Tell me about Core2Duo

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
160,298
Right.

Stuff the Opteron, if a job is worth doing, its worth doing right.

Time for a Core2Duo upgrade. I'm going to need memory, a motherboard and a CPU to go with my shiney new BFG 8800GTS that arrived from OcUK this morning.

I wouldn't mind some no hassle overclocking, either. What can these Core2Duo CPU's reasonably acheive on non-ridiculous air cooling? 3Ghz possible? I want the sort of performance that means I won't need to worry about upgrading again for another 18 months or so.

I'll set my budget at an optimum of £320 but a max of £350. Which board, CPU and memory combo for decent overclocking? I'd like 2Gb of memory.
 
Gigabyte DS3/E4300 or E6300/OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 on special this week.

should give you what you want.
 
Whichever 800Mhz 2GB kit is cheapest (timings make little difference for Intel Architechture)
Gigabyte S3 or DS3 with P965 chipset
4300 chip (if you want 3Ghz then the strap on the m/b I've suggested will change with the 6300 but not the 4300)

RAM: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-018-GS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813 (£103.39 inc VAT)

MOBO: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-061-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=565 (£82.24 inc VAT)

CHIP: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-142-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=793 (£112.79 inc VAT)

Total cost from OCUK right now: £298.42 (could get a cooler or arctic silver if you already have a good cooler with the rest)

Edit: damn beaten to it!
 
I'm working on a friend's E6300, DS3, AC Freezer 7 Pro rig. 3GHz it EFFORTLESS. It does it on stock volts. I'm currently stress-testing it at 3.4 GHz and the fan isn't even spinning at full speed.
 
Last edited:
Looks good so far. That ram is decent, right?

Can someone explain the practical differences between E4300 and E6300 to me? I'm not a noob per se, infact overclocking CPU's used to be my main hobby, but I'm a bit out of touch, my last proper knowledge was how great mobile 2100+'s were :o
 
williamw11 said:
Have to agree with DS3 etc.

I have a C2D 6300 now at 7 x 465 = 3.255Ghz with Crucial anniversary Ram 1:1 on a Gigabyte DS3. Will go further all with AC7 Air Cooling.
Click to expand...

What sort of real world performance are you getting? Will I notice it being quicker than my A64 3200+?
 
The E4300 is a lower end chip. It has a higher multi which means that you can get a decent overclock on cheaper RAM. The E6300 is a better chip but has a lower multi. It will get you a higher overclock overall but will take better RAM to do it.

I suggest an E6300 for you.
 
BillytheImpaler said:
The E4300 is a lower end chip. It has a higher multi which means that you can get a decent overclock on cheaper RAM. The E6300 is a better chip but has a lower multi. It will get you a higher overclock overall but will take better RAM to do it.
Click to expand...

I get it. And the OCZ stuff does indeed class as 'better ram'? Is it the best sub £140 memory, for example?

Can I reasonably expect 3-3.3Ghz out of this combo then?
 
The main difference is that the E4300 is a 200mhz FSB part and the 6300 is a 266mhz FSB part. The E4300 has a 9 multi where the E6300 has a 7 multi. Basically the E6300 would need a higher FSB in order to get the same clocks as the E4300. It all depends on how good your ram is as well as how good a processor you get. I cant comment on if that OCZ is good or not but if running the E4300 you could ideally get 8 x 400 for 1:1 ram and that would give you 3.2ghz. the same clock on *** E6300 would require 457mhz FSB.
 
I'd go for the 4300 with that mobo because of the strap issue going past 2.8GHz with the 6300. If you don't want/need to overclock past 3GHz the 4300 will be quicker.

Oh and I second the tower - seems like the best sink that doesn't need a PCI card.
 
Chris Beard said:
I'd go for the 4300 with that mobo because of the strap issue going past 2.8GHz with the 6300. If you don't want/need to overclock past 3GHz the 4300 will be quicker.
Click to expand...

What is the strap issue?
 
Having recently bought supreme commander and see it struggle atlong at 7fps on my 2.8ghz opteron rig - I decided to upgrade to a nice C2D chip.

I have decided to order the following based on my research.

C2D E4300
Gig DS3 mobo
2gig geil 6400 4-4-4-12
Tuniq tower

Should be able to do 3.2-3.4ghz without too much trouble.

Even at stock - the 4300 gets 27fps in supreme commander compared to 17fps of the FX57 becuase of its multi core friendlyness.
 
Why are you going for the Geil over the OCZ? It's more expensive stuff, is it worth it and in what way?

Still trying to decide between E4300 and E6300. I like the idea of 3Ghz+/
 
I have 6300/DS3/Geil 6400C4/AC7

and tbh its a great setup for money - ram will do around 950mhz allowing the cpu to clock a lot - can do 3.2 with ease

temps mm 40idle/52load
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom