Advice on my new OC system please.

[BigWoop]

I've seen that you typically get good results OC'ing Intel's current range, I'm specifically looking at E2160, 'cos it's the same price as AM2 X2 4000+, what I was previously interested in.

I'm not looking for the highest OC'ing potential, I just want a better processor for cheaper, and I think this is a good way to go. I don't want to buy North Bridge/South Bridge cooling or aftermarket CPU cooling, just stock.

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=653 this article speaks of good performance with this board/CPU combo, getting to 3GHz without upping voltage or cooling. I'm sure it will, but what's the highest I can really hope for on stock cooling, are these numbers realistic or is this just a lucky scenario?

I'm looking at this config:

P5NE-sli
E2160
2x1gb Kingston Valueram (or similar)
HD3850
Zalman 460w PSU

Taking into account a DVD burner, 2 or 3 HDD's, and overclocking the CPU, is the PSU going to be okay do you think?

Also, performance wise I'm sure it's ample for my needs, but is there a noticable bottleneck in there? One reason why I like an nForce chipset, 'cos apparently the Memory and CPU can be OC'ed independantly. So I'm not worried about OC'ing memory for now.

Is this all in order? Am I misguided?

Thanks for any help/info.

 

[Evilonigiri]

Although your PSU might be fine, I recommend you getting a more powerful one, at least 500W. The more wattage, the better.

You might be able to get 3.2GHz on stock cooling, but I'm sure you can hit 3GHz.

 

[BigWoop]

Yes, I'm sure the extra wattage would be good, just trying to keep down costs a bit.

I'm sure it will, but even if I only manage like a 2Ghz overclock, do you think it will beat an AMD AM2 X2 4000+?

 

[Evilonigiri]

Yes, I'm sure the extra wattage would be good, just trying to keep down costs a bit.

I'm sure it will, but even if I only manage like a 2Ghz overclock, do you think it will beat an AMD AM2 X2 4000+?

The C2D has about a .3GHz lead over the AMD x2. So a 2Ghz C2D will be around the same as a 2.3GHz AMD.

 

[BigWoop]

Okay.

 

[Perp]

I'd suggest the e2180 instead of the e2160 for it's extra multiplier. On an x38 or p35 I'd stick with the e2160 as you're pretty much guaranteed ample fsb to max out the chip. Personally I just don't trust the 6xx boards oc ability; not to sound like an intel fanboy, just my opinion.