E6400 Retail Overclocking

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: jandrade

Originally posted by: Gary Key

Originally posted by: TaeKim
When is the DS4 coming out (ie. available at mainstream retailers like Newegg) and how much more will it cost vs. the DS3?

I need a motherboard/memory quick for the Conroe 6400.

It is out in Asia currently, maybe September in the states, trying to convince Gigabyte to bring it in earlier. The price was targeted for the $150~$175 range post ramp up, the DS3 was in the $125~$150 range post ramp up. Of course the pricing is a little different now.

Gary, would you recommend the DS3 over the Asus P5B (not the deluxe version)? I'm trying to choose a good motherboard for a E6600 in the ~$150 price point.

I have not tried the non-deluxe version of the Asus P5B yet, so my opinion is slanted currently towards the DS3. If you are going to overclock with the E6300/6400, the DS3 is the best board I have tested for the money so far. However, I expect the Abit and Biostar boards to be close once their bios matures. In other words, you cannot go wrong with the DS3. There are still concerns if the 3-phase power system will run Kentsfield properly but other than that, no real knock against the board, just do not try to change all of the voltages at once.

 

[Rendition]

Yes, the consensus on the forums is the DS3 is the best budget overclocker and the 6400 is the best one for value performance gaming.

 

[Roy2001]

Gary thanks! DS3 should be the MB for which don't want to spend $250+ on it.

Now the RAM. I want to spend around $200 on RAMs. With current mainstream DDR2-800 RAMs with CS4 or CS5, what FSB we can expect? I think I am not alone.

If I want to OC FSB to 400Mhz, which kind of RAM I could buy? Sorry for this kind of questions. Never OCed Thanks.

Originally posted by: Rendition
Yes, the consensus on the forums is the DS3 is the best budget overclocker and the 6400 is the best one for value performance gaming.

So how about RAM? I don't think those who pick DS3 and E6400/6300 would spend $450 on RAMs

 

[DrMrLordX]

Thanks, the DS3 continues to look like an awesome overclocker board. Can't wait to see DS4 results.

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: Roy2001
Gary thanks! DS3 should be the MB for which don't want to spend $250+ on it.

Now the RAM. I want to spend around $200 on RAMs. With current mainstream DDR2-800 RAMs with CS4 or CS5, what FSB we can expect? I think I am not alone.

If I want to OC FSB to 400Mhz, which kind of RAM I could buy? Sorry for this kind of questions. Never OCed Thanks.

Originally posted by: Rendition
Yes, the consensus on the forums is the DS3 is the best budget overclocker and the 6400 is the best one for value performance gaming.

So how about RAM? I don't think those who pick DS3 and E6400/6300 would spend $450 on RAMs

I might have a couple of choices later today for DDR2-800, still have a few modules to try. I am trying to complete benchmarking tonight on this board for an upcoming article. RAM at $400 is cheap compared to the Power Supply I am using that cost $439. :laugh: Just kidding, not really as those 850w units are expensive, but I would recommend a very good 700w power supply at this time if you intend on overclocking.

 

[Roy2001]

Originally posted by: Gary Key
...........I would recommend a very good 700w power supply at this time if you intend on overclocking.

Is it possible when Anandtech reviews post power consumption data, please also include OCed system? With 65W stock power consumption, I think maybe my 480 true power PSU is enough to OC FSB to 400Mhz.

 

[Gary Key]

Also, unlike the newer AMD heatsink/fans which are excellent, the stock Intel cooler is not worth the shipping cost. Even in very mild overclocking situations I would highly suggest an upgraded cooling solution, something in the mid-range like the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro would work wonders from both a thermal and noise vanatge point for the mild overclocker. We will have a cooling guide up later this month but do not forget about a good heatsink/fan when purchasing a system.

 

[Roy2001]

Originally posted by: Gary Key
.... the stock Intel cooler is not worth the shipping cost. Even in very mild overclocking situations I would highly .....

So we should ask vendor to take out the heatsink and fan and reduce the shipping cost

 

[Avalon]

The DS3 is a monster

Awesome results Gary, thanks for sharing!

 

[Zebo]

I'm not giong to agree or disagree with Gary's PSU numbers or prices but a PSU with higher than a 30A 12V rail would be most useful. Many quality PSUs in the 550+ watt range have this. 12V is crucial since CPU and graphics cards draw from it nowadays...along with fans, hard drives, DVD's etc

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

maybe Gary can add a power consumption section in his next òcing conroe` article. i find it a bit hard to believe that we need that much more powerful PSUs for those much less power consuming CPUs..

