- Mar 10, 2007
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With the release of the E8400\E8500\ect over this next week, expect a lot of questions to crop up on these forums, from undereducated people like me. 
Sure some people here actually LIKE to give noobies advice, but the common questions usually get annoying for the forum masters here, who have to sift through hundreds of similar posts to get to something really new and exciting to read.
Welcome the E8400 preparation thread! A thread dedicated to informing people on what the heck they need and why, to run the E8400, also to easily and safely overclock it. The E8500 or others can be discussed too, but bear in mind that the E8400 IS the sweet spot in pricing, considering it should be $40-60 cheaper (US), and is only 100mhz slower, and a .5 less multiplier, when both overclocked to their max, they will probably end up being the same speeds lol. To go lower then the E8400 only saves you $10-20 bucks, and is a more significant loss in stock speeds and lower multiplier.
X-bit labs and Expreview easily got a 4ghz overclock on the E84\E85, so there is little doubt that will probably end up being the target of most overclockers. 4.5 is probably doable for many though. Unfortunately the reviews did not do a very good job specifying to noobies what is really needed to get these speeds.
(UPDATE 1-26-08, got my E8400 running, will answer some of my own questions now)
QUESTION TIME~! party party!
1-- What kind of Mobo should the E8400 be used on, and what about compatibility?
Exprieview used a P35 flashed to support the E8400, Xbit labs used a X38. The price difference between an average P35 and a X38 is $100! So no doubt many people (like me) would prefer to use the P35.
1a--
There does not seem to be any P35 motherboards that can support a wolfdale unless flashed (updated). Can most motherboards be flashed without me needing another intel chip inserted until it is updated? I really don't want to buy anther CPU just to flash, cause then I might as well get a X38, but then again.....
1b--
Do the X38 mobos even support wolfdale out of the box, or do they also need to be flashed?
1c--
IMO the P35 is about as good for a wolfdale as a X38, but that is only based on the bits I've read. Will the X38 be a much better overclocker, or have other features I might need? (this question is mainly asked for others' sake).
answer--- Looks like most P35 mobos have decent-good support for the wolfdales! Some can also be flashed without needing a older CPU in first.... My Gigabyte P35-DS3L (rev. 2) mobo didn't even need to have a bios flash! It worked just fine with the E8400 out of the box!
2-- What RAM!?
I am leaning on DDR2 800mhz (pc6400) as it is cheaper then that hooker down the street. But, for overclocking, especially 4 or higher ghz, is the DDR2 800 going to be a bad choice? The price difference going up to even the DDR 1066 is pretty large.
2a-- Does anyone with a wolfdale need DDR3? Will it give a performance boost worth the huge price (allow me to answer that---- hell no!)
2c-- How much ram? For users of vista 32bit, is 2gigs enough? I know 4 gigs will not be fully recognized, but do some games (say crysis) need more then 2gigs at all?
answer--- I ended up getting 2gb of XMS2 (pc6400) ram, and it is working just fine for my needs, though I have yet to OC it. However, many people report great OC's using DDR2 ram.
3-- What Thermal Paste?
There is a lot of choices here, and I am assuming paste is paste, and doesn't matter too terribly much which one is used, nor what method of spreading just as long as you apply some (personally I'll do a very even spread across the chip with some plastic card). Of course this is being asked for 2nd opinions.
answer--- stock heatsink\fan came with pre-applied thermal paste just as others here mentioned. You won't need any paste unless you want to add a 3rd party cooler.
4--Mr. Scott! How much power!?
For normal humans who only use 1 video card (not 2 or 3 you sickos) how much power should a person need? 600watt power supply sufficient? The wolfdales use less power then the old Core 2's or quads, so I am assuming most people will do just fine with 550-700watts?
answer--- my thermaltake 500W PSU is so far working just fine with the E8400, 1 HD, 1 DVD, few leds\fans, and 8800GTS, so 500W or higher should be plenty for most people.
5-- What Case?
