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overclocking an e2140 for beginner

masten

masten

masten

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Joined
6 Sep 2007
Posts
178
Hi

Ive been thinking of getting an e6750, but have been told why not get an e2140 and overclock it, so thought I'd check that out.

How easy/difficult is it? Can I just change settings in the bios, I think I can handle that. I dont want to start messing about with extra fans and stuff - and which motherboard would you recommend for easy overclocking.

Never done any overclocking so have absolutely no idea about it.

thanks

Masten
 
I'll be brief cos there are a gadzillion guides on the interweb:

E2140 has a multiplier of 8 and default FSB of 200 (200 x 8 = 1600 Mhz, E2140 default clock).

E6750 has a multiplier of 8 and default FSB of 333 (333 x 8 = 2664 Mhz, E6750 default clock).

So... if you have a motherboard that can do 333 FSB (every P35 Core 2 board on the market) you can have an E2140 with the clock speed of the E6750. It does have less cache though but you can compensate for that with more clock speed.

If you used 400 FSB (would still keep PC2-6400 800 Mhz DDR2 within rated spec) then you'd have a 3.2 Ghz E2140. A CPU that can match any dual core Core 2 (including extreme) at a vastly reduced price.

Of course that assumes your E2140 can operate at those clocks.

If you get a decent CPU heatsink and motherboard then that is all you need, don't need more fans or anything like that (only if you were overclocking your motherboard to extremes but if you used 333 FSB you wouldn't even be taking a P35 board out of spec).
 
Ok, great, thanks for that

Tetras - thanks for being brief. I understand what overclocking means now. Change the fsb and it goes faster.

Basically I just want it to work with stock cooler. So Robbie, what mobo you using? Can I Use ASROCK pci-E/agp as I have an AGP 7600GT, and if not what do you recommend as the cheapest viable PCI-E option.(have to sell 7600GT)

THink I Ive read somewhere that asrock board will go up to 294mhz so that's 8*294 = 2352, right?, which is as good as an e6600 which'll do me.

Masten

Masten
 
Asrock's are very rocky, even if they only go to 294 you may not even get that without a lot of headaches. Something like an EVGA 650i Ultra would be far better and you're not capped anywhere near as low as the Asrock, then get a E2140 and you're looking at around £118 incl. delivery from OcUK.

That however leaves the problem of the graphics card. You could probably sell that 7600GT AGP card and spend a tenner and get another one, the card is still a nice card for low/mid gaming and you'd be suprised how many people want to pick up an AGP card for their systems as they've yet to migrate to PCI-E. You should have no trouble selling the 7600GT and getting about £35 - £40 for it, then spending another 10 - 15 quid and getting a new 7600GT PCI-E.

If you aren't looking to game, then just sell the 7600GT and buy a 2400 Pro PCI-E (which will suck for games, but great for media). You'll probably even pocket a few quid as the 7600GT will sell for more than a 2400 Pro costs new I'd imagine.
 
Im not sure how you manage 3.2ghz on a stock cooler :confused: But mines coping with 3.2 (400mhz fsb) on a tuniq tower and getting a max temp of ~58c.
You will probably have to adjust the Vcore on the processor a bit, basically nudge up the fsb speed, then test it, if it fails/dosn't boot budge up the vcore.

You have to also consider how capable your RAM is too though, it could hold you back if its too slow and can't overclock.

Id also suggest a p35 , they seem to be showing much lower temperatures on that chipset (sometimes ~10c).

Have a look at this thread too.
 
hey, thanks chaps,

this is big help. Im beginning to understand a few things. So, let me get this streaight. Is this right:

Get a n e2140 with evga 650 ultra motherboard (like that too as has 3 pic slots), set fsb to 333in the bios - whill give me 2.66MHZ which is fine for me. No playing woth extra fans, voltage settings, special memory right?

I want it basically to play Oblivion. Ill sell the 7600gt, and get a 1950pro (way faster Ive read in reviews)

= 45(cpu) + 65(mobo) + 85(1950pro) - 40(7600gt) = £155

Brilliant! I get e6750 class speed with a 1333 capable mobo and good grpahics for £155
 
sorry to butt in but i was thinking of doing this as well!

