likely the CPU. Not all cpu's are created equally. It could also be your system memory, or your cpu voltage may not high enough for that particular processor. If you want better performace now, I'd go with the new cpu option rather than investing a lot of money in things that do not directly affect performance.

 

[superkdogg]

Good PSU's are necessary. 500W ones are not yet-unless you have lots of HDD's and a 6800U and other heavy draw stuff. I have a 3000+ Winchester oc'd 50% from 1800 to 2700 MHz (stable @ everything but 3d-Mobo issues) and that machine uses an FSP 350W PSU that came with a case I got off of Newegg for $52 shipped. My wife's rig is a Celeron D with that is OC'd 50% from 2.4 to 3.6 with a generic Enlight 300W PSU. Each of these systems has one HDD, one optical drive, and not a lot of PCI stuff to create additional draws.

I am not saying that cheapo PSU's are the way to go, because that's not true. However, I do believe that after years of neglecting PSU's, the pendulum has swung the other way and enthusiasts now look to PSU first when an OC fails (that's the advice I got when my Celly-D wasn't going well-turned out to be mobo). Anyhow, if I were you I'd try using dividers to see if the CPU is capable of more than you're getting out of it. Have you increased voltage to CPU or RAM? 20% of 2.6 would put you near 3.2 so I wouldn't advise buying a CPU anyway at this stage. 3.2 GHz is quite a decent CPU, and even an "upgrade" to a 3.6 Prescott wouldn't make a huge performance gain over the speeds you're already running. It would be virtually unnoticeable in games, for one. Also, buying a 3.2 NW doesn't guarantee you reach 3.4-3.6 no matter what other components you have-there's still a lot of skill and luck involved with reaching those speeds.

My advice would be stand pat for now and wait. A new PSU is likely in your future, but buying it now doesn't really make sense unless it is really limiting your OC, which is possible but not certain. If you hold off on dropping the $200 now you will be talking awsome new GFx card next refresh instead of really good mid-range (or whatever other item you choose to buy) or you'll have a big head start on a new system build and retiring you current rig to word-processing, eBay sale, or significant other duty when it's truly exhausted.

 

[RussianSensation]

RAM is rarely a limitation in overclocking (unless yours is slower than PC2700). You can always use dividers. Running 1:1 is overrated. Sure it helps for a P4 but it should never mean spending $130 on new ram just for 5% improvement in real life.

Get a new PSU only if yours isnt sufficient. Download Motherboard Monitor and see what the rail voltage fluctuations are at stock 2.6. Then try overclocking the 2.6 and see once again. If the 3.3 and 12V rails drop significantly (Ie. below 3.20 and 11.60, then you should get a new PSU). I would think of the PSU as the "future upgrade" as you could use that in an A64 system later. Don't spend $$$ on P4 3.2. 2.6 should get to 3.2 and that should be ok for now with your midrange videocard. Later spring for A64 and a better videocard.

 

[Wisey]

Today I went to upgrade the PSU to a OCZ Power 420 W which I am quite happy with. I also installed a Zalman 90 mm all copper CPU heatsink and fans...Both I reckon can still be used for any future 939 AMD64.

I think I will do manual OC now.

So I should set FSB to 250Ghz and the CPU multipler would be 13? 13 is fixed right?

My Ram is PC400 or a basic speed of 200 Ghz right?

So the RAM divider is 5:4 for a FSB of 250Ghz?

I hope I can find all the right fields in the BIOS since the descriptions may not correspond to the jargons we used.

Wish me luck!

 

[Wisey]

Weird...previously with Antec 350 PSU and Intel stock fan/heatsink, my reading at AI 20% OC were:

CPU : 30 C/86 F
MB : 36 C / 96 F
CPU fan: 2884
Power fan: 1493
Chasis Fan: 2616
+12 V rail : 12.038
+5V rail : 5.026
+3.3V rail: 3.328
VCore: 1.68

Now with new PSU and Zalman fan/heatsink, my reading at AI 20% OC were:

CPU: 36 C/ 96 F
MB : 40 C /104 F
CPU fan: 2518 (Zalman fan)
Power Fan: 2393
Chasis Fan: 2678
+12 V : 12.463
+5V : 5.16
+3V: 3.408
Vcore: 1.696

Is there something wrong?

When the shop installed the Zalman heatsink for me, I noticed the heatsink made contact with the CPU but it's not tightfitting. I noticed the Zalman heatsink can still be moved. Also the guy didn't use the thermal paste that came with the Zalman heatsink but used another paste.

Should the temperature be higher with a better heatsink and fan?

 

[Wisey]

Oh..another thing. I couldn't find the field in the bios which I am supposed to set 5:4 Ram divider. Anyone know there is the field for a Asus P4P800?

 

[maluckey]

As far as your readings for voltages...It goes to show the difference that a change from in a middle of the road to a good PSU can make. OCZ is not without its detractors, but it IS a better and stronger unit than the Antec that was being used.

The increased temperatures may partly be due to a loose fitting HS, and also added may be different airflow of the new PSU. A VERY VERY small of the temps are due to inceased idle voltages from the newer, and stronger PSU.

Good choice, though now I'd check the HS, because a loose heatsink is NEVER a good thing.

 

[Wisey]

So if the heatsink is loose, do I have to remove it, re-apply thermal paste and fit it in again?

Also the voltage read higher across all the rails, is it ok or is something to be concerned with?

 

[Wisey]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
RAM is rarely a limitation in overclocking (unless yours is slower than PC2700). You can always use dividers. Running 1:1 is overrated. Sure it helps for a P4 but it should never mean spending $130 on new ram just for 5% improvement in real life.

Get a new PSU only if yours isnt sufficient. Download Motherboard Monitor and see what the rail voltage fluctuations are at stock 2.6. Then try overclocking the 2.6 and see once again. If the 3.3 and 12V rails drop significantly (Ie. below 3.20 and 11.60, then you should get a new PSU). I would think of the PSU as the "future upgrade" as you could use that in an A64 system later. Don't spend $$$ on P4 3.2. 2.6 should get to 3.2 and that should be ok for now with your midrange videocard. Later spring for A64 and a better videocard.

How do I set the RAM divider from my Asus P4P800 mobo?

Someone in another thread says I should set the DRAM frequency but there are only 4 options: 266, 320, 400 and auto.

So if I set my FSB to 250Mhz, then which of the above is 5:4 ?

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Wisey

How do I set the RAM divider from my Asus P4P800 mobo?

Someone in another thread says I should set the DRAM frequency but there are only 4 options: 266, 320, 400 and auto.

So if I set my FSB to 250Mhz, then which of the above is 5:4 ?

266 (3:2), 320 (5:4) and 400 (1:1) ie. 400FSB stock to 320RAM => 400/5*4 = 80*4 = 320

So set it to 320.

 

[maluckey]

Originally posted by: Wisey
So if the heatsink is loose, do I have to remove it, re-apply thermal paste and fit it in again?

Also the voltage read higher across all the rails, is it ok or is something to be concerned with?

It's a good thing that the voltages read higher across the board.

You should find out if the HS has been mounted properly. It should fig snugly, and require more than a little effort to move it. If you have to remove it to reseat or check it, then re-apply a HS compound before re-attaching the HS itself. Sure, the expensive stuff works best, but I still use cheapo stuff, mainly because I'm cheap. It works fine, and I can turn the fan up ever so slightly to compensate for the negligible temp difference.