Alright, I'm getting the e2180 processor and the GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L motherboard. I have never overclocked a processor before and am in need of some assistance.

I do know that I would need to increase the fsb (of course) of the processor, but would I need to do anything else? Disable speedstep? Set pci express slot to 100? Set pci to 33? Stuff like that? I'm also getting some ddr2-800 Crucial Ballistix ram. Should I go for a 1:1 ratio and downclock the ram? Or some other ratio and oc the ram?

All help is appreciated. Thanks!

Disable all unnesscary crap... Set PCI-E to 100 PCI to 33. Go 1:1 then turn up FSB as far as you can go without it crashing and your done

So should I go with 333X10 for a 3.3 Ghz overclock? Or should I go full out and do a 400X10? Also, I read the overclocking guide, would I be able to find ALL of those things that were disabled in my bios? Or would I have trouble with that?

I was thinking to go with 3.3 ghz and if that's COMPLETELY stable, I'd try and take it to 4 ghz...Or maybe that's a bit too high?

Would putting some better thermal paste help? Is it better than the pre-applied stuff that comes with it?

Hell I can barely to do 4.0 on my E6600 stable. I keep it at 2.4Ghz until I start lagging in games. Do the 3.3Ghz if you get it stable keep it that way

Should I put my own paste? Or use the pre-applied?

Arctic Silver 5. Could give you better temps

Could? Would it though? I have MX-1 which on previous testing showed to be more effective than AC5. I heard that pre-applied paste would work better for "some" reason.

use the MX-1 then. Pre applied paste in most cases dont work better

And put a small dot in the middle and put the heatsink on it? Should spread it out smoothly? or spread it out myself?

Also, would I find all those things in the bios that were in the overclocking sticky?

spread it smoothly and are you need to overclocking?

If I spread it myself I'm afraid that I'll mess it up...and plus I've heard that it's better to put a small dot in the middle and let the heatsink do the rest. I want to overclock because I always wanted to and this processor seems like a good first time OCer. Plus I can't really pay for a better system so I'm stuck with this budget system. Doesn't hurt to get some more juice out of it.

Do what is universally always better. More research I spread mine evenly.

And what about my other question? Would I be able to find all those bios things in the ds3l? Or am i gonna have trouble finding them?

Not exactly swimming in knowledge with that board but most of time it should be simple I shall do a bit research and tell you when I foudn out

Alright, thanks man.

Did you manage to get your 2180 overclocked? i just bought this combination, and I was wondering how you did on it.

Hey gentleman, lucky for you I'm posting this with an OC E2180 using a GA-p35-ds3l Right now I have it at 3.2Ghz with 355 FSB x9 multi (locked at 9 max) Memory is currently 1:1 4-4-4-12 (patriot EP make sure your DDR voltage is right, mine is 2.2V so I had to go +0.4 V to make it right. Also since we are on the subject to access the timings on the p35-ds3l, WHILE in the BIOS press ctrl+F1, the screen will flicker, when you go to the OC menu/options you'll now see timings.

NightScope and itotallybelieveyou, Masscool Shin-Etsu X23 can reduce CPU temps by ~ 4c compared to Arctic Silver 5, which is far more popular than it is effective. The first link shown below is to a very in-depth Thermal Interface Material (TIM) comparison that was posted 2/2/07 on Tom's Overclocking - Cooler and Heatsinks Forum, which was conducted by DaSickNinja. This 6 page thread is very revealing, however, the review has been moved to the second link shown below, Xtreme CPU.

DaClan Review: Thermal Interface Shootout: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] t#t1653411

Note: Due to Tom's servers forcing asterisks in the link below, when clicked it will cause "This page cannot be displayed". Simply backspace the 3 asterisks and type x-c-p-u-s without hyphens, then press enter.

Thermal Interface Material Comparison: http://www.***.com/forums/case-psu [...] rison.html

Masscool Shin-Etsu X23 Thermal Interface Material (TIM) can reduce CPU temps by ~ 4c compared to Arctic Silver 5, and is simply the best TIM for CPU cooling.

X23 is available at the following sites:

http://www.chillblast.com/product.php?productid=16932
http://www.ajigo-store.com/se7783d.html
http://www.crazypc.com/products/50118.html
http://www.watercoolingshop.com/ca [...] &osCsid=78
http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spsho [...] at=0&page=

Comp

Couple questions for you since I have the DS3R.
First, how did you get the memory to a 1:1 ratio?
Second, what kind of stress-testing have you done with your system?
Third, (and this will really answer the first two questions), what are your BIOS settings?

The most I've been able to get out of the board is 280 FSB, and eventually I end up with data corruption. I've RMA'd the motherboard in case it was the problem and am back to running stock config (with the exception of my memory at 4-4-4-12) on the replacement board. I am really starting to question how THG got a stable system with reasonable temps using the stock cooler. And by reasonable I mean anything under 65°C at max CPU load.

(My memory is GeIL Esoteria PC2 6400)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820144069