E2160 Overclock

[Wineohe]

I am finally able to consistently overclock my E2160 and GA-965P-DS3 that I have had for over a year. I was blaming it on everything but the squirrel on the windowsill. Memory, Power Supply, and the Motherboard which was next up..... The change? I swapped out the Graphics Card from a WinFast PX 8600 GTS to a Sapphire HD 4850. I decided to try the overclock business again out of curiosity and bingo. Interesting since I have never overclocked the PCI-E. Maybe it was a voltage thing but I could never get it to work consistently. I just ordered a new UD3R, maybe I can send it back. For sure I'll keep the Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro that I ordered with it. I want to shoot for +3Ghz.

 

[exar333]

Congrats!

I got a lot of use out of E2160 @ 3.0ghz and loved that processor. Definitely a lot of bang for the buck back before the 5xxx and 7xxx series' came out. Even still, they are good performing CPUs.

 

[Wineohe]

Yes the E2160 is long in the tooth and no longer the sexy overclock chip it once was. How time flies, October 2007 seems like so long ago. I will probably go for an E7XXX next.

 

[yh125d]

NEVER overclock PCI-e bus. Lock it to 100mHz

If you're sticking with dual core, I'd step up to 8x00 instead of 7x00, I wish I had, you'll definitely appreciate the extra cache + easier overclocking

 

[Wineohe]

Thanks for the advice, I was actually thinking about buying the E7200. I was also looking at the E8600 and E8700 but thought I might go for a 45nm chip. I may rethink that. I use Photoshop CS3 and considered a QUAD, although I've heard utilization on all cores is not as good as it could be.

As for the PCI-e, it's locked on 100. Some of the earlier BIOS for my board had issues with this.

 

[kpxgq]

go with an e7200 or e7300... both will hit 3.2ghz at least at stock voltage and 3.5ghz is a no brainer.... might need some luck for 3.7-3.9ghz but nevertheless and awesome value for under $100 when most of the $150-300 e8XXX chips average 4-4.2ghz

 

[Wineohe]

Just bought a Q9400 from Microcenter for in-store pickup. I guess I got carried away but at $179 +tax I could not resist. It's like walking in to check out the Yaris and driving off in a Loaded Camry. With a mild overclock this should make CS3 humm and keep me happy for a few more months and hopefully years. Thanks for all of the advice.