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Best £50 - £90 CPU for OverClocking, AMD or INTEL

daniel101191

daniel101191

daniel101191

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Joined
9 Jun 2009
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348
Hi there, im sorry about my last post, including a competitor's basket n all.

I was just wondering, for my new rig, i could save money by buying a cheaper CPU, getting a 3rd party fan, and overclocking, but is this worth it, is it easy to do, and which CPU would be the best, would like to get to 3GHz either dual, triple etc.

Thanks in Advanced

ps. im an overclocking noob, never done it :)
 
e5200 would be your best bet imo, and yes it is easy to do, have a read of the stickies in the OC section, if you do a search for E5200 Im sure youll see ppl get past 3 ghz easy
 
Ideally, it would be handy to know what you'll be using your rig for and what other components you have and intend to buy.

But answering your question - if you're on a tight budget then the E5200 is a great clocker combined with a solid mobo - a P43, Asus or Gigabyte would do the job well - you will easily attain 3GHz and hopefully 3.3GHz or above with the right amount of luck and BIOS setting combo. (Mines running at 3.8GHz - just - it's happiest at 3.5GHz.)

Clocking is relatively straight forward if you have the right components – solid mobo, quality memory, stable PSU, and of course a known clocking chip. With the CPU I mentioned you should hit 3GHz just by upping the FSB and not touching any voltages.
 
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Thanks for the replies, you say you have the E5200 overclocked at 3.8ish, wow. Do you play a lot of games, and if so, what is the performance like? and what would an equivelent stock CPU be to a 3.5GHz overclocked E5200.

Second Question, I was thinking along the lines of an OCZ StealthXtreme 500w PSU, and OCZ 4GB Platinum Memory, and the ASROCK P43DE P43 Socket 775 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard, are these good choices?

Thanks in Adanced, your quick replies are appreciated.
 
The E5200 is great for gaming, it runs everything i throw at it combined with an ATi 4850 very comfortably - and if you get an extra ~1GHz out of the chip, obvioulsy, you'll notice a difference.

I can't advise you on the ASROCK as i only buy Asus and Gigabyte mobos - the rest of the kit looks fine for a budget build.

This is an example of good budget cooler that will enable you to clock the E5200 comfortably - link.

EDIT: What's your total budget and what components do you already have?
 
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E5200 is great for the money, as long as your case is fairly cool and your motherboard can take the overclock.

Phenom II 550 is based on the 955, and should clock higher due to not having all the cores - 4gHz should be within reach. And as gamesaregood said, you have the possibility of unlocking one or two more cores, making it into a £120 tri-core or £200 quad for £80 (although remember, this is always a bonus rather than an expectation)
 
Well, my laptop is on ebay, its the R610 was £549 new, so hoping for £400+ cus its only 2 months old and in perfect nic. So my budget is probably £300 - £400, cheaper the better obviously.

I have this annoying problem tho, everytime I tell myself i can sacrafice something say the graphics card, i always end up making something else better, i can't get a nice build for under £400. But then again thats a tight budget. The E5200 is sounding quite probable. I was thinking of getting either the 4850 or the GTS250, havnt decided. But i also want a good looking case, and they are expensive lol.

Not sure, got any ideas for a nice budget build?
 
Have a look at my review here. it started off as a E5200 review but ended up being a comparison with most of Intels dual core cpu's. It will give you a good idea as to which one to go for.
 
Here's a rough component/price guide to get you started:

build2h.jpg


Obviously, you can edit the components and shop around as you see fit - but the above rig would play all games at high/highest settings with no problems.

EDIT: And read pastymuncher's review - it's a comprehensive review and a great thread and should help you decide which way you want to swing. TBH, whether it's AMD or INTEL you'll get a solid build for the money.
 
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Cant really beat a Phenom II X2 550 for value atm, you should be able to activite the extra cores (might need to under clock them a little to get them stable), but thats just bonus.

Should be nice upgrade path too, cause its AM3.

Either intel c2d or X2 550 should hit around 4ghz, so none will do you wrong.
 
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