Upgrade options.

joffy

joffy

joffy

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Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
1,364
Location
UK
Currently running a E6750 @3.04 mhz on a ASUS P5K board, 4GB ram, ATI 4870.
Does everything ok but would be the best upgrade option for a bit more oomph in gaming and overall performance?
Up to £200 budget.
 
8500 processor and overclock it, not sure what the current batches are like but used to be okay for 3.5 to 4.0ghz.

got a decent cpu cooler ?
 
Personally I wouldn't do any upgrading. Your machine seems fine for most games/etc for the near future. Save some money and get i7 when your upgrade budget comes closer to £400.
 
joffy said:
I'm not into OC'ing and just dabbled to see how it's done.
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In that case get a decent cooler (if you have'nt already got one) and you should get at least 3.6Ghz out of your cpu. That will give you a nice boost. It's easy enough to do and there are loads of us here to help.
 
pastymuncher said:
In that case get a decent cooler (if you have'nt already got one) and you should get at least 3.6Ghz out of your cpu. That will give you a nice boost. It's easy enough to do and there are loads of us here to help.
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Thanks all. I wasn't keen before about tweaking volts, ram timings etc so a simple guide would be great please.

Here's what I have...

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What ram do you currently have? DDR2 533 may hold back a overclock unless it's the Crucial special edition jobbie or similar. 4Gb of PC2 8500 should give a bit of a boost and will help with clocking. As you increase the fsb you also increase the speed of the ram. As your cpu uses a 333mhz fsb you may soon run out of headroom with the ram if you have'nt got a good selection of didviders in the bios. For 3.6Ghz you will need a fsb of 450mhz which is way over your ram's rated speed.
 
Right, just installed some Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 XMS2
but it's showing as 6400.

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The BIOS should detect it automatically yeah? But I just tried manually changing the BIOS settings with 2.1v and I get lots error messages with some apps, my anti-virus goes back to demo version, Firefox stops working, ATI control panel error etc, but revert to AUTO BIOS settings, all is fine again.
 
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£200 to upgrade? What monitor, mouse, keyboard are you currently using?

Your rig seems pretty solid the moment, just make sure it is matched up with some lovely input and output devices.

Edit: As for the RAM, you will likely have to manually enter the speed, latency and volts yourself. To be honest, the real-world performance difference between PC2-6400 and 8500 is not great. If you can not get it run happily on "specified" speeds and volts - they just run it at default 6400.
 
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cmndr_andi said:
£200 to upgrade? What monitor, mouse, keyboard are you currently using?

Your rig seems pretty solid the moment, just make sure it is matched up with some lovely input and output devices.
Click to expand...

I've got a Logitech Wave keyboard, G5 mouse, Samsung 20" screen. It's just this new ram being a pain now. :confused:

So will I still be able to overclock the cpu if the ram stays at 6400?
 
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Managed to get things stable on 1066... I cleared the cmos! School boy error :rolleyes: CPU-Z still shows it as 6400 though.

So help me OC folks! :D
 
For 3.6Ghz you are going to need to increase the fsb to 450mhz. Vcore will need to be increased to 1.375-1.4v from what i have seen from reviews. You will also have to increase NB voltage as well and maybe fsb termination voltage too. When you increase the fsb remember to adjust your ram speed. You need it at stock or as close to stock speeds as you can. If your board/cpu does'nt like 3.6Ghz try 3.4Ghz (8x425mhz). Increase the volts gradually as your's may be capable of good clocks with lower volts.
 
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