Overclocking possibility?

A

AndonSage

Gawd
Joined
Jan 19, 2007
Messages
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My father didn't have much to spend on a new computer, so I was limited in what I could configure for him, but I came up with the following (from AVA Direct). He and mom don't run games, just e-mail, Internet, Office programs (Word, Excel) and he occasionally does CAD work at home (he's an architect), which is why we had to go with Windows XP (the CAD program doesn't work with Vista). However, I tried to get a good enough system so that I could game (MMORPGs and turn-based strategy) when I go visit them :D

Anyway, I'm wondering what the possibility of overclocking this system would be, using something like the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro? Is it even worth overclocking? I've never done any overclocking, but have had some web articles pointed out to me for learning.

Should I have gone with an E2180 instead of the E4500, for overclocking?

CUSTOM COMPUTER, Core™2 DDR2 Mainstream Series System
COMPUCASE (HEC), 6C28 Black/Silver Mid-Tower Case, 585W PSU, ATX (this is the standard case for this configuration, from what I can tell it has good heat dissipation and 585W should be plenty even if the PSU isn't great)
MICROSTAR, P35 Neo2-FR, LGA775, Intel P35, 1333MHz FSB, DDR2-1066 8GB/4, PCIe x16 CF /2, SATA 3.0 Gbit/s RAID 5 /5, HDA, GbLAN, ATX, Retail (I figured this motherboard would let him upgrade to a 45nm CPU in the future, when prices are lower, and this is also supposed to be a good motherboard for overclocking)
INTEL, Core™ 2 Duo E4500 Dual-Core, 2.2GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache, 65nm, 65W, EM64T EIST XD, Retail (I would've preferred an E8400, of course, but hopefully the CPU will be upgraded next year at tax return time, but at least this has 2MB L2 instead of the 1M on the E2xxx CPUs)
KINGSTON, 2GB ValueRAM (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 DDR2 800MHz CL5 SDRAM DIMM, Non-ECC
nVidia 9600GT (need to find out which specific brand/card, since the 9600GT wasn't in the web site configurator, I just know it was only $46.40 more than the MSI NX8600GT Twin Turbo, GeForce® 8600GT originally configured)
WESTERN DIGITAL, 320GB WD Caviar® SE16 (WD3200AAKS), SATA 300MB/s, 7200 RPM, 16MB cache (maybe we'll be lucky and get the new B3 version)
RAID, No RAID, Independent HDD Drives
LITE-ON, LH-20A1S Black/White 20x DVD±RW Dual-Layer Burner, SATA, Retail
MICROSOFT, Windows XP Home Edition w/ SP2b, OEM
WARRANTY, Silver Warranty Package (3 Year Limited Parts, 3 Year Labor Warranty)
 
I was hoping someone with experience overclocking the E4500 could let me know what I could expect. For example, with the Q6600 you can expect to get 3.0GHz, with a max of 3.6GHz with great air cooling. As to why... experience in o/c'ing.
 
E4500 should hit 3/3.2GHz.

Some people get dud chips and are stuck at 2.6/2.8, some get ones that OC right up.

333x9=3 GHz
400x8=3.2 GHz

Maybe with some water cooling you could go to 3.4
 
Thanks colinstu, that's the info I was looking for :) Seems like 400x8 = 3.2GHz would be perfect with 800MHz RAM, yes? Of course, assuming that it's stable at 3.2GHz.
 
AndonSage said:
Thanks colinstu, that's the info I was looking for :) Seems like 400x8 = 3.2GHz would be perfect with 800MHz RAM, yes? Of course, assuming that it's stable at 3.2GHz.
Click to expand...

Yep, that's why it's great if you can get a 400 bus, your DDR2 800 ram can run 1:1 with your proc.

Any good bios should come with an option to run 1:1 no matter what your cpu bus is, but I like to at least get my ram to 800.
 
There is NO WAY i would overclock a machine for somebody else...

they don't know what they should be monitoring... it's just going to leave their system unstable and in tatters... if money is such an issue.. then longevity should be too... dont push a system unless you dont expect it to last..

I really can't understand how you are recommending that this guy overclocks his parents PC.... for shame people!!

that machine should be plenty powerful enough for any MMORPG / Strategy games you can throw at it...

LOOK if you notice that machine struggle playing a MMORPG etc... THEN come back and ask for OC advice on it... but ONLY leave it overclocked WHEN YOU ARE THERE...
 
gaspah, please don't yell at the people who answered my questions. They did not recommend that I overclock, they simply provided some information I was looking for.

I'm sure you'll correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that once a system was running stable at an overclock (testing with Prime95, ORTHOS, etc.), that there was no "monitoring" required.
 
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