Overclocking Buyer's Guide - September 2004
by Wesley Fink on September 17, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Overclocking System Summary
Experienced overclockers will not need this caution, but we strongly recommend that beginning overclockers consult our forums for more information on how to overclock, as it can be dangerous for inexperienced users. What we've talked about in this guide may be new to you if you don't have some type of background in overclocking. If you don't understand what we have discussed in this Overclocking Buyer's Guide, please go to AnandTech's forums (or any good online hardware forum) for advice and answers to your basic overclocking questions.PERFORMANCE OC Recommended
Our Recommended System for Performance Overclocking should allow you to reach the highest performance levels possible with standard air cooling. The components represent those components that have provided the best overclocking experience in our testing at AnandTech. Those who have thought about building a Socket 939 for Performance overclocking will absolutely love this setup.| AMD Socket 939 Athlon 64 FX53 | ||
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| CPU & Cooling | AMD Athlon 64 FX53 Socket 939 Retail | $850 |
| Motherboard | MSI K8N Neo2 (nForce3 Ultra) Socket 939 | $139 |
| Memory | 1GB (2 X 512MB) Crucial PC3200 Ballistix | $278 |
| Video Card | 256MB eVGA 6800 GT | $383 |
| Computer Case Power Supply |
Coolermaster CM Stacker plus 520W OCZ Power Stream PSU |
$304 |
| Hard Drive | 2 x 74GB Western Digital 74GB Raptor 10,000RPM SATA RAID (148GB Total) | $362 |
| Bottom Line | $2316* | |
As we stated earlier in the Guide, the $2316 price is an overclocking system core price, and does not include all the components that you will need for a full-blown system. It is nice to see a $100 reduction over the price in our last OC Guide.
PERFORMANCE OC Alternative
The Performance Overclocking Alternative assembles the best overclocking components for a top-end Intel 925X socket 775 system.| Intel Socket 775 Pentium 4 540 | ||
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| CPU & Cooling | Intel Pentium 4 540 (3.2GHz) | $224 |
| Motherboard | Asus P5AD2 Premium | $260 |
| Memory | 1GB (2 X 512MB) Crucial PC2-4200U | $346 |
| Video Card | 256MB ATI X800 XT | $531 |
| Computer Case Power Supply |
Coolermaster CM Stacker plus 520W OCZ Power Stream PSU |
$304 |
| Hard Drive | 2 x 74GB Western Digital 74GB Raptor 10,000RPM SATA RAID (148GB Total) | $362 |
| Bottom Line | $2027* | |
While $2027 is not exactly cheap for a top Socket 775 system, we have saved quite a bit of money by choosing a great overclocking motherboard in the Asus P5AD2 Premium and pairing it with a 3.2E that is capable of high overclocks in this board. The system also includes the ATI X800 XT, which has been shown to handle the out-of-spec PCIe speeds, which we are seeing on all of the 925X/915P motherboards that have been found to support higher overclocking speeds. Today's price is a couple of hundred dollars cheaper than the last OC Guide, which is mainly the result of recent Intel price reductions for the CPU, coupled with further price drops in DDR2 memory.
VALUE OC Recommended
Our readers who are already overclockers will recognize that this is the first time in which we have recommended an AMD Socket 754 Athlon 64 for our Value OC system. It took a lot to choose the Athlon 64 over the proven Pentium 4 with a great motherboard like the Asus P4C800-E. However, we can no longer ignore boards like the DFI LANParty UT, which set new standards for overclocking no matter how you measure it. It's time for Athlon 64, and no where is this clearer than in the great value that you get currently with Socket 754 systems.| Athlon 64 3200+ (Socket 754) System | ||
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| CPU & Cooling | Athlon 64 3200+ Retail | $213 |
| Motherboard | DFI LANParty UT nF3 250Gb | $137 |
| Memory | 1GB (2 X 512MB) OCZ PC3700 EB | $325 |
| Video Card | 256MB eVGA 6800 GT | $383 |
| Computer Case Power Supply |
Coolermaster CM Stacker plus 480W Antec True Power PSU |
$263 |
| Hard Drive | Seagate 200GB 7200RPM IDE (8Mb Cache) | $119 |
| Bottom Line | $1460* | |
The Socket 754 Value OC system, with either a 3200+ Retail or an A64 Mobile 3200+ (1Mb Cache) weighs in at $1460 for the core components. The Coolermaster CM Stacker may be overkill for some Value overclockers, and you can easily cut $100 off the total ticket with a cheaper Aluminum Case like a Kingwin. You will also need to add about $55 to the core component price if you choose to use the mobile 3200+ instead. The desktop 3200+ is the retail version with HSF; the mobile 3200+ requires a HSF like the Thermalright XP-90 with a 92mm fan, which will cost around $55.
