Overclocking the G3258 Microcenter combo

[sm625]

I want to have a thread for overclocking this specific combo.

www.microcenter.com/site/brands/G3258Bundle.aspx

The motherboard is a MSI Z97 PC Mate.
The CPU is of course the pentium 20th anniversary edition G3258.
Memory: 2x4GB Crucial Ballistix
HDD Intel X25V 40GB
PSU: Seasonic 300W (SS-300ES)
No other devices installed

I currently have it running at 4.5GHz @ 1.275V. The only settings I changed were the multiplier and just the one voltage setting.

Notice the wide swings in minmax cpu core temp. Is that normal for haswell? Keep in mind that I clicked the "reset min max values" just a few seconds before taking this screenshot. Those wide swings in temperature consistently appear. At any rate, it seems to be running smoothly regardless of the fluctuations.

Power consumption (using Kill-a-watt to measure at the wall socket) is 24 watts idle, 74 watts under full IA core load, and 83 watts under full IA core load plus HTML5 fishbowl. In the screenshot above you can see it says 2 watts and 600 MHz for the GPu, but that's because the fishbowl was out of focus for the screen capture. When the fishbowl is in the foreground you get the full 10W TDP on the GPU and max power from the wall.

Super pi 1M score is 8.9 sec. Seems a little slow for 4.5GHz(?)

Peacekeeper: 6761

sunspider-1.0.2: 108 mS

 

[OBLAMA2009]

wow thats quite the deal, too bad they arent in the bay area anymore

 

[AkumaX]

what's the default VID?

 

[sm625]

I think the default VID is 1.08

 

[Madpacket]

Those temps look normal to me. Our chips are very similar but my board consumes a bit more power. MSI boards are usually very power efficient so that doesn't surprise me. You should be fine once you put it all in a case unless you're running stress tests all day.

 

[Chappie]

So how would that CPU and mobo combo do as a budget gaming rig? I'm running an old unlocked AMD CPU over clocked with an nvidia 560ti video card. It's ok, but if I could replace it with that Intel rig would it be worth it?

Just curious

Chappie

 

[VirtualLarry]

but if I could replace it with that Intel rig would it be worth it?

Depends on how much it would cost you. Is your current rig a quad-core? Do you have 1.5v DDR3 RAM? Are you close to a Microcenter?

 

[Charlie98]

What are you using to cool the CPU?

 

[cbn]

What are you using to cool the CPU?

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=36533412&postcount=28

 

[sm625]

I got another benchmark score to add:

Peacekeeper: 6761

This is twice as fast as my old i5-750. Jesus...

 

[sm625]

I will be doing more tests on the stock cooler once this polar vortex thing passes and normal july temps return.

 

[deanx0r]

I was trying to hold on for Skylake with my old Q6600, but this deal was too good to pass. My Q6600 was overclocked at 3.6GHz and served me well over the year, but it was getting long in the tooth when it came to gaming.

I couldn't get more than 4.6GHz out of mine, and I was already dumping 1.375V into it. Temperatures hovered around the 90C mark. I ended up settling for 4.4GHz with 1.150V and more comfortable temperatures around 65C with the stock HSF.

The Q6600 was fitted with a Tuniq Tower and dumped massive amount of heat in the case. The G3258's stock HSF is tiny in comparison but good enough for its intended purposed. I am now able to turn down all my fans to 5V which makes the case nearly silent.

General web browsing feels faster. I was only able to test Diablo 3 and Skyrim, and while I don't have any numbers, those two games feel smoother with the G3258. I tried to compile and synthesize some HDL code in Quartus, but there was no improvement speed wise there.

I'd say it's a pretty substantial upgrade if you are coming from a Core CPU with a modest GPU (HD6970 here). Overclocking was really easy and hassle free. The thermals are substantially improved as well. Not a bad CPU if you can get the MC deal and understand its limitations.

 

[sm625]

"Due to limited availability of this item, only 1 item per household can be ordered"

Has anyone ever tried to buy the same bundle more than once, on separate days?

 

[PG]

"Due to limited availability of this item, only 1 item per household can be ordered"

Has anyone ever tried to buy the same bundle more than once, on separate days?

Yes, and it has worked, at least for me.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

are they opening up in the bay area again

 

[Kenmitch]

I went down to the Tustin CA store today.

