Overclocking old Intel Board

[troglodytes]

I'm pretty sure I know what the answer to this questions is going to be, but I figure I'd ask to verify. I have an older Intel board (DG43GT) with E7500 Core 2 Duo processor. Now I know the CPU itself is overclockable, but I have no BIOS settings and I've d/l clockgen and FSBset, neither of which give me any options at all. In fact when opened, clockgen only has a clocks tab (no PLL settings teb, etc) and when clicked is completely blank. Is this MOBO completely locked?

Thanks

 

[GRAFiZ]

Most older Intel made motherboards are locked down tight... no multiplier or FSB options.

Well, unless you have an unlocked CPU, ie, Xeon or ES.

 

[troglodytes]

That's what I thought. I'm incrementally upgrading my HTPC to a gaming/HTPC so my CPU is a bottleneck for the 660ti I just picked up. I figured I would OC until I upgraded the Mobo/CPU/Ram in the next step. Looks like I might be moving that upgrade ahead of schedule.

 

[GRAFiZ]

That's what I thought. I'm incrementally upgrading my HTPC to a gaming/HTPC so my CPU is a bottleneck for the 660ti I just picked up. I figured I would OC until I upgraded the Mobo/CPU/Ram in the next step. Looks like I might be moving that upgrade ahead of schedule.

Yeah... a general systems upgrade is going to be your best bet. I actually went through something very much like your just recently. I'd been running a Core2Quad 9650 @4ghz for years. Paired with 8gbs of DDR2 and a GTX 295.

Wanting DX11 support I picked up a GTX 660ti Boost and slapped it in. TERRIBLE performance, in fact, worse than the GTX 295 in all ways (well, beyond power consumption and DX11 support).

I thought it was the video card... so I returned it and bought a GTX 770.

Same thing, the performance was nothing to be excited about.

Upgraded the system to a used i7 2660K and the improvement is day and night.

Those older CPU's are great for office work now, but for gaming, it's a rough road.

Good luck with your new build.