Overclock Quad Core to 3.0Ghz on Air --- Help!

[MChim]

Hi...

I was going to purchase the E8500 for gaming, but I don't want to lose out on having a quad core cpu as I do quite a bit of multitasking. I'll have Winamp playing a song, while burning a DVD, while downloading massive files, while connected to the VPN at work, etc. What I'd like to do is buy the Q6600 for price and because I understand it has a high multiplier. I want to overclock it to 3.0ghz in order to play games at a decent framerate still. My question to you guys is:

1) Which motherboard is considered best to perform this task? (I will be buying the Geforce GTX 280)

2) What is the best fan for air cooling?

3) Is it worth it to jump to the Corsair RAM is I can get PNY at cost. (One of my best friend's works there) PNY XLR8 RAM --- http://www2.pny.com/XLR8-2GB-2...ith-EPP-P2321C298.aspx

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Matt :beer:

 

[disports]

Well for one, if you plan on overclocking, read graysky's sticky at the top of the forum.

1) There are lots of reasonable motherboards to work with: Asus P5Q Pro or Deluxe (if you really want all those fancy features), even the vanilla P5Q (which I'm using), Gigabyte P35-DS3L or P45-DS3L, and some others
2) People would say the TRUE (Thermalright Ultra Extreme) 120 is currently the best, but it is expensive. There are other options such as the Tuniq Tower 120, Xigmatek HDT-S1283, OCZ Vendetta 2, and maybe a few others that I can't recall off the top of my head.
3) Only 2GB? You might as well jump up to 4GB as the prices are so cheap it's ridiculous. Corsair, G.Skill, Mushkin are good brands.

 

[starfireone]

Suggest looking at motherboards that have the most configuration options in the BIOS for overclocking. Less options give you less overclocking potential.

I love the heck out of Ninja Coolers. They are big and I mean big but they sure provide outstanding air cooling. And low noise too.

I have always used Corsair memory. They overclock well for me. I would also suggest you go to 4gb dual channel memory. Buy them in sets/pair packs. They have been tested to work together smoothly.

 

[taltamir]

2GB of ram is completely unacceptable today for a power user. You will have a faster machine with 4GB of ram and a non OCed CPU.
Try to get DDR2-1000 or 1066 ram, it could help you in your OC (depending on how you do things, and how much you OC).

Any decent OC board should be able to get a Q6600 to 3ghz. without even raising the voltage.
On my gigabyte EP35-DS3R I OC it to 3ghz AND slightly undervolt it at the same time.

I am using a noctua, but it was a pain to install... I recommend you check the latest reviews and see which one wins. Also... last review I saw showed the AS5 is beat by MX-2, which is beat by some OCZ paste (don't remember which) which is beat by the Noctua paste (which came with my noctua HSF). There are also some impressive diamond based pastes..

PS. you might be able to get 3ghz on stock cooler.

 

[isandu]

Processor: I'm not so sure you'll be better off with a Q6600. I also have a Q6600 - which I bought for the same reason that you mentioned - and I have a hard time keeping it busy above 15%-35% in day to day usage. E8500 has SSE4, is more overclockable, consumes less power and is cooler than Q6600 (at the same frequency at least). However, the debate between a quad-core and a faster dual-core has been going on ever since Q6600 dropped to 266$, and it doesn't really lead anywhere.

It might also be useful to know that on October 19th, Intel is planning to drop the prices of some of its processors (including Q6600, but its price will only go down by 10$): http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=15521

Motherboard: since Nehalem is looming ahead, I don't think it's very wise to invest too much money in a platform (LGA775, DDR2) that will become obsolete rather quickly. I think a Gigabyte EP45-DS3R should do nicely.

CPU cooler: you can have a look here: http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm (hope it isn't a problem to post links to other review sites on anandtech)

Memory: Corsair is a good brand name for RAM memory, and so is Mushkin and others, but if you read user reviews on various sites, you'll see that every memory manufacturer has its ups and downs.

Then again, I don't know what your needs are. This is just my advice.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: MChim
1) Which motherboard is considered best to perform this task?

