Hi,
Because I heard that it was pretty easy to OC the 2160 to 3.0Ghz I now want to build a system with a E2160.

However I heard that some mobo's can't OC the E2160 that well, so I want to play it safe.

What cheap (€30/€70) Mobo would you guys recommend for OCing the 2160 to 3.0Ghz?

Btw I accidentally bought a Corsair 1Gb DDR2 533Mhz PC2-4200 last week, can it handle the OC?

Someone adviced me to buy a GigaByte GA-P31-DS3L. Is that mobo capable of OC-ing the E2160 to 3.0ghz?

I doubt the Corsair ram can handle 667MHz, after all, Corsair ram isn't a good OCer. Btw, in order to get 3.0GHz with the E2160, you'll have to do 9 x 333MHz.

If you want a motherboard that OC well, the ASUS P5k-e is excellent. If you can't fit it in your budget, the Gigabyte P35 DS3L isn't bad either, although you'll have a more difficult time OCing.

I personally use the Gigabyte p35-ds3l and max stable was 3.2Ghz on my E2180, but I keep it at 3Ghz even so I don't have to use to much Vcore (literally right on the 1.5V limit, but, I might reconsider going back) It's a nice budget OC board and would suggest getting it since these seems to be a budget build.

I have been suggested the A-bit IP35-E for overclocking the e2160. It's cheap now too, it just doesn't have raid, 1394, and just has one pci-ex16 slot but if you don't need those then it's a great purchase

Go with the GA-P35-DS3L and some decent DDR2-800 RAM (although as noted you will only need to run it at DDR2-667 for 3GHz on the CPU).

G.Skill F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ,2048MB, 800MHz, DDR2. PC6400, 2x
or
OCZ OCZ2P8002GK, 2048 MB, DDR2, PC6400, 800 MHz, 2 x

I don't know if the ds3l supports 2.10V DDram voltage (which is required for the OCZ memory)

The DS3L goes up to +.6V aka 2.4V volts max for memory.

and the older model? the P31-d3sl? The price of that model fits better in my crappy budget . But which memory is better the OZC or the G.skill?

I just started OCing my 2160 with the DS3L. I got to 2.8 with stock cooler and temps stayed around 60C for 2 hours on Large Prime95.

1. When I look at SpeedFan, there is a VCore 1: 1.38V and a VCore 2: 2.02 Should I be watching these VCore numbers?

For me, i chose Abit IP35-Pro for my E2160,although it's price too high,but i am happy with it. My E2160 now run at 3,4 GHz, with Vcore 1,5V, and i use standart heatsink from processor. The temps stayed around 35C, and when full load it reach 40C until 45C. But if you don't need too much oc, i reccomend you to buy cheaper mobo, like P31-DS3L or biostar Tforce P965.

what format is the P31-DS3L? The website where I'm going to order my system says that its ATX but an other webshop says its mATX , I'm confused :S

how about this one?
http://www.azerty.nl/producten/pro [...] v1-0-.html

It's cheap and a mATX mobo. But I don't know anything about the brand ECS.

I say stay away from ECS motherboards. You probably won't be able to OC very far.

Should I be able to get to 3.0GHz with the E2160 and the DS3L with the CPU voltage @ 1.4?

Cause I thought I could but something is stopping me.

Normally yeah, 3.0GHz is very doable. Make sure it isn't your ram that's preventing it.

I will second that 3Ghz is very doable. With a stock cooler things can get pretty warm. If you want the super energy efficient way, you could probably go to 2.75Ghz using stock voltage and with all the power saving options on. Temperatures should barely rise and it's a nice OC overall. then again each chip is different so you might need more or less voltage depending. I would try the ol 9x333 deal with a 2.4 memory multi to get 800Mhz on the ram. I would start with a voltage of 1.4Vcore and work your way up or down depending on prime95 results.
Also make sure you have PCI-E @ 100Mhz locked and that your memory is getting the proper voltage. The DS3L displays the voltage to be added to 1.8v. E.G. If you select +0.3V you'll have 2.1V If you do this you should have almost no problems.

Does this post mean that you saw what ram I was using and it should be at 2.1V?

Thanks for the post.

I'm planning on ordering this week so, here is my list so far:

Intel Core 2 Duo, E2140, Socket 775, Boxed € 62,88

GigaByte GA-P31-DS3L,Retail € 65,68

Seagate DiamondMax 20, 160 GB, 7200 RPM, 2 MB, SATA II € 42,97

OCZ OCZ2P8001G, 1024 MB, DDR2, PC6400, 800 MHz, 1 x € 24,09

Total € 195,62

I chose for the p31 because it keeps the total under €200. But if the p35 is that much better than the p31 I might be able to squeeze the p35 in to my budget.

What do you guys think?

I would get the E2160. From what I understand, it overclocks better or easier to 3.0GHz than the 2140. I have the E2160 and I love it. I got it to 3.0 with no problem with the P35DSL. I love the GA-P35-DS3L as well. It's a great combo.

I'm currently stable @ 2.8GHz with a 1.30V, so that's over a 50% increase in performance with my voltage lower than it was at stock settings.

I've since added a Freezer 7 Pro CPU cooler and plan on shooting for 3.4 in the near future, once I figure out my memory settings.

Lots of people here have this setup and they have been a big help.

That's my 2cents. Good luck.