E4300 won't clock, what cpu next?

benlanky · 9 May 2008 at 11:28

Hi

As you can see in my sig, my e4300 used to clock to 3ghz comfortably, but since I changed to Vista Ultimate I can't get it to clock at all, which is really slowing everything down....

I've had enough of trying to get it to work and was wondering what the next step would be, BUT this time I don't want to have to clock it too far.

So what are the recommendations for next upgrade? Cost needs to be under £100, preferably under £60 if possible. The 2180 seems really popular, but hard to clock, any other options?

Thanks for any help

HeX · 9 May 2008 at 11:46

E7200 if you can stretch to it:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-219-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=793

Should be good for 3.6-4Ghz with a bit of luck

benlanky · 9 May 2008 at 12:53

HeX said:
E7200 if you can stretch to it:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-219-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=793

Should be good for 3.6-4Ghz with a bit of luck

That does look good, in fact maybe it's too good for the rest of my system!

I assume this would be a fair bit better than the 2180? Easier to clock?

Just a bit worried that my mobo may not be up to the task, any thoughts?

Thanks

benlanky · 13 May 2008 at 11:01

Any help on this? I'm keen to get things sorted out for the weekend.

A friend of mine suggested getting a second hand Q6600, but would the E7200 be better?

Thanks for any help

edit: should have said that it's for gaming mainly, with a bit of surfing too. Crysis, COD4 that sort of thing.

Cheers

Vir · 13 May 2008 at 12:36

I don't know what to expect from that motherboard bundled with a E7200 / Q6600. It's probably not gonna clock to far as it's a 965 chipset...

Normally I think the E7200 would clock further then the Q6600 in most cases but it's 2vs4 cores here. Future games will take advantage of the 4 cores... so you have to decide yourself... For now, it doesn''t really matter.... most games will run perfect on both processors @ 3Ghz+ which both will do. I'd upgrade that the motherboard to P35 and clock that E4300, if it won't clock that good which I doubt on a P35 just sell it and get another CPU. Either E2xxx / E7xxx / Q6600 depending on your budget

E7200
45nm Wolfdale
2 cores
3mb cache
- Has SSE4
- Cooler then Q6600

Q6600
65nm Kentsfield
4 cores
8mb cache
- Can run pretty hot
- more future proof (quad core)?
- No SSE4

benlanky · 13 May 2008 at 14:24

Vir said:
I don't know what to expect from that motherboard bundled with a E7200 / Q6600. It's probably not gonna clock to far as it's a 965 chipset...

Thanks for the reply, I had a sneaking feeling that the mobo might be causing some problems, I knew I should have gone for a p35 when I did it last year....

Any recommended ones, is the Gigabyte still the default option?

If I can do that an overclock the 4300 that will keep me going for a few more months then I can look at quad core options.

Bit of a curveball this one, but are there any decent AMD options yet? I miss my old 939...

Cheers

Columbo · 13 May 2008 at 14:30

MSI P35 Neo2 FR here.

Fantastic board, great layout and clocks my E7200 to 4.1ghz on air. I've also got an Abit IP35 Pro with a Q6600 which is nice but I much prefer the MSI.

benlanky · 14 May 2008 at 13:20

ManCuBuS said:
MSI P35 Neo2 FR here.

Fantastic board, great layout and clocks my E7200 to 4.1ghz on air. I've also got an Abit IP35 Pro with a Q6600 which is nice but I much prefer the MSI.

That's quite an impressive speed, looks like a lovely board too.

Which processor do you prefer?

Thanks

HeX · 14 May 2008 at 13:38

Also remember the E7200 is half the price of a Q6600...

You could get an E7200 and a P35 mobo for the cost of just a Q6600...

benlanky · 15 May 2008 at 11:02

HeX said:
Also remember the E7200 is half the price of a Q6600...

You could get an E7200 and a P35 mobo for the cost of just a Q6600...

That is a very tempting option, saves me from having to swap the processor over twice as well.

So, MSI P35 Neo2 FR mobo and e7200 looks like the way to go.