Ok common gamebro! Really?.... YES REALLY! There is a crap load of case options in case (bad joke intended) you haven't noticed. And for fools like me who wish to overclock not only the CPU but perhaps also the RAM and GPU, shouldn't I look for a case that is very efficient in cooling? (and uber cool looking of course).
answer--- My el-cheapo Xion Solaris case is keeping everything cool enough so far, and it was only 30 bucks after rebate! Love the green color on the black case. I call it my X-COM case, as the symbol on the side looks close to the X-com symbol (one of the best games of all time w00t!) =D. I did want that Antec 900 pretty bad though lol..... I think the important thing is making sure whatever case you get, it has more then just the 2 back fans. Side fans, top fans, front fans, underfans.... Well, you get the idea-- the more air the better!
6-- What Heatsink\Fan?
Ok enough of this tunic tower, or liquid cooling nonsense . Will a person REALLY need anything other then the stock heatsink\fan to get a high overclock on the cold running wolfdales? Seriously, I don't want a huge ridiculous hunk of expensive cooling metal in my case unless I really need it lol.
I'd look very dumb if I was bragging to my friends "yeah I got my E8400 at 4.2ghz with my $100 tuniq tower, I am soo cool" then to hear my bud say "you dumb#$$, I got mine to 4.5 on the stock heatsink\fan!)
answer--- The stock HSF is working very well, and is absolutely silent! Some people are reporting healthy 4+ghz OC's on em, but sure a (good) 3rd party cooler will do even better.
Conclusion--
Loving my E8400 so far, and I haven't even OC'ed it yet! With my 8800GTS (g92), 2gb ddr800 ram, and vista ultimate 32bit- It handles Crysis very well even with everything on very high except shaders (high) and AA (0) (1680x1050 resolution). DS3L is a great board too IMO! Wonderful features though I don't think it has raid, nor SLI\xfire, but it works like a champ, and the sound options\controls are soo good, I don't even want to install my old Audigy Gamer sound card!
Oh also- wanted to say, WOW! The E8400 CPU is soo tiny! I could swear my old AMD 3200xp chip is 2x the size!
Thanks to everyone who posted thus far, the advice was very helpful. It was a rough couple of weeks waiting for this long awaited CPU, but it was worth it!
Sure some people here actually LIKE to give noobies advice, but the common questions usually get annoying for the forum masters here, who have to sift through hundreds of similar posts to get to something really new and exciting to read.
Welcome the E8400 preparation thread! A thread dedicated to informing people on what the heck they need and why, to run the E8400, also to easily and safely overclock it. The E8500 or others can be discussed too, but bear in mind that the E8400 IS the sweet spot in pricing, considering it should be $40-60 cheaper (US), and is only 100mhz slower, and a .5 less multiplier, when both overclocked to their max, they will probably end up being the same speeds lol. To go lower then the E8400 only saves you $10-20 bucks, and is a more significant loss in stock speeds and lower multiplier.
X-bit labs and Expreview easily got a 4ghz overclock on the E84\E85, so there is little doubt that will probably end up being the target of most overclockers. 4.5 is probably doable for many though. Unfortunately the reviews did not do a very good job specifying to noobies what is really needed to get these speeds.
(UPDATE 1-26-08, got my E8400 running, will answer some of my own questions now)
QUESTION TIME~! party party!
1-- What kind of Mobo should the E8400 be used on, and what about compatibility?
Exprieview used a P35 flashed to support the E8400, Xbit labs used a X38. The price difference between an average P35 and a X38 is $100! So no doubt many people (like me) would prefer to use the P35.
1a--
There does not seem to be any P35 motherboards that can support a wolfdale unless flashed (updated). Can most motherboards be flashed without me needing another intel chip inserted until it is updated? I really don't want to buy anther CPU just to flash, cause then I might as well get a X38, but then again.....
1b--
Do the X38 mobos even support wolfdale out of the box, or do they also need to be flashed?
1c--
IMO the P35 is about as good for a wolfdale as a X38, but that is only based on the bits I've read. Will the X38 be a much better overclocker, or have other features I might need? (this question is mainly asked for others' sake).
answer--- Looks like most P35 mobos have decent-good support for the wolfdales! Some can also be flashed without needing a older CPU in first.... My Gigabyte P35-DS3L (rev. 2) mobo didn't even need to have a bios flash! It worked just fine with the E8400 out of the box!
