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.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
31 Comments
View All Comments
MemberSince97 - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
^^GJ^^ WF...Wesley Fink - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
#10 - I just checked the ORB for 3DMark2001SE and the highest placing Intel was #10 - the 9 top scores were AMD. 2001SE IS sensitive to CPU speed and memory speed and is useful for comparing CPU's.3DMark2003 is not very sensitive to CPU and Memory, so it is excellent for testing pure video performance. Intel does lead in many of the top ten 3DMark2003 scores, but that is a result of Video card performance since 03 is very video centric. Consider the leads there the result of Intel's chipset prowess in graphics support. Looking at the top 20 it is like 50/50 AMD/Intel in 03.
#17 - The DFI is already for sale in the US. The problem is it is selling out very quickly. Additional production is on it's way to resellers, and DFI is gearing up more production for October.
gnumantsc - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
Just a little typo in regards to 2 x 74GB Western Digital 74GB Raptor 10,000RPM SATA RAID (148MB Total) Should be 148GB not MB.Unless there is a raid system to make your 2 HDs 1000 times smaller :)
helopilot - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
Wesley: What an *excellent*, well written article! Full of veryuseful info, specs, opinions and lots of general observations and
tips. I think this is one of the best pieces I've read on a
hardware review site. You must have invested considerable time on
this article!
I especially appreciate the level of detail you've incorporated and
the tables, diagrams, graphics etc. that really help to get the
information across to the reader. You deserve high praise indeed
for this level of tech writing.
Keep up the Good Work!
PolaroidPaul - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
Great review but one issue that bugs me. I am looking into building a value OC system and it sure seems like the DFI board is a good one. Unfortunately, it is practically vapor ware at the present time.Maybe parts that are not readily available should not be on the recommended list. I hate having to wait for parts to show up in distribution while every article tells me how good the sample was. Tell me about what is comming but don't put it on the list if it does not show up as availalbe on your real time pricing list.
Just my humble opinion!
Illissius - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
I will repeat the stuff about the value RAM. You say yourself that the A64 isn't as sensitive to memory bandwidth, and the doubling of it with socket 939 only results in 2-9% performance gains. 'Enthusiast' memory is a lot less than twice as fast, so you can extrapolate how much extra performance that would gain, and it makes little sense to spend double on it when that money would be much better spent on a faster processor or video card*.Actually, you should just split the memory into Performance and Value, same as with the processor. Ballistix and EB for Performance, and standard value RAM from someone reputable (eg Corsair Value Select) for the Value. Hell, why not seperate /every/ component into Performance and Value? 9800Pro/6600GT and 6800GT for the video card, WD Raptor and random 120-200GB drives, and so on.
...I'm starting to think that the best thing to do would be to just flat out split the Performance and Value into seperate buyer's guides. They're at least as different as the mid- and high end guides are.
One more thing, and then I'll stop - the HSF has much more significance in the overclocking equation than you seem to be attributing it. You don't need to give it a seperate section, just mentioning a list of the better choices would be nice (afaik, Zalman CNPS7000A-(Al)Cu, Thermalright SLK-947/8U, SP-94/7/8, and XP-90/120, and possibly others), because for the person just getting into the whole overclocking thing, they may not know ;).
* Contrary to a common misconception, you don't need faster memory to overclock the processor. Most boards can lock the memory at stock speeds, or otherwise can use a 5:4 ratio or something.
iversonyin - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
i would fork out a little more for 2800+ athlon 64 then usin the sempronhes right on the money $20 more, u r better off with 2800+ 64 then sempron
thebluesgnr - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
#13,it's actually:
X300SE = 9600SE
X300 = 9600
X600PRO = 9600PRO
X600XT = 9600XT
No 9200 in PCIe.
DEMO24 - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
This is to poster #2. You CAN buy a x300 or x600. its called the 9200 for a x300 and a 9600 for the x600. Theres nothing speical to the x cards below the x800 cuase they are all jsut old cards made to fit PCI-e. A good way for ATI to make money and look good.ksherman - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
Yippie! someone finally OCed a Sempron! Ive been wondering how well those cheapos would do... Sounds amazing!