Overclocking Buyer's Guide - September 2004

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*

*Plus Monitor, Optical Drive(s), Sound Card (or on-board Sound), Speakers, Keyboard, Mouse and Software

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*

*Plus Monitor, Optical Drive(s), Sound Card (or on-board Sound), Speakers, Keyboard, Mouse and Software

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*

*Plus Monitor, Optical Drive(s), Sound Card (or on-board Sound), Speakers, Keyboard, Mouse and Software

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*

*Plus Monitor, Optical Drive(s), Sound Card (or on-board Sound), Speakers, Keyboard, Mouse and Software

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.