Thought about picking one up but after thinking about it I decided to pass. Reading the results online it seems the chip is kind of a weak overclocker..

Got me a 4690k Gigabyte Z97MX Gaming 5 combo instead. Was tempted to get the 4790k but passed in the end.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Just heads-up, Newegg has a G3258 and MSI Z87 PC Mate combo for $105 with a $10 MIR. See my thread in Hot Deals for a link.

Edit: Note carefully, that that is a Z87, not Z97, and it has plenty of bad reviews on Newegg.

 

[Replay]

Sub-$10 Thermaltake V1 (copper base & heatpipes, 92mm fan, old Newegg deal).
4.7 GHz 47x @1.400V, VRing 1.200, Cache 4 GHz, VCCIN Auto. Prime95 stable 1 hour+ with typical temps of 82c 73c cores, 83c package. Peak recorded core temps 89c 82c. 4.6 GHz 1.375 VCore was Prime stable, but 4.7 GHz bluescreened 37 minutes into testing.

Zalman CNPS9900A 120mm cooler 4.8 Ghz at 1.475 was likely to be stable, but I didn't like the temps, up near 90c. 4.7 GHz was Prime stable at 1.350 VCore, temps peaked ~80c. 4.6 GHz ok @ 1.325 VCore. 4.5 GHz ok at 1.300 VCore.

Stock copper core heatsink: 1.250 VCore 4.5 GHz Prime95 tests stopped after 7 minutes as temps hit 89c. 44x 4.4 GHz 1.200 VCore Prime95 stable with peak core temps of 83c 77c. Stock chip speed sips power with 0.875 VCore, Prime95 peak temps 44c. Prime stable at 2.9 GHz, 0.800 VCore, with peak temps around 41c (system ~32c)

[EDIT: A discrete video card was installed during the OC tests shown above, (IGP disabled). Running a mis-matched pair of 2G DDR3 1333 sticks.]

Have a Costa Rica chip if it makes a difference...

Tips gleaned from various forums:
- 1.45-1.50 VCore max with aftermarket coolers unless you have extreme cooling. Temps max 95c core. Stock cooler got me to 4.4 GHz at 1.2 VCore.
- Bluescreens: 0x124 raise VCore, 0x101 raise VRing (cache etc.)
- Ring Ratio (cache) shows minimal benefits from overclocking. Stay under 1.30 VRing. Max out the CPU clock 1st.
- VCCIN some boost this, typically going 0.05V above VCore, when VCore is 1.300+
- CPU said to perform well even with slow 1333 ram, with minimal benefits from higher speed ram. Tighter timings may be more important. I didn't do any ram benchmarks.

 

[cbn]

Stock copper core heatsink: 1.250 VCore 4.5 GHz Prime95 tests stopped after 7 minutes as temps hit 89c. 44x 4.4 GHz 1.200 VCore Prime95 stable with peak core temps of 83c 77c. Stock chip speed sips power with 0.875 VCore, Prime95 peak temps 44c. Prime stable at 2.9 GHz, 0.800 VCore, with peak temps around 41c (system ~32c)

This is with the iGPU connected and running the monitor?

Or is it with a discrete video card and the iGPU not active?

 

[cbn]

- CPU said to perform well even with slow 1333 ram, with minimal benefits from higher speed ram. Tighter timings may be more important. I didn't do any ram benchmarks.

Do you recall if any of those 1333 RAM users were using just one stick (ie, single channel)?

 

[Replay]

NVidia 8600GT video card installed as I planned to use the rig with a better video card as a budget LAN gaming outfit.

Don't recall offhand whether any of the guys benching the chip were on one stick of ram. Possible a rig might OC a bit higher on one stick, at some cost in benchmark performance.

This is with the iGPU connected and running the monitor?
Or is it with a discrete video card and the iGPU not active?

 

[justin4pack]

Quick question. So I have a biostar B85 board that I have got the G3258 to 4.5GHZ at load it runs pretty hot around 75c. Now I did not adjust any of the voltages but CPUID shows 1.33 so Im wondering if the board is doing this automatically. Should I be able to adjust down the voltage?

 

[Mir96TA]

I wonder how much you can O.C. on Stock Voltage (Stable)