 

[TaeKim]

Oh well I ordered the following last night:

-Gigabyte DS3
-1GB OCZ DD2-800 Timing: 5-5-5-10 Voltage: 1.9V 2x512MB
-Seasonic S12-500watt
-ATI 1800XT
-Antec Solo Quiet Case
-Along with my Conroe 6400

I hope this works well for overclocking.

I guess I should pick up a new CPU cooler if the retail one sucks.

Any comments anyone on above as a system for mild 3ghz overclocking?

 

[aldamon]

Originally posted by: alex123

Originally posted by: TaeKim
LOL You cheater. Please benchmark on cheaper memory that us poor people can afford. I want the cheapest DDR2-800 memory possible that will get me to 3ghz on the retail 6400 and the Gigabyte DS3 with full stability. Thanks!!

I'll second that... I am shooting for the same thing - E6400, 3GHz on stock voltage, stock cooling, 2Gb memory. The only thing that is not clear yet is what memory to choose... The cheaper the better

What exactly does Gary need to tell you? With an 8x multiplier, you'll only need DDR2-750 speeds to get to 3GHz. Just buy a cheap set of DDR2-800 and you'll have plenty of headroom to go above and beyond 3 GHz. Newegg has 7 sets under $200.

 

[NoStateofMind]

Great results Gary. I'm now interested in this DS3/e6400 combo. Is there any way you could get your hands on this RAM? I've had my eyes on it for a while now because of another forum. But I would like to get an outside opinion on how well they stack up against big name brands like OCZ. That would help me decide on what to get for my new PC.

It's a good thing for reviewers post in the forum and interact with members. It's apreciated!

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: TaeKim
I guess I should pick up a new CPU cooler if the retail one sucks.

Any comments anyone on above as a system for mild 3ghz overclocking?

You'll definitely want a better heatsink. I'd personally buy a Scythe Ninja. They've recently cut the prices on them almost in half, and it's the best heatsink made.

 

[OcHungry]

Originally posted by: Gary Key
Good Day,

In our recently published E6300 & E6400 - Value through Overclocking article we had several comments/emails about our usage of the B1 Stepping 5 CPU press samples from Intel possibly being cherry picked and therefore skewing the results. Although Intel assured us we would not see any differences we set out to purchase retail CPUs for a quick retest of the overclocking results. We blindly purchased several retail CPUs from ZipZoomFly and TigerDirect last week upon the official launch. While the original review used the Asus P5W-DH, we are showing the results on the Gigabyte DS3 this morning. I will post up results on the Asus board later this week after complete testing with the 0801 bios.

I have linked screenshots to our quick overclock results with the first retail E6400 this morning on the Gigabyte DS3 board with a Gigabyte 7950GX2 installed. This combination today has worked wonderfully at both stock and overclocked settings although we have not completed our test suite yet. I will have E6300 results up later along with additional stress test results. Until we present our full review of this amazing board, enjoy.

Stock Heat Sink, Retail B2 Stepping 6 E6400, Auto Voltage,8x380, 3040MHz

Tuniq Tower 120, Retail B2 Stepping 6 E6400, 1.4375V, 8x440, 3520MHz

p.s. I think the retail steppings overclock just fine.

Real nice, a $600 graphic card is considered a budget building system.
Why don?t you AT staff get real and for once show us something that makes sense.
Has it not occurred to you that it would be cheaper to buy a more expensive SLI motherboard and 2- $125 vid cards put the damn thing in SLI?
If you are interested in helping mainstream and budget builders, show us what you can do w/ a GF 7300/7600 and do some meaningful review/benchmarks.
How much is that DDR2 BTW? Why is it not Spi 32M? Is that because cant get it stable or not as showing off as 1M/8M?
I don?t mean to be rude to you, but lately I see AT doing everything possible to promote Intel at the expense of AMD.
I give you an example: The E6300/E6400 review shows FX62's Cinebench @ around 420.
Then explain to me how I can get 464 for this cheap A64 3000 OC'd below FX?
Just using Gforce 7300,? I bet you, clock for clock your E6300/6400 can not reach it, using same level of vid card. Guess what ? Motherboard+CPU+ Ram+ Vid card = $ 280 over here.

http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/1407/08012006030438zi2.jpg

Or what about this?
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5094/08012006012750sd2.jpg

Or this?
http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/8021/08012006025124vl7.jpg

I bet your E6800 @ 4gig cant touch this either:
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/7624/07202006014443gk5.jpg

Can your E6300 so called budget system beat 27:08m 32M @ 2790mhz?
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/4521/07192006044246qv0.jpg

