Couple questions about overclocking the E4300

[wzhu85]

Hi everyone,

I've recently decided to venture into the realm of overclocking. My P4 3.2ghz just isn't cutting it in the games coming out nowadays. Since I need to buy a new mobo (My old one doesn't support core 2 duo's), the q6600 even at 280'ish is a bit of a pricey upgrade. I've heard tons of good things about overclocking a E4300, so I figure I'd give that a try.

Here is my current specs

P4 3.2Ghz
Asus P5LD2 deluxe
2gb DDR2 pc-4300 kingston value ram
3 hard drives
EVGA 8800gts 320mb superclocked
Silverstone 500W power supply
Zalmann 9500 cpu cooler

My 1stquestion is, out of the following 2 motherboards,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128012 ( GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 )
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188019 (EVGA 680i)

I know these are in completely different price ranges, but my question is, will the EVGA 680i board overclock better or at least equal to the gigabyte one (which seems to be the mobo of choice for overclocking test systems). The reason I'd consider the evga one is because they have lifetime warranty, and it'd be nice in case something breaks due to overclocking. Let me know what you guys think.

edit: I just recently found this mobo, and it seems to be an upgrade on the GA-965P-DS3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128047
So I figure I'll consider that as an option, and it'd be a better comparison vs. the evga 680i. Do you guys think this mobo would be a better overclocker than 680i? Is it worth the extra money, or should the GA-965P-DS3 suffice?


My 2nd question is, out of the following 2 ram,

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=85025-5&ps=ho1 (Corsair xms2 pc6400)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227139 (OCZ Platinum Rev2 pc6400)

Which of those 2 ram would be better for overclocking. Will a cas 4-4-4-xx timing on the ocz be significant for my overclocking purposes.

My third question is, how is my Zalmann 9500 going to do in comparison with some of the other hardcore coolers. I am not planning to take the overclock to max, maybe 2.7ghz to 3.0ghz at most. My friend just recently got a Tuniq tower cooler and it looks like a beast. I've also seen the similarly designed Noctua coolers. Are these gigantic tower coolers significantly better than my zalmann to warrant me to purchase one, or will my zalmann be sufficient enough for some moderate overclocking (2.7ghz-3.0ghz)

My last question is, my power supply is Silverstone 500w and has 2 12V rails at 18 A each (36A total) and is running my computer fine. If I upgrade to better motherboard (one of the 2 above), a E4300 (overclocked), and one of the 2 rams above, will my power supply be sufficient to handle the load. It survived the jump from my 7800gt to 8800gts, but does the e4300 take up significantly more power than my current P4 to push it over the edge?

I would very much appreciate all your input and comments. I am still very new at this and could use all the feedback I can get. If you think there's a better choice out there in terms of mobo or ram for my E4300 overclock upgrade, please feel free to suggest it. Thanks a lot.

 

[Maziar]

if u want SLI go for 680i , if not go for P35 , its newer that P965, also both 680i and P35 will OC well

 

[wzhu85]

Thanks, i probably wont' be doing sli, so the p35 looks like a better chipset for me. Does anyone know if the GA-P35C-DS3R have any problems overclocking. Most site reviews say it's one of the best overclockers, but some reviews on newegg mentions that it has rebooting problems or something.

 

[Maziar]

P35C DS3R is a good board , but it doesnt OC as well as P35 DS3R , also its DDR3 option is limited to 4GB ,but DDR2 is limited to 8GB ,so i dont think 4GB DDR3 will become useful

also dont trust newegg reviews, P35 DS3R is one of the best OC'ers not P35C DS3R , here is a review of P35C DS3R :

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/ga-p35c-ds3r.html