Overclocking the Athlon X2 7750 vs Intel E5200

[DeadBatteries]

the other thread i made had an error or something... i hope i'm not spamming or anything.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardwa...ntel-e5200-oc-review/1

So obviously I'm want to build a budget machine that I'd like to overclock. I'm trying to decide between the AMD 7750 and the E5200.

If I base my decision off the above article then obviously I think I'm going to go for the E5200. The E5200 pretty much dominates for an extra $10 or so.

BUT I'm a noob. I tried to read that how to overclock sticky in this forum and my eyes glazed over... so I have a little question considering that I'm a beginner.

4ghz overclock on the E5200? That is what the article bases its results on. I googled a lot of E5200 overclocks and 4ghz seems on the high end with somewhere between 3.3-3.5 being more average. The 3.1ghz overclock on the AMD seems more normal.

But I'm a noob. So how easy is it to achieve a 3.5 E5200 overclock vs a 3.1 amd overclock (i'll be getting a heat sink and fan and grease with the chip, not running on the stock fan)? How different would the results be if they ran the tests at 3.5 vs 3.1 be? would the intel still dominate?

so any tidbits of knowledge you more experienced guys can impart on me concerning this subject? pretty much if you guys tell me a high e5200 overclock requires some kind of skill and/or is super variable and i might get stuck at a 3ghz e5200 and a high amd overclock in the 3.1ghz range requires less skill and/or is less variable... then i might consider the amd despite that article.

 

[13Gigatons]

Lots of variables like the mobo and memory come in to play with overclocking. Get a good cpu cooler with the backplate and screws instead of the lousy push pins.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Overclocking can be luck of the draw. I would say the E5200 probably has a better chance getting a consistently higher overclock. It also puts out less heat than the 7750, so it would probably be better for a first timer.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The E5200 should be able to get to 3.5Ghz with safe voltage. Higher than that requires luck of the draw and some skill.

I can't speak for the AMD 7750, I don't have one.

 

[heyheybooboo]

The e5200 is a great chip - - - but don't count on a 4GHz OC.

The X2 7750 (as you said) is a 3-3.2GHz with the advantage being for the most part you only need to raise the cpu multiplier up to 15 (x 200MHz = 3GHz). Beyond that you will have to crank up the vcore ...

 

[TekDemon]

Even if you could get the 7750 higher in clocks than the E5200 it may still be a slower chip, and quite frankly that's somewhat unlikely that you'd get higher clocks anyway. I think you should be able to get at least 3.6Ghz on the E5200 assuming you have even vaguely good cooling.
If money's not an extremely important issue on this build I would suggest springing for a 6MB Wolfdale like the E8200 or E8400 (very small price difference), since the extra cache can make a significant difference in some programs. Even at 3MB of cache some games show double digit differences at the same clock (Unreal Tournament 3 takes a ~14% hit and World in Conflict takes a ~10% hit). Taking it down to 2MB is going to be more noticably bad in the most CPU-intensive games, probably around a 20% hit on the newest games.

The other place you'll really hurt is mostly compressing/decompressing/encoding stuff.

If the budget really is very tight then I'd stick with the E5200 but if it's not that tight I think it's worth springing for the extra cache since it should significantly boost overall system performance, and if you're spending money on a decent motherboard, etc, the increase in CPU costs doesn't necessarily bump up total system cost all that much.
Plus the E8400 is almost as fast as the quad core Phenom II's as far as gaming goes stock, and it's easier to overclock the E8400 to really high clocks without investing in expensive cooling. So if you mostly wanna do gaming I think the E8x00 series is one of the best values for overclocking.

BTW, remember not to go above 1.4V for those Intel CPUs...not really healthy to go further than that.

I honestly think the AMD CPUs are currently best for people who already own compatible motherboards, etc. for dropping in a new CPU, or people who don't care about overclocking and just want a stock system. There aren't a lot of victories in new systems for overclockers though unless you already own crazy exotic cooling (but in that case the new i7's from intel would probably be the most impressive to work with anyway).

 

[Malarkey]

Can't speak of the X2, but the E5200 is easy as heck to OC on any half-decent motherboard.
Ditch the retail cooler though. It's a lower-height, aluminum only deal.

 

[DeadBatteries]

wow okay thanks for the thoughts guys. i guess the e5200 is still the choice then. As for getting the e8400... i really don't want to go over $100.

i'm thinking since those phenom II's and those new i7's out using ddr3 motherboards, that we are pretty much on the edge of a pretty big shift in hardware and i really can't afford an i7 rig right now. so i'd rather buy a really cheap pc i can use for a couple years and then get a really nice one, rather than buying a kind of middle of the road pc based on a 2nd class tech (1st now being those i7s) and be stuck with it longer than i want.

but thanks for helping me out guys! e5200 it is... unless you guys know of a better cheap alternative...

 

[TekDemon]

ygpm

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: DeadBatteries
wow okay thanks for the thoughts guys. i guess the e5200 is still the choice then. As for getting the e8400... i really don't want to go over $100.

i'm thinking since those phenom II's and those new i7's out using ddr3 motherboards, that we are pretty much on the edge of a pretty big shift in hardware and i really can't afford an i7 rig right now. so i'd rather buy a really cheap pc i can use for a couple years and then get a really nice one, rather than buying a kind of middle of the road pc based on a 2nd class tech (1st now being those i7s) and be stuck with it longer than i want.

but thanks for helping me out guys! e5200 it is... unless you guys know of a better cheap alternative...

You can put a Phenom II AM3 microprocessor in the same motherboard that you would an X2 7750 Kuma ...

 

[DeadBatteries]

that wasn't exactly the point i was shooting for.