Definitely get a P45-based board. Our favorite(s) around here are the Asus P5Q Pro, and the P5Q Deluxe. They have loads of features, good price, and overclock extremely well.

2) What is the best fan for air cooling?

At the moment, there are almost too many good heatsinks to list. Seriously. The ones we usually use range from the ~$25 Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro/Thermaltake CL-P0370/OCZ Vanquisher, which will all keep a Q6600 @ 3.0 Ghz plenty cool, to the slightly more expensive Sunbeam CR-CCTF/OCZ Vendetta 2/Xigmatech HDT 1283/OCZ Vendetta/Scythe Ninja B/Zalman 9500, which will allow you to go considerably faster than 3.0, while still maintaining good temps, and finally, the best of them all, the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme/Sunbeam Tuniq Tower/Scythe Ninja 2/OCZ Vendetta 2/Zalman 9700, among others. These will allow even higher overclocks while maintaining good temps, but they are large, heavy, and fairly costly.

3) Is it worth it to jump to the Corsair RAM is I can get PNY at cost. (One of my best friend's works there) PNY XLR8 RAM --- http://www2.pny.com/XLR8-2GB-2...ith-EPP-P2321C298.aspx

Corsair RAM is nothing special, honestly. Don't get me wrong, it's good, it just isn't as good as the prices they usually want for it. Around here, we like price/performance leaders, which is why the most popular RAM these days is G.Skill's PQ series of 2x2 GB sticks. At ~$60 for 4GB of PC6400 (@ newegg), with the best IC's (actual RAM chips) on any 2GB stick, it's a no-brainer. And no, you don't need any faster than PC6400, with a Q6600. You'd be able to run a Q6600 @ 3.6 Ghz, without overclocking the RAM any at all, and since 3.6-3.7 is the highest it's really possible to overclock a Q6600 on air, you just don't need faster.

Now, PNY isn't very good RAM at all. As a matter of fact, they only sell a single kit of 2x2GB PC6400 (and also don't sell any that are faster). It might be worth buying through your friend, though, if you can get it for next to nothing. The PNY part # is MD4096KD2-800. I'd say it might be worth trying, if your friend can get it for you for say, $40 or less.

Welcome to anandtech, BTW.

 

[SolMiester]

Originally posted by: MChim
Hi...

I was going to purchase the E8500 for gaming, but I don't want to lose out on having a quad core cpu as I do quite a bit of multitasking. I'll have Winamp playing a song, while burning a DVD, while downloading massive files, while connected to the VPN at work, etc. What I'd like to do is buy the Q6600 for price and because I understand it has a high multiplier. I want to overclock it to 3.0ghz in order to play games at a decent framerate still. My question to you guys is:

1) Which motherboard is considered best to perform this task? (I will be buying the Geforce GTX 280)

2) What is the best fan for air cooling?

3) Is it worth it to jump to the Corsair RAM is I can get PNY at cost. (One of my best friend's works there) PNY XLR8 RAM --- http://www2.pny.com/XLR8-2GB-2...ith-EPP-P2321C298.aspx

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Matt :beer:

Naughty naughty, dual homing while on a work VPN...tsk tsk!

 

[SolMiester]

You could get a cheap IP35 as I have with ACF7pro @ 3Ghz and only 44-48c under full load.....oh, and maysure you dont tell you work IT manager that you connect to the internet and the work VPN at the same time...LOL

 

[taltamir]

Motherboard: since Nehalem is looming ahead, I don't think it's very wise to invest too much money in a platform (LGA775, DDR2) that will become obsolete rather quickly. I think a Gigabyte EP45-DS3R should do nicely.

A computer is not an investment, it is a consumable resource. Sure don't spend TOO much...
But with 2x2 DDR2-1066 with good timing @ 70$ and 2x2 DDR3-1333 with good timing @ 300+$... well, and mobos being several hundred dolllars overpriced as well. Well, it makes more sense to buy the 775 DDR2 platform today for 1/4 the price, and upgrade later when price on DDR3/X58 goes down. A LOT.

 

[MChim]

Thanks so much for all the input guys!