All of above on stock cooling and good ole cheapo A64 3000 Asrock Mobo.
Bet is on, bring it on.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: OcHungry

Originally posted by: Gary Key
Good Day,

In our recently published E6300 & E6400 - Value through Overclocking article we had several comments/emails about our usage of the B1 Stepping 5 CPU press samples from Intel possibly being cherry picked and therefore skewing the results. Although Intel assured us we would not see any differences we set out to purchase retail CPUs for a quick retest of the overclocking results. We blindly purchased several retail CPUs from ZipZoomFly and TigerDirect last week upon the official launch. While the original review used the Asus P5W-DH, we are showing the results on the Gigabyte DS3 this morning. I will post up results on the Asus board later this week after complete testing with the 0801 bios.

I have linked screenshots to our quick overclock results with the first retail E6400 this morning on the Gigabyte DS3 board with a Gigabyte 7950GX2 installed. This combination today has worked wonderfully at both stock and overclocked settings although we have not completed our test suite yet. I will have E6300 results up later along with additional stress test results. Until we present our full review of this amazing board, enjoy.

Stock Heat Sink, Retail B2 Stepping 6 E6400, Auto Voltage,8x380, 3040MHz

Tuniq Tower 120, Retail B2 Stepping 6 E6400, 1.4375V, 8x440, 3520MHz

p.s. I think the retail steppings overclock just fine.

Real nice, a $600 graphic card is considered a budget building system.
Why don?t you AT staff get real and for once show us something that makes sense.
Has it not occurred to you that it would be cheaper to buy a more expensive SLI motherboard and 2- $125 vid cards put the damn thing in SLI?
If you are interested in helping mainstream and budget builders, show us what you can do w/ a GF 7300/7600 and do some meaningful review/benchmarks.
How much is that DDR2 BTW? Why is it not Spi 32M? Is that because cant get it stable or not as showing off as 1M/8M?
I don?t mean to be rude to you, but lately I see AT doing everything possible to promote Intel at the expense of AMD.
I give you an example: The E6300/E6400 review shows FX62's Cinebench @ around 420.
Then explain to me how I can get 464 for this cheap A64 3000 OC'd below FX?
Just using Gforce 7300,? I bet you, clock for clock your E6300/6400 can not reach it, using same level of vid card. Guess what ? Motherboard+CPU+ Ram+ Vid card = $ 280 over here.

http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/1407/08012006030438zi2.jpg

Or what about this?
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5094/08012006012750sd2.jpg

Or this?
http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/8021/08012006025124vl7.jpg

I bet your E6800 @ 4gig cant touch this either:
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/7624/07202006014443gk5.jpg

Can your E6300 so called budget system beat 27:08m 32M @ 2790mhz?
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/4521/07192006044246qv0.jpg

All of above on stock cooling and good ole cheapo A64 3000 Asrock Mobo.
Bet is on, bring it on.

*crickets*

 

[NoStateofMind]

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: OcHungry

Originally posted by: Gary Key
Good Day,

In our recently published E6300 & E6400 - Value through Overclocking article we had several comments/emails about our usage of the B1 Stepping 5 CPU press samples from Intel possibly being cherry picked and therefore skewing the results. Although Intel assured us we would not see any differences we set out to purchase retail CPUs for a quick retest of the overclocking results. We blindly purchased several retail CPUs from ZipZoomFly and TigerDirect last week upon the official launch. While the original review used the Asus P5W-DH, we are showing the results on the Gigabyte DS3 this morning. I will post up results on the Asus board later this week after complete testing with the 0801 bios.

I have linked screenshots to our quick overclock results with the first retail E6400 this morning on the Gigabyte DS3 board with a Gigabyte 7950GX2 installed. This combination today has worked wonderfully at both stock and overclocked settings although we have not completed our test suite yet. I will have E6300 results up later along with additional stress test results. Until we present our full review of this amazing board, enjoy.

Stock Heat Sink, Retail B2 Stepping 6 E6400, Auto Voltage,8x380, 3040MHz

Tuniq Tower 120, Retail B2 Stepping 6 E6400, 1.4375V, 8x440, 3520MHz

p.s. I think the retail steppings overclock just fine.

