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Worth Upgrading My E2160?

Big Kev

Big Kev

Big Kev

Soldato
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
17,713
Location
Ashburton Grove
As my mobo is currently being RMA'd, I wonder if it's worth upgrading my E2160, which I've had stable at 3g, or should I go the Quad route, maybe Q6600 and overclock that to 3g+ or even a E8400.

I have an X1950 pro, 4g Ballistix PC6400 and I play a few games, no higher than 1440x900, watch a few films and browsing with Firefox on Vista 64.

I don't want to be spending too much dosh either.

Cheers.
 
for the usage you describe, it's not really worth it. a 2160 @3ghz is still a pretty capable chip for gaming. gpu power is far more important than cpu. i'd be looking to upgrade that x1950pro first. even a 3850 for 60 quid will offer a very decent boost - certainly moreso than any cpu upgrade ever would. but if you're happy with your current card then just keep it and put your dosh away. :)

and obviously for watching a few films/browsing, it doesn't really matter what cpu you have. :p
 
marc2003 said:
for the usage you describe, it's not really worth it. a 2160 @3ghz is still a pretty capable chip for gaming. gpu power is far more important than cpu. i'd be looking to upgrade that x1950pro first. even a 3850 for 60 quid will offer a very decent boost - certainly moreso than any cpu upgrade ever would. but if you're happy with your current card then just keep it and put your dosh away. :)

and obviously for watching a few films/browsing, it doesn't really matter what cpu you have. :p
Click to expand...

Sometime I do give too much information, thanks for pointing that out.:o

I just thought that a quad at 3+ might gain me something.

I played COD4 and Crysis easily enough, so if there isn't much benefit, I might just hold on a while, cheers mate.
 
There are some bargain Core 2 Duo chips around on MM and auction sites, so worth keeping an eye out for a E6x series chip or Q6600 G0.


X-Morgan said:
I take it the E21x0 CPU's clock pretty well then? (I just got an E2180)
Click to expand...
Yep they do, mainly due to the reduced cache levels meaning it runs cooler and has more head room.
 
Good to know.

I've heard people getting 3.2GHz+ on the E2180, but I'll be more than happy if I get 3GHz, but I'm not holding my breath.
 
X-Morgan said:
Good to know.

I've heard people getting 3.2GHz+ on the E2180, but I'll be more than happy if I get 3GHz, but I'm not holding my breath.
Click to expand...

I got my E2160 to 3G very easily and I'm sure that with some tweaking, I think I should get 3.2G as well, so you should be able to get 3.2G without any problems.
 
X-Morgan said:
Good to know.

I've heard people getting 3.2GHz+ on the E2180, but I'll be more than happy if I get 3GHz, but I'm not holding my breath.
Click to expand...

I got a E2180 to 3.6Ghz on a Gigabyte P31 DS3L prime stable. That was with a crappy cooler too. 1.4v vcore and a golden stepping. :D
 
pastymuncher said:
I got a E2180 to 3.6Ghz on a Gigabyte P31 DS3L prime stable. That was with a crappy cooler too. 1.4v vcore and a golden stepping. :D
Click to expand...
Same mobo as i used, i didnt want to push it much more as i was in a hurry to get the rig ready as it was an Xmas present for my dad and i knew it was 24 orthos stable at 3.33ghz, would love to stick the chip in my WCed rig to find out what it could do.
 
Yup my old E2200 did 3.6 (8hr orthos stable) on a Giga P965 DS3. Great chips for the money, and still holding their value really well.
 
Thanks all for your stories. I'm looking forward to trying this thing out! I've also got some 1066 RAM just to hopefully get it all nice in a 1:1 ratio!
 
X-Morgan said:
Thanks all for your stories. I'm looking forward to trying this thing out! I've also got some 1066 RAM just to hopefully get it all nice in a 1:1 ratio!
Click to expand...

?

At stock this chip runs at 10x200MHz (FSB)=2GHz. Even if you lower the multi and run at 8x400MHz (FSB 1600MHz quad pumped)=3.2GHz which is not uncommon you will only ever need PC6400 (800MHz) RAM to run 1:1 ratio. PC1066 is not really needed unless you are attempting 533 FSB+

On the other hand you may be able to lower the latencies on the 1066 if you are lucky :)
 
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I'm seeing what you mean now. I'm on the PC the now tinkering with my options in the BIOS. So far I've managed to get 2.7 GHz, but I know I can get more. Could you care to help me out in the Overclocking forum and help me overclock?

Thanks! :)
 
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