What to look for in a 775 motherboard

[asher001]

Hi all,

I am currently running a Q6600 on a P5K-SE motherboard. I am told this particular motherboard model is not good for overclocking, which I would like to do. What should I be looking for in a motherboard (LGA775) to be able to overclock effectively?

Thanks

 

[sportsfanboy]

How high of an overclock are you thinking of getting? Basically any 775 board with 4 phase power regulation sucks for overclocking quad cores. that said, if you have good cooling for the cpu, you should be able to reach 3.2ghz to 3.3ghz as long as you can keep up with the temps. You will be throwing more voltage at your chip then the more expansive boards, but it can't hurt to try.

If you are going to buy a different board for the q6600, make sure it has 8 phase voltage regulation.

 

[asher001]

Thanks for the tip. I am not sure how far I want to push the CPU but would like to get a decent performance increase. I am trying to weigh up the benefit vs cost at the moment, but I think getting a decent motherboard from ebay may give me a pretty good performance boost if I can get the CPU running at 3GHz. I am also getting a better cooler obviously. Still undecided though.

 

[sportsfanboy]

You should be able to reach 3.0 with your current board.

 

[asher001]

Would it be worth getting something like a P5Q PRO (from ebay) as an upgrade?

 

[sportsfanboy]

If your looking to get 3.0 you can use the board you currently have. If your looking for a big overclock you will need an upgrade. Personally, I would keep your current board and overclock it to around 3.1ghz and call it a day. Save the money for a true upgrade in the future to a more modern platform.

 

[jsc]

Agreed. Increasing the FSB freq to 333 MHz will get you to 3.0 GHz with little or no CPU voltage increase and little or no tinkering.