Thanks for the help, come on Overclockers do a package deal, just for me

benlanky · 15 May 2008 at 15:55

Hi

Been doing a bit more reading around and the E7200 is the one I'll go for. What I'm still not 100% on is the right mobo to match it, so here's a few options:

1. Keep my board and hope it will clock...
2. Get the MSI and blow my budget
3. Go for a B Grade board from the clearance section like http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-099-GI&groupid=595&catid=689&subcat= or this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BG-313-AS&groupid=595&catid=689&subcat= saving me about 35 quid

What would Brian Boitano do?

Johnboyjoe · 15 May 2008 at 16:47

i'd go for MSI

i've had a GA-P35-DS3L and would say it's ok but is a slower than the MSI board, the Asus P5K well not very fond of them maself either but are ok.

no matter which u pick am sure they'll all be able to clock your 7200 whatever your wanting.

Columbo · 15 May 2008 at 16:52

If budget is the issue then perhap the B grade is a nice trade off. I'd would personally go for the Gigabyte board buts thats just my preference and they'll be nothing wrong with the Asus.

But if you have the dosh, the MSI has to be way to go for me.

Do not put the e7200 in your current board and expect to get any kind of decent clocks from it. I would seriously recommend changing your board if buying the new range of e7*** and e8*** chips.

As to which processor I prefer from your previous question, the answer would be the e7200, as its runs a hell of a lot cooler and clocks like nuts. I love the 'bang for buck' aspect of it which sways me a lot.

Thats not to say the q6600 isn't fantastic because it is.

Gashman · 15 May 2008 at 17:07

hold on a second, switching OS shouldn't be affecting overclocks, switched from XP to vista, no problems, exact same overclock i had on XP, since there done in BIOS, what exactly is the problem? you can't change the clock speed anymore or it won't boot to windows?

benlanky · 15 May 2008 at 17:22

Gashman said:
hold on a second, switching OS shouldn't be affecting overclocks, switched from XP to vista, no problems, exact same overclock i had on XP, since there done in BIOS, what exactly is the problem? you can't change the clock speed anymore or it won't boot to windows?

It's a while since I tried it, it will clock a tiny bit, but won't go very far. Think it's running at about 2.2 at the moment, which is lame. Won't boot to windows.

It's a good point though, but I couldn't think of any reason it would change with vista, eventually got sick of it and fancied a change!! If you can think of a reason to save me 120 quid I'd be pretty happy though

Gashman · 15 May 2008 at 17:39

benlanky said:
It's a while since I tried it, it will clock a tiny bit, but won't go very far. Think it's running at about 2.2 at the moment, which is lame. Won't boot to windows.

It's a good point though, but I couldn't think of any reason it would change with vista, eventually got sick of it and fancied a change!! If you can think of a reason to save me 120 quid I'd be pretty happy though

can't think of anything, just seems weird

Reality|Bites · 15 May 2008 at 19:03

it will be something simple, If you take a step back you will see what you did last time to get your 3Ghz. Is your heatsink mounted properly? Has it came loose? full of dust?

Gashman · 15 May 2008 at 20:31

Reality|Bites said:
it will be something simple, If you take a step back you will see what you did last time to get your 3Ghz. Is your heatsink mounted properly? Has it came loose? full of dust?

i agree with this individual, the E4300 is still a good chip, no point getting rid if theres nothing wrong with it, check heatsink and all your power cables and such, though the AC you have has quite a large heatsink, which is proberbly equivilent to the standard intel cooler even without the fan, and hell my E6750 does 3.2Ghz on stock cooling

Mul · 15 May 2008 at 21:55

Check your BIOS settings and ensure your memory speed is running at a ratio such that it's at or below it's rated speed. I'm also a touch perplexed by your overclocking problems and how they're related to an OS change.

I'm not sure why everyone's writing off your motherboard though. If you decide that you want to opt for something like the Core 2 Duo E7200, it should be fine with a BIOS Flash like most P965 boards and 375-400FSB should be more than doable, no doubt touching the chip's limits (baring in mind safe voltages) at this stage anyway. Perhaps a later BIOS might remedy your existing overclocking troubles anyway?

-iceblade^ · 16 May 2008 at 09:15

1. How is the E2180 hard to clock? up the FSB to 300 and you're laughing, and that usually happens near or at stock volts.
2. The Neo-2 FR is a pretty sweet board. Be sure to check, though, that you can post with ram in dual channel - mine can't and i can't be bothered to RMA it anymore
3. The E7200 is the choice in this case. I'd suggest keeping your E4300 as a backup though