I've lost track of how many topics I've created, because deciding has become very difficult. So, I am asking questions, as they come up in my mind. This one is more complicated.
My setup:
E6400
ATi 4850
Asus P5B mobo (1066 FSB)
Chieftec 400W PSU
2 GB RAM PC2-5400 Transcend
250 GB WD SATA II HDD
Win XP Home
I want something better for now, that will cost me cheap, so I can get an i7 upgrade when windows 7 come (bypassing the whole Vista Experience. Not that I have anything against them. I just see no reason to switch to Vista if they're going to be changed soon). My options
1) Buy a new decent PSU (Corsair 550W for example) and a fan for my CPU (Xigmatec???) and overclock it. I tried overclocking it as is (to 333 FSB, I think), but it reached 70 C. It was stable for two hours on Prime, but with that PSU and those temps, I didn't want to risk it.
2) Buy PSU and fan again, but also get a E5200 for 80 euros (euro is more expensive, but we have more expensive prices here -Greece- so the analogies remain the same) and do a reasonable overclock; nothing too fancy: raise the FSB to 266, so I won't push my mobo beyond what it can do and still reach 3.4 GHz (if possible)
3) Buy PSU and fan again, but also get the E7200 for 110 euros. It's already powerful enough (more than my E6400) and raising the FSB to 300 or 333 is going to give me some decent performace.
I have never overclocked anything, so I am going to leave lots of things on auto: maybe even Vcore voltage (or I will leave it on auto, see what cpu-z says it is and then lower it a little in BIOS). My problem is whether I can puch my mobo beyond its supported FSB without risk. Someone told me that if I had got a E8400 (my original plan), my mobo would have severely bottlenecked my CPU; which will be the case if I overclock past 266 MHz FSB. So, right now the E5200 seems like the better option. However, ANY thoughts on the matter will be welcome.
My setup:
E6400
ATi 4850
Asus P5B mobo (1066 FSB)
Chieftec 400W PSU
2 GB RAM PC2-5400 Transcend
250 GB WD SATA II HDD
Win XP Home
I want something better for now, that will cost me cheap, so I can get an i7 upgrade when windows 7 come (bypassing the whole Vista Experience. Not that I have anything against them. I just see no reason to switch to Vista if they're going to be changed soon). My options
1) Buy a new decent PSU (Corsair 550W for example) and a fan for my CPU (Xigmatec???) and overclock it. I tried overclocking it as is (to 333 FSB, I think), but it reached 70 C. It was stable for two hours on Prime, but with that PSU and those temps, I didn't want to risk it.
2) Buy PSU and fan again, but also get a E5200 for 80 euros (euro is more expensive, but we have more expensive prices here -Greece- so the analogies remain the same) and do a reasonable overclock; nothing too fancy: raise the FSB to 266, so I won't push my mobo beyond what it can do and still reach 3.4 GHz (if possible)
3) Buy PSU and fan again, but also get the E7200 for 110 euros. It's already powerful enough (more than my E6400) and raising the FSB to 300 or 333 is going to give me some decent performace.
I have never overclocked anything, so I am going to leave lots of things on auto: maybe even Vcore voltage (or I will leave it on auto, see what cpu-z says it is and then lower it a little in BIOS). My problem is whether I can puch my mobo beyond its supported FSB without risk. Someone told me that if I had got a E8400 (my original plan), my mobo would have severely bottlenecked my CPU; which will be the case if I overclock past 266 MHz FSB. So, right now the E5200 seems like the better option. However, ANY thoughts on the matter will be welcome.