n00b overclocker needs help

[Killerkebab]

First of all, I have given a quick read to overclocking "guides" here, and some of the threads relating to overclocking this particular processor, but some things went way over my head and I thought it could post a new thread here.

I've heard of a "magic" overclocking CPU, the Pentium D805. From what I've read, without watercooling I won't reach 4Ghz. Fair enough. Apparently I can reach 3.6/3.8Ghz on air. This is the bit I have trouble believing. I haven't overclocked a CPU personally, but from the little I've read about over years, a 30-40% increase in speed on air cooling sounds a lot. I just wondered if any of you really did manage such a boost.

Next I think I know some of the basics, but I'd like to not run right into a brick wall if I do attempt this. Now I am assuming that I will need a very good motherboard (with PCI locks?), some ace RAM (do I want to get some highspeed RAM or can I use good quality RAM and overclock that, too?), and the greatest air cooler money can buy (Zalmac? Arctic cooling?). Maybe I'd want a high quality case? (Lian Li?) What features am I looking for?

This is what I had in mind after a quick browse:
[size=+1]Asus P5WDG2-WS Extreme Intel 975X
[/size][size=+1]OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC5300 Dual Channel Gold GX XTC Series EL-DDR2
[/size][size=+1]Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler
[/size][size=+1]Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Black Aluminium Midi-Tower Case
[/size]
I think the items I picked there are reasonable, although the motherboard certainly is very expensive. I picked OCZ RAM because its a brand name I recognise as being very good, same with Lian Li. However I do not know the specifics, nor whether there is a better deal to be had.

Now as far as the actual overclocking process goes I think I have it roughly covered. I'm assuming you slowly increase the FSB in small increments of 2-5Mhz a pop and attempt to not only boot windows, but do a "stress test" and see how it goes. I'm assuming I'll be looking to monitor temps and look for erroneous working from the CPU, like crashes. My question is what constitutes a "stress test"? Is it a 24 hour 3DMark run? Or is it a variety of CPU tests (of which I don't know a single one, unforunately)?

Now the last part, which is probably the most important one: Is it worth it, in your opinion (obviously I am asking people who did do this particular OC)? Was the performance gain what you expected? Did you turn this "cheap" Pentium into a winner? How does a 3.6/3.8 Pentium D805 fare against its bigger brothers from AMD and Intel?

Sorry if this has been covered before, but I did have a lot of questions to ask and thought it may be a better idea to post a new thread rather than resurrect an old one with my own questions. Hopefully I am not so noob as to be beyond help

 

[Minstadave]

Ok where to start

1. The 805 is a very nice clocking CPU, it will do 3.6+ on air, but it runs damn hot so its good you have an aftermarket cooler lined up, the Freezer 7 is good, but an XP120, XP-90C, Big Typhoon or the big Zalman are better. One thing you will need is a solid PSU, these CPUs use a lot of power overclocked.

2. The G.Skill 2GB DDR2 LA PC2-5300 is an absoulte bargain for £117 inc VAT! For a value system this really is ideal. Great ram isn't a must for this system, the Gskill should give you pretty solid bandwidth at a bargain price, and you can use memory dividers to stop it limiting your OC.

3. With the overclocking you can go for a fair bump to begin with, start around 3.2ghz, and bump up the FSB 5mhz at a time, each time running Super Pi 2Mb to get a very rough gestimation at stability. When you hit instability you can run memtest86+ test 5 to rule out memory errors (if so add volts or use a divider), if the memory is clean, add Vcore.

When you've narrowed down your max increase you can use Prime95 blend for an hour or so to test its stability. Longer runs you can do later when you've settled on a max clock.

4. As for a comparison to an AMD system I would have though an overclocked 3800+ would still offer the best performance, but if you can do it cheaper with an 805 and DDR2 ram then go for it

 

[Stan_Lite]

I don't really have much to add that Minstadave hasn't covered except to say that huge overclocks on air are possible (albeit rare).
I currently have an X2 3800 which will do 2.95 on air (Si120), that's a 47.5% increase (it actually did 2.85 with the stock HSF).

I have seen plenty of reports of very good overclocks with the 805s but as Minstadave says, if you can get a good clocking X2 3800, you should get better performance from that than the 805.
I know I'll be getting another one soon for my F@H farm

Stan