OC Help Needed - Guru's please read

[Dragon41673]

I have yet to decide what exactly I?m going to do?so I need a bit of help deciding on what pieces to get. I?m fairly new to OC?ing. The rig in my sig was my first OC, it sucked, I have a limp 2nd core that will only hit 240mhz higher then stock prime stable, so my best is 2640 on an AMD X2 4800+, and the memory was rather touchy on OC?ing. I?m looking at doing a new rig, I already have the case (Antec Nine Hundred), but I?m unsure what board to go with and what memory. I want something that is going to hit some HIGH marks?on air! I will be using either a Tuniq Tower 120 or the Thermalright Ultra 120 Plus (whenever it becomes available).

Here is what I?m looking at as far as motherboards, I need best opinions on what I have listed for motherboards and ONLY those listed. I'm not interested in any other board. I'm a HUGE Asus fan...but that EVGA one seems to be doing quite good also.

Asus STRIKER EXTREME
Asus P5N32-E SLI
EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1

I want a GREAT OC board, but at the same time, I?m trying to decide if price is an issue. I know the EVGA & ASUS P5N32 boards are close to each other in terms of price, the Striker is a HUGE cost difference. I?ve read the reviews and they all seem to differ between all 3 boards. I know the only difference is a couple items that DON?T impact much of anything between the 2 ASUS ones?so I?m kinda confused?but I don?t want to make another wrong choice here ya know?

Now you ask?what Core 2 will I be using?well?MORE THEN LIKELY the E6600?but I?m waiting until April when the price cuts hit?at that time I will revisit the issue because I might do the newer Core 2 Duo with the TRUE 1333 bus. If I do the E6600 I will be modding the chip to do 1333 as per OC Forums guide on shorting out the 2 pins.

I have purchased my memory, Corsair Dominator TWIN2X2048-6400C4D.

So help me out OC?ing gurus!!! I don't want another limp system/chip this time!!!

Thanks in advance

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Dragon41673
Now on the memory, I?m looking exclusively at Corsair Dominator series?but what one? People say there is a DEFINATE benefit to do higher clocked memory, but tests show not much of a difference between the higher clocked ones and 800mhz ones?so what to do?

That's because those tests aren't testing how well you can overclock a cpu. Of course, with an E6600, it won't make much difference at all, unless you're planning on going higher than 3.6-3.7 Ghz, since any PC6400 will do 400 Mhz/800 DDR. Where it makes the difference is in the lower multiplier cpu's.

 

[IsenMike]

I'm not a guru by any means. This rig is my first real overclock. But I have that EVGA board with an E6600, and I have to say that I couldn't be more pleased. If you want a detailed idea of what it can do, NVIDIA has a pretty awesome guide on overclocking with the 680i chipset here

 

[Dragon41673]

Myocardia...thank you! I'd LOVE to get as close to 4ghz as I can, but I realize there ARE limitations with air cooling! hahaha

IsenMike...COOL! Thank you, I'm at work and will try to look at it while on lunch.

 

[Dragon41673]

OK I was able to check that out, but I still need some more insight on the 3 boards listed and on the memory. Anyone else have any suggestions?

 

[Dragon41673]

Anyone else with advice?

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Looks like your overthinking it a bit. With an E6600 you don't need an insanely high FSB. Any of the boards you listed will probably support the maximum that the CPU can run.
Personally I went with a P965 chipset board and steered clear of the 680i's because they are new tech and I don't think all the bugs have been worked out yet.

The maximum overclock your able to get will depend 95% on the particular CPU that you get, not the board or the ram. I can't tell you how many people I've seen put tons of research and sweat into selecting the ultimate overclocking board and ram only to get a not so great chip and be severly disappointed. And with the E6600's 9x multi all you need is a board that can get in the 400fsb range, and most all of the top level boards will do this easily. Now with an E6300 the board and ram selection are much more important.

 

[Dragon41673]

Thanks GD, you were a big help in trying to figure out my current rig...which my CPU was killing my OC...much of what you say is probably true...I just want to make sure I have all the "right" parts this time around...even if it is overkill

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I myself am guilty of the same thing I waited and waited for the infamous P5B-E rev. 1.02g board that Anandtech dubbed the O/C king and easily got over 500fsb in their review and paired it with some nice highspeed ram. And after months of research picked the E6400 because many people reported hitting 3.2 and above with no voltage increase and some were reporting 4ghz on air:shocked: I had visions of 4ghz in my dreams and it turns out the E6400 I got needs a significant voltage increase to get orthos and TAT stable at 3.2ghz and 3.4 requires more volts than even I am willing to throw at it 24/7, the absolute highest I have gotten is 3.54 and that takes 1.6v:roll: and is only stable enough to run SuperPI and a few benches.

But on the upside a 3.2ghz C2D is wicked fast and I know my other components have no problem running this speed 24/7

 

[Dragon41673]

Updated - I bought my memory. Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4D...still need some advice on the m/b to be used.