CPU ugrade from a e5200

[lastninja64]

Hi All

Currently running a Gigabyte EP35 mobo with a Intel e5200 (overclocked to 3ghz).

Just bought a Radeon 5850 (previously had a Radeon 4850), this gave me a huge increase in FPS in games and quality of graphics.

What CPU setup would you upgrade too? Been considering a Q9550 but would it be worth a £177 upgrade and wont the i7's take over shortly?

CHeers any advice appreciated!

 

[McstylisT]

Hi , Welcome to the forum.

You are correct. The i7's are the newest era of Processors. But a whole new system setup is going to cost you.

The Q9550 is a quality CPU with some potential. However I personally cannot recommend you spend £160 to buy a new one on something thats old tech now. I think it would be more sensible to save for a whole budget and move to i7 or i5 in the future once you have funds.

To get you through though you can always look at the second hand market. ?
I am sure you could consider a Q6600 / Q9450 / Q9550 if the price is right. All are good overclockers and you should reach at least 3.2ghz from any of them. Which will be better for your gaming with such a graphics card.
I would think a Q9450 for around the £100 or lower mark would be a good addition to your current setup personally.

McT

 

[Plec]

Welcome.

As above if your after a quad - the 6600 in particular is a fantastic chip and is very solid clocker and very robust. It's the chip i would like to get my hands on before my next major upgrade.

Or you could try getting another ~0.5GHz out of your present chip - it should be very accomodating in giving up a few more 100MHz - 3.5GHz should be very attainable.

 

[lastninja64]

Thanks for the advice so far. I am pretty new to overclocking to be honest, I currenlty have it set to:

12.5 x 240 I think, if I put it any higher then it won't boot and switches off twice then defaults back to 2.50mhz. I tried increasing the CPU voltage but that did'nt make any difference.

The mobo I have is a EP35-DS3L Gigabyte with DDR2 4 Corsair XMS gig ram. I bought this setup with overclocking in mind and so many people had this setup and stable with high clocks but never looked into overclocking really....

In CPU-Z it wierd cos it shows as core speed 1440.01 and then switches to like 3000.01 x 2, really strange.

 

[zzzJonny]

In CPU-Z it wierd cos it shows as core speed 1440.01 and then switches to like 3000.01 x 2, really strange.

That's probably speedstep, it lowers the multiplier when the CPU is not loaded high in order to save energy and run cooler.

 

[Plec]

Thanks for the advice so far. I am pretty new to overclocking to be honest, I currenlty have it set to:

12.5 x 240 I think, if I put it any higher then it won't boot and switches off twice then defaults back to 2.50mhz. I tried increasing the CPU voltage but that did'nt make any difference.

The mobo I have is a EP35-DS3L Gigabyte with DDR2 4 Corsair XMS gig ram. I bought this setup with overclocking in mind and so many people had this setup and stable with high clocks but never looked into overclocking really....

I'm going to link you to an old thread where i replied and got a few guys up to 3.5GHz the brutal way. There was no finesse involved - they just played around with my BIOS settings and followed a few pointers.

I wouldn't normally recommend this approach to clocking as someone elses BIOS on a totally different board is not the way to first approach a stable clock. However, the E5200 is 'usually' very easy to get to 3.5GHz (certainly 3.3GHZ) that it may be worth you playing around with the listed settings - and reading the additional info that's included in the thread about memory dividers etc...

Give me a few minutes and i'll try and find the thread...


Here you go (easier than i thought it would be to find) - link - if you have any questions just fire away.

In CPU-Z it wierd cos it shows as core speed 1440.01 and then switches to like 3000.01 x 2, really strange.

As above - this is speed step kicking in - lowering the multiplier to save juice. If you run prime 95 you'll notice it jump back up to optimal speed.

Additional edit: What cooler are you using on the CPU - i'm assuming it's a third party cooler - as obviously this will be a factor in your clocking capabilities.

 

[lastninja64]

Wicked, thanks for the links.

Cooler is an Arctic Cooler 7 (big thing lol).

Will take a look at the thread and let you know how I get on.

 

[Plec]

Sorry about the above edits - the forums went very strange for a few minutes and my post was illegible...

Hopefully it's reading ok now...

 

[Plec]

Wicked, thanks for the links.

Cooler is an Arctic Cooler 7 (big thing lol).

Will take a look at the thread and let you know how I get on.

That cooler is ample for your needs and as long as your load temps are cool you'll hopefully get a decent result.

Good luck.

 

[G_Wizz]

12.5 x 240 I think, if I put it any higher then it won't boot and switches off twice then defaults back to 2.50mhz. I tried increasing the CPU voltage but that did'nt make any difference.

More than likely your memory will be running too far above spec and causing the OC to fail.

Lower the memory multiplier till you have found the optimum speed for your CPU then you can play about with the memory after.