Intel core 2 duo E6400 overclocking/RAM/Mboard requirements

[PANFACE]

Hi. Just after a bit of advice if anyone can help.
I'm buying myself a new system on a limited budget. I had decided on an E6400 and an Asus P5B board cos a recently read an overclocking review that said if you overclock it to 2.88 it gives great performance and can still be cooled under an ordinary heat sink and fan no problem.
So is this true? And secondly because of my tight budget if i want to overclock like this can i do it using cheap ram for now or do i have to have Corsair or other such fast RAM?
Oh yeah as far as the board goes is the ASUS P5B-E LGA 775 Intel P965 ok or do i want the ASUS P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail?
Finally i can't afford to change my graphics card yet so will my old NVIDEA N6600 run on this ok for now?

Many thanks,
Panface.

 

[1Tanker]

Hi. Just after a bit of advice if anyone can help.
I'm buying myself a new system on a limited budget. I had decided on an E6400 and an Asus P5B board cos a recently read an overclocking review that said if you overclock it to 2.88 it gives great performance and can still be cooled under an ordinary heat sink and fan no problem.
So is this true? And secondly because of my tight budget if i want to overclock like this can i do it using cheap ram for now or do i have to have Corsair or other such fast RAM?
Oh yeah as far as the board goes is the ASUS P5B-E LGA 775 Intel P965 ok or do i want the ASUS P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail?
Finally i can't afford to change my graphics card yet so will my old NVIDEA N6600 run on this ok for now?

Many thanks,
Panface.

Chances are very likely that you can run the E6400 @2880(360FSB), or more...with the stock HS/F. That equates to your RAM running @720MHz...something most half-decent DDR2-667 will do. The P5B-E is a fine board and great overclocker. If you get antsy, and want to overclock higher, you're gonna want a better HS/F, and (if you have cheap RAM)...RAM capable of 800MHz(many high-end DDR2-667 can run that). Your N6600(assuming it's PCIe) will run fine, just don't expect miracles from it. It will be the bottleneck in your gaming. GL

 

[sprite]

Can you just shove a divider in or set the RAM to run at 533/667 MHZ so it will put in a divider itself ?

 

[PANFACE]

Thanks for the advice 1Tanker.

If it bottle necks how bad would game play get, and is it the overclocking that does this or just the old card?
What card should i look to get when cash is availible, an Asus EN7600GT?
Thanks again.

 

[PANFACE]

I'M a bit new to all this sprite. Is the idea to lower the RAM speed because of the overclocked chip?
How does a divider work and is it easy to do if it's a solution?

What's the cheapest good RAM you would recommend to buy for a decent job?

 

[itninja]

most of you questions about overclocking basics will probably be answered by checking out these articles here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/12/11/overclocking-guide-part-1/

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/04/overclocking_guide_part_2/

the idea is to lower the ram speed so you can raise the speed of the cpu without the ram making your system unstable. if you want the ram to run at a faster speed, you will usually need better (more expensive) ram.

 

[gOJDO]

Hi. Just after a bit of advice if anyone can help.
I'm buying myself a new system on a limited budget. I had decided on an E6400 and an Asus P5B board cos a recently read an overclocking review that said if you overclock it to 2.88 it gives great performance and can still be cooled under an ordinary heat sink and fan no problem.
So is this true? And secondly because of my tight budget if i want to overclock like this can i do it using cheap ram for now or do i have to have Corsair or other such fast RAM?
Oh yeah as far as the board goes is the ASUS P5B-E LGA 775 Intel P965 ok or do i want the ASUS P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail?
Finally i can't afford to change my graphics card yet so will my old NVIDEA N6600 run on this ok for now?

Many thanks,
Panface.