Real nice, a $600 graphic card is considered a budget building system.
Why don?t you AT staff get real and for once show us something that makes sense.
Has it not occurred to you that it would be cheaper to buy a more expensive SLI motherboard and 2- $125 vid cards put the damn thing in SLI?
If you are interested in helping mainstream and budget builders, show us what you can do w/ a GF 7300/7600 and do some meaningful review/benchmarks.
How much is that DDR2 BTW? Why is it not Spi 32M? Is that because cant get it stable or not as showing off as 1M/8M?
I don?t mean to be rude to you, but lately I see AT doing everything possible to promote Intel at the expense of AMD.
I give you an example: The E6300/E6400 review shows FX62's Cinebench @ around 420.
Then explain to me how I can get 464 for this cheap A64 3000 OC'd below FX?
Just using Gforce 7300,? I bet you, clock for clock your E6300/6400 can not reach it, using same level of vid card. Guess what ? Motherboard+CPU+ Ram+ Vid card = $ 280 over here.

http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/1407/08012006030438zi2.jpg

Or what about this?
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5094/08012006012750sd2.jpg

Or this?
http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/8021/08012006025124vl7.jpg

I bet your E6800 @ 4gig cant touch this either:
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/7624/07202006014443gk5.jpg

Can your E6300 so called budget system beat 27:08m 32M @ 2790mhz?
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/4521/07192006044246qv0.jpg

All of above on stock cooling and good ole cheapo A64 3000 Asrock Mobo.
Bet is on, bring it on.

*crickets*

*Bullfrog*

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Great results Gary. I'm now interested in this DS3/e6400 combo. Is there any way you could get your hands on this RAM? I've had my eyes on it for a while now because of another forum. But I would like to get an outside opinion on how well they stack up against big name brands like OCZ. That would help me decide on what to get for my new PC.

It's a good thing for reviewers post in the forum and interact with members. It's apreciated!

I will see if we can get some TeamGroup RAM in here shortly. Since most of the memory suppliers use the same ICs, the only real difference will come down to board design, chip binning, and SPD tuning. These are the items that you pay extra for and it matters when overclocking the memory but at stock speeds, no real difference. In the budget area, I always look for RAM that is certified at the lowest possible voltage with low latencies. This is an instant indication of board design, good SPD programming, and binned chips.

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: BlingBlingArsch
maybe Gary can add a power consumption section in his next òcing conroe` article. i find it a bit hard to believe that we need that much more powerful PSUs for those much less power consuming CPUs..

We will show overall power consumption in an upcoming article. However, please be aware that the R600 and G80 are going to be power hogs. It never hurts to have too much power.

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: OcHungry

Real nice, a $600 graphic card is considered a budget building system.
Why don?t you AT staff get real and for once show us something that makes sense.
Has it not occurred to you that it would be cheaper to buy a more expensive SLI motherboard and 2- $125 vid cards put the damn thing in SLI?
If you are interested in helping mainstream and budget builders, show us what you can do w/ a GF 7300/7600 and do some meaningful review/benchmarks.
How much is that DDR2 BTW? Why is it not Spi 32M? Is that because cant get it stable or not as showing off as 1M/8M?
I don?t mean to be rude to you, but lately I see AT doing everything possible to promote Intel at the expense of AMD.
I give you an example: The E6300/E6400 review shows FX62's Cinebench @ around 420.
Then explain to me how I can get 464 for this cheap A64 3000 OC'd below FX?
Just using Gforce 7300,? I bet you, clock for clock your E6300/6400 can not reach it, using same level of vid card. Guess what ? Motherboard+CPU+ Ram+ Vid card = $ 280 over here.

http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/1407/08012006030438zi2.jpg

Or what about this?
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5094/08012006012750sd2.jpg

Or this?
http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/8021/08012006025124vl7.jpg

I bet your E6800 @ 4gig cant touch this either:
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/7624/07202006014443gk5.jpg

Can your E6300 so called budget system beat 27:08m 32M @ 2790mhz?
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/4521/07192006044246qv0.jpg

All of above on stock cooling and good ole cheapo A64 3000 Asrock Mobo.
Bet is on, bring it on.

OC,

This thread was created to show the initial overclocking potential of the retail chips considering several readers had commented on the fact that our retail chips must be cherry although results are showing otherwise. It is not a review of components and the most interesting aspect to me is the fact the 7950GX2 is working fine on the P965 with proper bios support. I will answer the rest of your questions in due time.

Thanks.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

Originally posted by: Gary Key

Originally posted by: BlingBlingArsch
maybe Gary can add a power consumption section in his next òcing conroe` article. i find it a bit hard to believe that we need that much more powerful PSUs for those much less power consuming CPUs..