2-- What RAM!?
I am leaning on DDR2 800mhz (pc6400) as it is cheaper then that hooker down the street. But, for overclocking, especially 4 or higher ghz, is the DDR2 800 going to be a bad choice? The price difference going up to even the DDR 1066 is pretty large.
2a-- Does anyone with a wolfdale need DDR3? Will it give a performance boost worth the huge price (allow me to answer that---- hell no!)
2c-- How much ram? For users of vista 32bit, is 2gigs enough? I know 4 gigs will not be fully recognized, but do some games (say crysis) need more then 2gigs at all?
answer--- I ended up getting 2gb of XMS2 (pc6400) ram, and it is working just fine for my needs, though I have yet to OC it. However, many people report great OC's using DDR2 ram.
3-- What Thermal Paste?
There is a lot of choices here, and I am assuming paste is paste, and doesn't matter too terribly much which one is used, nor what method of spreading just as long as you apply some (personally I'll do a very even spread across the chip with some plastic card). Of course this is being asked for 2nd opinions.
answer--- stock heatsink\fan came with pre-applied thermal paste just as others here mentioned. You won't need any paste unless you want to add a 3rd party cooler.
4--Mr. Scott! How much power!?
For normal humans who only use 1 video card (not 2 or 3 you sickos) how much power should a person need? 600watt power supply sufficient? The wolfdales use less power then the old Core 2's or quads, so I am assuming most people will do just fine with 550-700watts?
answer--- my thermaltake 500W PSU is so far working just fine with the E8400, 1 HD, 1 DVD, few leds\fans, and 8800GTS, so 500W or higher should be plenty for most people.
5-- What Case?
Ok common gamebro! Really?.... YES REALLY! There is a crap load of case options in case (bad joke intended) you haven't noticed. And for fools like me who wish to overclock not only the CPU but perhaps also the RAM and GPU, shouldn't I look for a case that is very efficient in cooling? (and uber cool looking of course).
answer--- My el-cheapo Xion Solaris case is keeping everything cool enough so far, and it was only 30 bucks after rebate! Love the green color on the black case. I call it my X-COM case, as the symbol on the side looks close to the X-com symbol (one of the best games of all time w00t!) =D. I did want that Antec 900 pretty bad though lol..... I think the important thing is making sure whatever case you get, it has more then just the 2 back fans. Side fans, top fans, front fans, underfans.... Well, you get the idea-- the more air the better!
6-- What Heatsink\Fan?
Ok enough of this tunic tower, or liquid cooling nonsense
. Will a person REALLY need anything other then the stock heatsink\fan to get a high overclock on the cold running wolfdales? Seriously, I don't want a huge ridiculous hunk of expensive cooling metal in my case unless I really need it lol. I'd look very dumb if I was bragging to my friends "yeah I got my E8400 at 4.2ghz with my $100 tuniq tower, I am soo cool" then to hear my bud say "you dumb#$$, I got mine to 4.5 on the stock heatsink\fan!)
answer--- The stock HSF is working very well, and is absolutely silent! Some people are reporting healthy 4+ghz OC's on em, but sure a (good) 3rd party cooler will do even better.
Conclusion--
Loving my E8400 so far, and I haven't even OC'ed it yet! With my 8800GTS (g92), 2gb ddr800 ram, and vista ultimate 32bit- It handles Crysis very well even with everything on very high except shaders (high) and AA (0) (1680x1050 resolution). DS3L is a great board too IMO! Wonderful features though I don't think it has raid, nor SLI\xfire, but it works like a champ, and the sound options\controls are soo good, I don't even want to install my old Audigy Gamer sound card!
Oh also- wanted to say, WOW! The E8400 CPU is soo tiny! I could swear my old AMD 3200xp chip is 2x the size!
Thanks to everyone who posted thus far, the advice was very helpful. It was a rough couple of weeks waiting for this long awaited CPU, but it was worth it!
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