Take the P5B-E version, it is a better overclocker, or maybe Gigabyte GA965P-S3.
I have Gigabyte GA965P-DS3(same as GA965P-S3 but with solid capacitors), Core2 Duo E6400 and 2x512MB DDR2-800 CL5 Exilir with Nanya chips. I have just added active cooling on the northbridge chipset cooler and I am using CPU cooler worse than the one from the BOX package.
Anyway, my E6400 runs stable OC-ed at 3.2GHz(FSB400) at 1.4875v. At 3GHz it is stable using 1.4375v.

good luck

 

[The_OGS]

Hi Panface,
Lots of advice here - "go ahead, run 360 baseclock. Run 400! It will do it!"
But lets not forget, the OEM spec is 266 baseclock...

if you overclock it to 2.88 it gives great performance and can still be cooled under an ordinary heat sink and fan no problem.

Well, that is 360 baseclock (FSB1440) and is ~135% overclock.
In theory you would need DDR2-800 memory but 1Tanker is probably right, DDR2-667 should do 720MHz... but if you want to OC heheh, you gotta buy good memory y'know?
I recommend all stock/default voltages, PC2-5400 memory and 333 baseclock FSB (1333QDR) maximum.
This runs the 667DDR memory @ perfect spec (you could even lean on the timings a bit) and gives ~2667MHz CPU, which is the same as Core2 E6700.
Sure, it will run @ 3.2GHz... now set it back to 2.67! with all default voltages, and enable the SpeedStep.
Heat is the enemy :twisted:

a new system on a limited budget

So basically buy DDR2-667. To OC past 333 baseclock (ie. to 400 like buddy gOJDO) you can see he has liquid cooling, high voltages, and DDR2-800...
Anyway, just to mention, my rig is bloody FAST @ 2.4GHz (300 baseclock) and I don't even need more, LoL.
3DMark 05 = 12308
So take it easy, and keep it cool.
Regards

 

[madmurph]

May I glom in on this thread, too? I have an HTPC with similar specs:
P5B Deluxe, E6400, Corsair DDR2 800, Zalman CNPS 9500, HIS X1950pro. I'd like to squeeze a little more performance out of my rig, without making all the fans kick on as I've got them set in BIOS for "silent" operation, obviously, since it's supposed to be an HTPC (I couldn't get the ASUS fan gui to work worth sh*t). Thx for any input.

 

[Brubold]

I may as well post here too instead of starting a new thread. I'm completely new to overclocking as well but I have a new system on the way to me that should be very overclockable so I'm needing to know where to start.

Specs-

E6400 with CPU liquid cooling kit
2 gigs DDR2-800 PC6400 Corsair XMS2 Xtreme w/Heat Spreader
NForce 680i MB
7950GT Nvidia

 

[gOJDO]

To OC past 333 baseclock (ie. to 400 like buddy gOJDO) you can see he has liquid cooling, high voltages, and DDR2-800...

It is on cheap air cooling. The voltages are relatively high. The X6800 is at 1.385v, so my OC-ed E6400 at 3.2GHz is at 7.5% higher voltage, which is not dangerous for the CPU life.

 

[PANFACE]

Hi all,

Many many thanks for all your help. You've set my mind at rest and now it's SHOPPING TIME!!!

Cheers,
Panface.

 

[The_OGS]

Sorry - thought I saw Liquid in your setup (seeing things again )
@ madmurph, BruBold
I get 2.4GHz @ 300 FSB baseclock, easy. All you E6400 guys can do that, it's a no-brainer.
The 333 baseclock is a little trickier and voltages/memory/memory settings should be reviewed...
But 333 (x8=2666) still doable without special settings/cooler/knowledge.
Beyond 333 and you're Overclocking (with capital 'O', heheh) which I cannot recommend to non-power users...
L8R

 

[hairyhaggis]

I was able to O/C my E6400 to 3.5Ghz on the stock cooler and it is stable Idles around 30oC and under load goes to 55oC. All i did was push the FSB as far as it goes then take it down a few notches. FSB is 444 and votage for the CPU is 1.4v.
Their is an excellent sticky about o/c Core2Duos recommend reading it.

All the best