Are Xeons overclockable now?

p3ndldqny2

p3ndldqny2

p3ndldqny2

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When i knew more about CPUs about 6 years ago i was always lead to believe Xeons werent overclockable. Has this changed now?

Also, could someone give me a brief summary of what i could expect? Does it matter if its 1 or 2 CPU system. Quad or Hex core? Which motherboard, memory etc?

Which Xeons do and dont etc?

Thank you
 
technically all xeons are and always have been overclockable. Its just the motherboards that allow you to overclock them are few and far between.
 
thingemajib said:
technically all xeons are and always have been overclockable. Its just the motherboards that allow you to overclock them are few and far between.
Click to expand...

What if you only had one Xeon, couldnt you use any X58 mobo and (as all the X58s overclock) it wouldnt be a problem?

I presume you mean two-socket overclockable motherboards are hard to find?
 
Well, I'm using a Xeon X3450 on a Maximus III Gene, overclocked to 3.5GHz...

Answer questions for you?
 
You will have to be careful with Xeons and X58/P55 motherboards - some are basically just rebranded i7 or i5 chips, while others are very different and won't work in "normal" motherboards. Generally, there is no benefit buying a Xeon over a standard i7 or i5 chip (unless you find one for a great price), they tend to overclock just as well.

The point thingemajib was making about dual socket motherboard is that almost all of them do not come with overclocking options. There is a board that does overclock dual CPUs (the EVGA Classified SR-2) but it is horrendously expensive - as are the CPUs that it uses.
 
cmndr_andi said:
You will have to be careful with Xeons and X58/P55 motherboards - some are basically just rebranded i7 or i5 chips, while others are very different and won't work in "normal" motherboards. Generally, there is no benefit buying a Xeon over a standard i7 or i5 chip (unless you find one for a great price), they tend to overclock just as well.

The point thingemajib was making about dual socket motherboard is that almost all of them do not come with overclocking options. There is a board that does overclock dual CPUs (the EVGA Classified SR-2) but it is horrendously expensive - as are the CPUs that it uses.
Click to expand...

the xeon appeals because i do number crunching and cache size is more important. i can get a 12MB L3 xeon for approximately 200 pounds, whereas to get 12MB L3 core i7 i'd have to get the 970 for 700+ pounds.

however, the frequency is only 2.4GHz and so if its overclockable then this can only be a bonus

yeh i saw that motherboard, 400 pounds ish... not cheap
 
I'm not too sure on X58 compatibility, but with P55 any of the 34xx Xeons will work. For instance, my CPU is basically an i5 750 with hyperthreading.

The RAM I'm using is older 1.9V stuff, so I have it running at 1333MHz CAS7 to keep the voltage below 1.65V (Intel max recommended).
 
I can only comment on X5600 series xeons but they all overclock fine and will work in most X58 boards. Any that don't support them, usually require a BIOS update first.
 
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