We will show overall power consumption in an upcoming article. However, please be aware that the R600 and G80 are going to be power hogs. It never hurts to have too much power.

oh it does hurt my wallet

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: OcHungry

Originally posted by: Gary Key
Good Day,

In our recently published E6300 & E6400 - Value through Overclocking article we had several comments/emails about our usage of the B1 Stepping 5 CPU press samples from Intel possibly being cherry picked and therefore skewing the results. Although Intel assured us we would not see any differences we set out to purchase retail CPUs for a quick retest of the overclocking results. We blindly purchased several retail CPUs from ZipZoomFly and TigerDirect last week upon the official launch. While the original review used the Asus P5W-DH, we are showing the results on the Gigabyte DS3 this morning. I will post up results on the Asus board later this week after complete testing with the 0801 bios.

I have linked screenshots to our quick overclock results with the first retail E6400 this morning on the Gigabyte DS3 board with a Gigabyte 7950GX2 installed. This combination today has worked wonderfully at both stock and overclocked settings although we have not completed our test suite yet. I will have E6300 results up later along with additional stress test results. Until we present our full review of this amazing board, enjoy.

Stock Heat Sink, Retail B2 Stepping 6 E6400, Auto Voltage,8x380, 3040MHz

Tuniq Tower 120, Retail B2 Stepping 6 E6400, 1.4375V, 8x440, 3520MHz

p.s. I think the retail steppings overclock just fine.

Real nice, a $600 graphic card is considered a budget building system.
Why don?t you AT staff get real and for once show us something that makes sense.
Has it not occurred to you that it would be cheaper to buy a more expensive SLI motherboard and 2- $125 vid cards put the damn thing in SLI?
If you are interested in helping mainstream and budget builders, show us what you can do w/ a GF 7300/7600 and do some meaningful review/benchmarks.
How much is that DDR2 BTW? Why is it not Spi 32M? Is that because cant get it stable or not as showing off as 1M/8M?
I don?t mean to be rude to you, but lately I see AT doing everything possible to promote Intel at the expense of AMD.
I give you an example: The E6300/E6400 review shows FX62's Cinebench @ around 420.
Then explain to me how I can get 464 for this cheap A64 3000 OC'd below FX?
Just using Gforce 7300,? I bet you, clock for clock your E6300/6400 can not reach it, using same level of vid card. Guess what ? Motherboard+CPU+ Ram+ Vid card = $ 280 over here.

http://img226.imageshack.us/img226/1407/08012006030438zi2.jpg

Or what about this?
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5094/08012006012750sd2.jpg

Or this?
http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/8021/08012006025124vl7.jpg

I bet your E6800 @ 4gig cant touch this either:
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/7624/07202006014443gk5.jpg

Can your E6300 so called budget system beat 27:08m 32M @ 2790mhz?
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/4521/07192006044246qv0.jpg

All of above on stock cooling and good ole cheapo A64 3000 Asrock Mobo.
Bet is on, bring it on.

1) Why would you spend more on an SLI motherboard only to put two wimpy $125 cards in it? There's no 2x$125 SLI setup you can make faster than a $250 single card (X1800XT/7900GT) on a cheaper motherboard.

2) Why should he use a 7300GS/7600? It's not going to change the CPU overclocking results, which this thread is about.

3) That's great that you spent $280 on your system, but it doesn't matter. Clock for clock, the Allendale is faster, and at 3.5Ghz, it obliterates your 2.8Ghz A64. There are very few apps where the A64 stands close. If you're trying to argue that you can't build a $280 Intel system, there's the 805D if you chose to go that route. There's also the upcoming E4200/E4300.

 

[burney]

thanks a lot Gary Key ....
Do you think the prices for processors (Conroe 6600), mobos(for conroe) and ram (DDR 800) will come down significanlty over a year..?..as Right now these are very expensive.and wondering if I should wait a bit.and I am very interested if you have anything to say about G80..


thanx again

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: BlingBlingArsch

Originally posted by: Gary Key

Originally posted by: BlingBlingArsch
maybe Gary can add a power consumption section in his next òcing conroe` article. i find it a bit hard to believe that we need that much more powerful PSUs for those much less power consuming CPUs..

We will show overall power consumption in an upcoming article. However, please be aware that the R600 and G80 are going to be power hogs. It never hurts to have too much power.

oh it does hurt my wallet

Consider it be a three year investment. The 700w power supplies from OCZ, FPS, SPI , and other top tier providers are down to the $140 range, still a lot of money but they are well worth the price over the long term if you plan on expanding or overclocking your system. I will take a step down on CPU or Memory in order to save enough money to have a quality power supply. I tried a popular 480w power supply this morning and could only get to a stable 410FSB with the same setup I tried yesterday with the FPS 700w and PC850w units. Those 7950GX2s like to consume power, not as bad as the 7900GTX SLI or ATIX1900 CrossFire but still very power hungry with a couple of Raptors hooked up.