[DaveF]

At Tom's Hardware, they report on overclocking the $130, bottom-rung dual-core Pentium D 805 by about 50%, from 2.66 GHz to 4.1 GHz. They get it up to about 4.0 GHz on air-cooling! It performs similarly to the top end AMD and Intel CPUs.

I've never built nor OC'd a PC, but I'm tempted by this. Even with the need for an expensive motherboard and memory, this may still provide high-end performance at a mid-range budget.

Thoughts? You going to try this?

I suggest reading the first page:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/05/..._41_ghz_cores/

and the penultimate page for the summary:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/05/...es/page44.html

[SethH]

I read an article about that earlier today on Digg.com. It's pretty interesting really. If I were building a PC right now I would be very tempted to do this to save money and get 64-bit capabilities which are not currently built into the Core Duo's.

[Mike Fassler]

I overclock my systems all the time, you must be careful and have great patience when overclocking thou, its alot of trial and error. Also be aware that the proc you get may not overclock as well as theirs did, every chip is different.
I havent used an intel proc in ages so i dont know how well they OC compared to AMD, but the current AMD procs overclock pretty well.

[DaveF]

I need a new computer, but with the sea changes in the CPUs, I don't think this is a good time to buy. But I want to price a system with motherboard and memory suitable for oc'ing -- I'm curious how much (if any) this lowers the overall cost of a system, compared to its performance.

[Rommel_L]

It's a good read. It's definitely NOT for noobs. Imagine having the performance of the top-of-the-line processor for peanuts, and just have to be paired with very good RAM. Not to forget it's AIR-COOLED... Something I could look into...

[Mike_J_Potter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveF

I need a new computer, but with the sea changes in the CPUs, I don't think this is a good time to buy. But I want to price a system with motherboard and memory suitable for oc'ing -- I'm curious how much (if any) this lowers the overall cost of a system, compared to its performance.

I would hold off on building or buying a new PC until Intel Conroe and AMD Am2 systems come out and a few review sites check them out and benchmark them. Yes you can build a cheap fast system by overclocking, you just have to do your research to get the right components especially the Ram and power supply.

[Kimmo Jaskari]

Power supply isn't that hard, just pick a decently speced 500-watter and you're good to go. Antec, for instance, makes good stuff (even a mostly fanless, the Phantom 500; I have the totally fanless Phantom 350 though I certainly wouldn't recommend going fanless when massive airflow will be needed to cool the computer with a CPU pumping a couple hundred watts through it continously) and if you really want something great that will last for many a year, go with PC Power & Cooling. There you can get up to one kilowatt - but of course those aren't cheap.

Cooling of the CPU is the most critical aspect, I'd say, followed by ram quality. It has to be a really serious cooler, something like a Scythe Ninja with a 12cm fan on it, to handle 4 ghz.

[Mike_J_Potter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kimmo Jaskari

Power supply isn't that hard, just pick a decently speced 500-watter and you're good to go. Antec, for instance, makes good stuff (even a mostly fanless, the Phantom 500; I have the totally fanless Phantom 350 though I certainly wouldn't recommend going fanless when massive airflow will be needed to cool the computer with a CPU pumping a couple hundred watts through it continously) and if you really want something great that will last for many a year, go with PC Power & Cooling. There you can get up to one kilowatt - but of course those aren't cheap.

Cooling of the CPU is the most critical aspect, I'd say, followed by ram quality. It has to be a really serious cooler, something like a Scythe Ninja with a 12cm fan on it, to handle 4 ghz.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kimmo Jaskari

Power supply isn't that hard, just pick a decently speced 500-watter and you're good to go. Antec, for instance, makes good stuff (even a mostly fanless, the Phantom 500; I have the totally fanless Phantom 350 though I certainly wouldn't recommend going fanless when massive airflow will be needed to cool the computer with a CPU pumping a couple hundred watts through it continously) and if you really want something great that will last for many a year, go with PC Power & Cooling. There you can get up to one kilowatt - but of course those aren't cheap.

Agreed, the biggest thing I have seen more then once is someone buying really nice components for a PC they are building, then pick out a cheap generic case that looks cool but comes with a no name "500W" power supply (especially the ones at those monthly computer sales they have at local fairgrounds). Then they wonder why its unstable, or something blows up. Its a good idea to check around the net before ordering one to make sure its 100% compatible with your board, for example Antec Neohe power supplies have issues with Nforce 4 Asus boards. I looked at PC power and cooling supplies when I built up my current system but a little too expensive even for the lower power models. I went with a OCZ powerstream that I have been very happy with, have also used Antec Truepowers with good results.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kimmo Jaskari

Cooling of the CPU is the most critical aspect, I'd say, followed by ram quality. It has to be a really serious cooler, something like a Scythe Ninja with a 12cm fan on it, to handle 4 ghz.

Very very true, if you are overclocking or even considering it in the future, get the cooler right away. Allot of the larger heatsinks and fans require removing the board to replace the backplate, so its much easier to do it during the initial build then taking the system apart later. Also make sure you have good airflow through the case to keep everything else cool

[Mike Fassler]

I agree with all of the above, Back in the day when amd Bartons were king I picked up a barton 2500+ that happens to be unlocked, its never seen stock speeds since I have owned it. It was well worth the 80 bucks I got it for.

[DaveF]

I've been following the discussion at Tom's Hardware, and what's most interesting to me are the followup reports also claiming 3.6 - 3.8 GHz speeds with air-cooling. And people are doing this without high-end motherboards. I'm now wondering if it's reasonable get 3.6+ GHz using a $100 motherboard and a Zalmann cooler. This would cost about $300 -- the same as an AMD X2 3800 and perform similarly.

[Rommel_L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaveF

I've been following the discussion at Tom's Hardware, and what's most interesting to me are the followup reports also claiming 3.6 - 3.8 GHz speeds with air-cooling. And people are doing this without high-end motherboards. I'm now wondering if it's reasonable get 3.6+ GHz using a $100 motherboard and a Zalmann cooler. This would cost about $300 -- the same as an AMD X2 3800 and perform similarly.

It's possible, as long the mobo supports OC'ing. I also think you can get away with a DDR2667 RAM (cheaper) instead of a DDR2800.

[DaveF]

I've read a bit more and done some pricing, and I don't think this is the ri