CPU/Overclocking Recommendations

[Garet Jax]

Hello all,

I have pretty much decided to buy the ASUS CUV4X-D MB to go with my 512 MB PC133 RAM and my ATA 100 hard drive.

I am still flip flopping on the CPU(s) to buy. I am very new to OCing and I want to buy CPUs that will yield a good price/performance ratio. Can I assume if I buy a Intel PIII 1GHz CPU versus an Intel PIII 800MHz one that I can get 25% more performance even when overclocked?

Also since the MB supports dual processors, do I need to make sure I use CPUs with the same speed? How does using different CPUs affect OCing?

Is there a site that is good for someone like me to review to help me get up to speed on OCing issues?

Finally, the last thing I want to do is to ruin any of my hardware. Is this something I need to worry about when OCing?

Thanks a lot for your time and knowledge.

 

[SunGoku]

If you are buying a mb anyways, unless you don't want to reinstall your system and you're using same or similar mb (at least the same chipset), there is no reason to go with Intel now.

I just finished installing all the software last Saturday on my new system. It really rules.

The system is also rock stable. My wife has to run simulations that eats up 100% of the cpu and 434MB of memory. I've ran that for a few hours a few times in the past few days, not one single crash

 

[Garet Jax]

SunGoku,

If not Intel, are you recommending AMD? Do they OC better? Which CPU? Thanks.

 

[SunGoku]

Ok, Intel used to be much better for OC, now it seems AMD is a better choice, both for potential and cost.

Depending on your budget and taste. For me, I am willing to sacrifice a bit of performance for stability as running my wife's require no crash in 48 hours or more (I was just running her code for 2-3 hours at a time to test the system stability before I jack up the Mhz a bit more). That leaves abit out. Also, I am willing to pay a bit extra. If you are in the same boat, this is what I researched and decided to purchase

For 133FSB potential, you have 2 choices, maybe 3
MB: Asus A7V133 (this is the one I bought)
MSI K7T Turbo
Iwill

The Asus cost about $160. I think I paid about $168 for my mb.

For 100FSB mb, I recommend MSI K7T pro2-a. It cost about $105 and very stable.

If you want some power and dont' mind potential RMA as well as stability issues, Abit is a good choice, especially the KT7A RAID or KT7A motherboard. They support 133FSB and cost less than the Asus motherboard. Of course, you sacrifice it for stability as well as RMA. Someone at storagereivew was unhappy with his Abit mb and will replace it now
http://www.storagereview.com/welcome.pl/http://www.storagereview.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/008026.html

For CPU, check www.overclockers.com

Look up the CPU frequency, and look at the data from their CPU database. For me, I purchased a 1 Ghz athlon, with a sample size of 22 and average OC frequency at 1188, I got a slightly above average overclock result. Mine was 1210 Mhz athlon running at 133FSB.

If you are on a tight budget, MSI K7T pro2-a and a nice Duron can be a good choice. You can get both of them plus a nice HSF for less than $200 and the chances are good for you to hit 900 Mhz or even a bit higher.

 

[NOS440]

Garet Jax I think one point is being missed here weren't you interested in a dual CPU setup ??

 

[Grendel99]

If your going to get P3's, I would recommend P3-700 FC-PGA CPU's. They overclock well, usually to 933 or higher with a decent cooler. But if you don't feel like overclocking, the P3-1GHz will do just fine But I wouldn't expect much overclocking potential from them.

 

[Garet Jax]

NOS440,

You are right. The ASUS CUV4X-D is a dual board and I want to install two CPUs.

Grendel99,

Part of the reason I am putting this new system together is to play around with OCing to learn how it is done.

That surprises me. The Intel PIII GHz CPU is not very OCable? Is the 700MHz the best Intel PIII for OCability? Thanks.

 

[NOS440]

Garet Jax The reason the 1Ghz is not a very good OCer is because its reach the limit the P-3 will go the p-3 is a 5 to 6 year old design that started at 200 mhz and reached 1 GHZ. That is why Intel designed the P-4 to scale up in MHZ. The 700 is a better over clocker because it has room to OC.