VALUE OC Alternative
This is also the first Overclocking Guide without the Athlon XP as a Value OC recommendation. The recent introduction of the Sempron 3100+ at around $120 and the wide availability of reasonably priced Socket 754 boards have made the Socket 754 the new value choice for overclockers. Yes, you can save a few more bucks with a Barton 2500+ and a nForce 2 board, but you will also give up a lot of performance. Those who still think that the performance of the Athlon XP is almost as good as Athlon 64 just have not tested an A64 system. The A64 on-board memory controller and internal architecture improvements give Athlon 64 significant performance advantages, particularly in recent and demanding games like Doom 3.| AMD Athlon 64 Sempron and nVidia nForce3-250 | ||
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| CPU & Cooling | AMD Socket 754 Sempron 3100+ (1.8Ghz, 256k) | $123 |
| Motherboard | Chaintech VNF3-250 | $80 |
| Memory | 512MB (1 X 512MB) Crucial PC3200 Ballistix | $139 |
| Video Card | 256MB eVGA 6800 GT | $389 |
| Computer Case Power Supply |
Coolermaster CM Stacker plus 480W Antec True Power PSU |
$263 |
| Hard Drive | Seagate 200GB 7200RPM IDE (8Mb Cache) | $119 |
| Bottom Line | $1113* | |
If the final tab of $1113 for the core components of an XP mobile system seems high, two areas stand out for paring. Go with a cheaper case for $100 less. Buy an ATI 9800 PRO for $200 less and overclock the heck out of it. These two items alone gets the core system price down to around $900. Adding $20 for a 2800+ with twice the cache and 64-bit capabilities is money well-spent if those are important features to you.
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whitelight - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
For ram, look into PQI's 2-2-2-5 (2x512mb) solution. It overclocks really well with relatively tight timings and has samsung's tccd chips. It's also cheaper than other solutions ($250)axel - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
Hi, very interesting article indeed.The only thing I do not really understand, and rather see as an error is the following:
You say that almost every top overclockers i.e. in the futuremark 3dmarks ORB database are on AMD platforms. Though, except if I'm not looking at the right place, if I'm taking into account the 5 best scores, I see that 4 of them are running Pentium4 platforms, and only one is an AMD (which is actually on the 4th position of the top-5).
AlphaFox - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
Id like to see how the XP stacks up against the 64 when overclocked.. I have a XP mobile 2600 and am running it at 2.46Ghz and everything I throw at it runs as smooth as silk.. I dont see a need to upgrade unless there was something I couldnt run, or run smooth.eetnoyer - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
Any chance you've tested the limits of the ballistix RAM on the DFI. If so, how high did it reach?Nickel020 - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
Nice article, but there is a mistake on page 5 (CPU and Motherboard: VALUE OC Recommendations):The heatsinks listed (XP-90 & 120) are made by Thermalright, not Thermaltake.
Shinei - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
Nice article, though I'm curious to see how the 3200-M64 performs compared to the Clawhammer and Newcastle desktop cores. I know the Newcastle revisions have an upgraded memory controller, or something like that; does the 3200-M64 have the same upgrades, or is it based on the older Clawhammer revision?And why the choice of OCZ's PowerStream? Antec puts out a 550w that's just as reliable as the 480w you suggested as an alternative... Unless I missed a review that pointed out the OCZ to be more robust than the Antec supply.
qquizz - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
This is my type of review. I can't have too many of them. I do agree with slashbinslashbash about some guidance on value oriented RAM. The price differences between 2-2-2-5 memory and say 2.5-x-x-x value memory is rather drastic. But if none of it will o/c then so be it.slashbinslashbash - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
#2: Under the Value OC Alternative system Wesley writes "Buy an ATI 9800 PRO for $200 less and overclock the heck out of it." So it looks like you were right on the money ;) Personally I'm looking at a 9600XT All-In-Wonder as it's about the same price at Newegg; less performance in games (still reasonable framerates in Doom3) but with the ever-so-cool All-In-Wonder functionality added.slashbinslashbash - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
Great guide. The only thing that I'd ask you to do differently (or rather, to add next time) is to make a "value" recommendation for the RAM. Nowadays I won't use any less than a gig of RAM, but I think it's silly to pay substantially more for RAM than for the CPU. Even just one stick of 512MB in the Value Alternative system costs more than the CPU.I'd like to know some "value" RAM alternatives that might not have such aggressive latency timings but will still keep up with the mobo and CPU, if it's possible. I know you guys can't test every cheapo stick of RAM out there, but... any sort of guidance would be appreciated. All the big brands offer "Value" RAM. Will none of it overclock? Is the performance from the recommended $280 (for 1GB) RAM actually worth the $120 premium it commands over, say, two $80 sticks of Corsair Value Select (on front page of ZipZoomFly)? Would that $120 be better spent on the CPU? It's more than the difference between the Sempron 3100+ and the "Value Recommended" system's A64 3200+.. and it nearly covers the upgrade to both the CPU and motherboard.
Also, two errors: 1) the eVGA 6800GT is listed as $389 under the Value Alternative system but at $383 under the Value Recommended system; 2) the Value Recommended system sums to $1440, not $1460.
Again, great guide, it's probably what I'll be looking at when I decide on my next system.
decptt - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
For AGP VGA, do you have a value altervative for limited budget not playing doom3?For me, 6800 is too powerful to run multimedia and encoding DivX.
Do you think 9800Pro can be runner up?
Anyone knows about when ATI X series for AGP (X300, X600) will be coming? or ONLY PCI Express :'(