I have a Asus P5W DH Deluxe, is that capable of the above? Also what speed ram do i need to still be in spec if you know what i mean?

As if i do get one i want to do it the cheapest way possible which in my eyes is what o/c is all about get the most bang for your buck!

Thanks
 
I've got a P5W DH Deluxe with a E2160 and 4 x 1GB DDR2-667. Got it at 3GHz (333 x 9) with the memory at 1:1 so it's running at DDR2-667.



For the E2140 at 3GHz (375 x 8) you would need DDR2-800 and with memory at 1:1 it'd be running at DDR2-750 speeds or even 3.2GHz (400 x 8) might be possible to have the memory running at DDR2-800.

It's probably a better idea to go for the newly released E2180 as it's the later M0 stepping and it's default is 2GHz (200 x 10). The E2180 can be bought for less than £60 so still a bargain.
 
right cheers for that so a E2180 and some ddr2 800 memory which i could then run under spec for the overclock? or was the memory comment only for the E2160?

BTW are you using stock h/s/f or a retail one?
 
Id suggest memory along the lines of This, id normally suggest the 667mhz version, but the 800mhz version is a bargain atm.
It can overclock to speeds of ~1000mhz (that 500mhz effective), which is more than you'll ever need.
As said the E2180 looks fantastic, and you would only need RAM speeds of 667mhz to overclock to 3ghz, unfortunately it isn't available from OCuk yet, which means shopping else where. cheapest ive seen it for is £55 inc p&p.

I doubt many people use stock heatsinks as there a little noisy and don't cool that well have a look at performance differences here.
 
wow thanks for all that info, been a long time since ive found some one round here that helps like that.

Cheers dude

EDIT and blimey didnt know that 120 thing was so good
 
EDIT and blimey didnt know that 120 thing was so good
Click to expand...
Yeh, unfortunately you have to pay for the benefits though, around £52, plus a £12 fan in those examples. Something like a tuniq 120 is only ~£40 has nearly the same cooling performance and has a fan included, you'd have to buy a LED version at the moment though, and there massive, so clearance can be an issue on some motherboards.

(Have one on a gigabyte DS3R, and it was vitrually impossible to install it).

Oh, and pleased to be of service :D
 
Got my E2180 today:





The default vcore is nice and low at 1.2375v and I've got it as above running at 2.66GHz (266 x 10 with 1.2375v) being cooled by AS5 and a Tuniq Tower. Not sure about temps as there is only a ~5c delta between Tcase and Tjunction and the TjunctionMax is only 85c but maybe that's how it is with M0 stepping CPUs.

Also notice the vcore at 1.184v in CPU-Z meaning this motherboard suffers vdroop quite badly.
 
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e2140 at 3.2 very easy a little extra vcore... ram is 1:1 of the top of my head it's about 390 fsb

Can boot into vista at 3.4, and had it stable at 3.3, it just start getting a little warm..

will try and get it stable at 3.4 when i have a chance

e2140 asus p5k billistix pc8500 zalman wc rig <-- yes i know it's naff but i don't need to run any other fans apart from the psu :)
 
dread said:
e2140 at 3.2 very easy a little extra vcore... ram is 1:1 of the top of my head it's about 390 fsb

Can boot into vista at 3.4, and had it stable at 3.3, it just start getting a little warm..

will try and get it stable at 3.4 when i have a chance

e2140 asus p5k billistix pc8500 zalman wc rig <-- yes i know it's naff but i don't need to run any other fans apart from the psu :)
Click to expand...
I'm interested in seeing what your setup shows for TAT, CoreTemp and Everest. Particularly Everest which can be downloaded for free (as a trial). Also is your CPU's stepping the L2 or M0?

Here's a screenshot showing Orthos running with TAT, CoreTemp, Everest, CPU-Z etc (it's at 3GHz - 333 x 9 with 1.325v):



And here are links to download all the programs:

CPU-Z 1.41.0
Intel TAT
CoreTemp 0.94.5
EVEREST Ultimate Edition v4.00 Trial
Orthos

Would appreciate if you could do a screenshot like the above using all those programs. Cheers!
 
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