Overclocking Buyer's Guide - August 2004
by Wesley Fink on July 27, 2004 11:24 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Overclocking System Summaries
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 | $811 |
| Motherboard | MSI K8N Neo2 (nForce3 Ultra) Socket 939 | $165 |
| Memory | 1GB (2 X 512MB) OCZ PC3700 EB | $340 |
| Video Card | 256MB eVGA 6800 GT | $389 |
| Computer Case Power Supply |
Coolermaster CM Stacker plus 520W OCZ Power Stream PSU |
$325 |
| Hard Drive | 2x74GB Western Digital 74GB Raptor 10,000RPM SATA RAID (148MB Total) | $386 |
| Bottom Line | $2416* | |
Please keep in mind that the $2416 is an overclocking system core price, and does not include all the components that you will need for a full-blown system.
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) | $288 |
| Motherboard | Asus P5AD2 Premium | $279 |
| Memory | 1GB (2 X 512MB) Crucial PC2-4200U | $364 |
| Video Card | 256MB ATI X800 XT | $550 (EST) |
| Computer Case Power Supply |
Coolermaster CM Stacker plus 520W OCZ Power Stream PSU |
$325 |
| Hard Drive | 2x74GB Western Digital 74GB Raptor 10,000RPM SATA RAID (148MB Total) | $386 |
| Bottom Line | $2192* | |
While $2192 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 with this board. The system also includes an estimated price for the ATI X800 XT, which has been shown to handle the out-of-spec PCIe speeds that we are seeing on all of the 925X/915P motherboards, which have been found to support higher overclocking speeds.
VALUE OC Recommended
Our readers who are already overclockers will most likely have systems that resemble either of our Value Overclocking Systems. Both are proven overclocking performers based on Pentium 4 Northwood and Athlon XP processors that have a solid history of stand-out overclocking performance. You will get outstanding value for your dollar with either Value OC system, and your system will be capable of performing at the top levels of Northwood and Athlon XP performance.| Pentium 4 Socket 478 | ||
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| CPU & Cooling | Pentium 4 2.8C Northwood (Socket 478) | $175 |
| Motherboard | Asus P4C800-E Deluxe | $172 |
| Memory | 1GB (2 X 512MB) OCZ PC3700 EB | $340 |
| Video Card | 256MB eVGA 6800 GT | $389 |
| Computer Case Power Supply |
Coolermaster CM Stacker plus 480W Antec True Power PSU |
$262 |
| Hard Drive | Seagate 200GB 7200RPM IDE (8Mb Cache) |
$119 |
| Bottom Line | $1457* ($1157) | |
The Socket 478 Value OC system weighs in at $1457 for the core components. The Coolermaster CM Stacker may be overkill for some Value overclockers, and you can easily cut $100 of the total ticket with a cheaper Aluminum Case, like a Kingwin. Another place to cut costs would be substituting an ATI 9800 Pro video card at $200 less than the nVidia 6800 GT. These 2 changes alone drop the cost to $1157.
VALUE OC Alternative
Some readers will still consider the Athlon XP Value OC system the king of overclocking, but since its performance would be last in this group, you really should take a look at some of the other overclocking alternatives presented here. There is no doubt, however, that an Athlon XP mobile on a great nForce2 ultra 400 motherboard provides incredible bang-for-the-buck.| AMD Athlon XP and nVidia nForce2 400 Ultra | ||
| Hardware | Component | Price |
| CPU & Cooling | AMD Athlon XP Barton 2500T Mobile $88 Heatsink/Fan $12 |
$100 |
| Motherboard | DFI NFII Ultra Infinity | $91 |
| Memory | 1GB (2 X 512MB) Corsair 3200XL | $300 |
| Video Card | 256MB eVGA 6800 GT | $389 |
| Computer Case Power Supply |
Coolermaster CM Stacker plus 480W Antec True Power PSU |
$262 |
| Hard Drive | Seagate 200GB 7200RPM IDE (8Mb Cache) |
$119 |
| Bottom Line | $1261* ($836) | |
If the final tab of $1261 for the core components of an XP mobile system seems high, three areas stand out for paring. First, go with a cheaper case for $100 less. Second, buy an ATI 9800 PRO for $200 less and overclock the heck out of it. Third, go for one of the CAS 2.5 value DDR400 memories from Corsair, Geil, OCZ, Kingston, and others; this could save you about $125. These three substitutions reduce the price by $425 and get the core system price down to $836.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
40 Comments
View All Comments
bluedart - Tuesday, July 27, 2004 - link
It does say the price. Read from the top of the page:AGP Overclocking Recommendation: eVGA 256MB GeForce 6800 GT
Price: $389 shipped
BTW FX53 is a good choice at overclocking. Keep in mind this is with air. But if you utilize other forms of cooling the FX will go even higher, approaching 3GHz with proper cooling (see THG's review). This makes it one FX58. That is absolutely a grand overclock, seeing that FX58 speeds will not be here for another year or so.
danidentity - Tuesday, July 27, 2004 - link
#4: Did you read Anandtech's article on breaking the overclocking lock? Almost all companies have broken it. It is very possible to reach those speeds with the stock HSF.http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?...
devonz - Tuesday, July 27, 2004 - link
Why isn't the 6800 GT card in the price list on that page? Or am I missing it somehow?T8000 - Tuesday, July 27, 2004 - link
I think recommending an Athlon FX for overclocking is a joke. Those things do not even manage a 5% overclock, and their real world performance is only close to a P4 at 3.4 GHZ, as gaming at 640x480 is not very common among people spending this kind of money. And at a realistic setting of 1600x1200 and 4xFSAA, the CPU is not really the bottleneck in todays games. When you do encoding, where CPU speed does matter in the real world, the P4 is head and shoulders above Athlon FX.yzkbug - Tuesday, July 27, 2004 - link
How about a VALUE OC DDR section? Paying $300+ for 5-10% performance increase over ~$150 regular DDR is a waste, imho.Zebo - Tuesday, July 27, 2004 - link
Peferformance------------
1. 2.8 P4C to 3.6 $180
2. A64 3200 to 2.5 $223
Value
--------
1. Duron 1.8 to 2.4 $44
2. Mobile XP to 2.6 $89
:)
Zebo - Tuesday, July 27, 2004 - link
Wow recommending a P4C over a moblie barton in the value section.Twice the price for roughly the same OC performance I don't get it. It's the inverse of price to performance. must be an error is all I can imagine.Then recommending a Socket 775 presshot. Lets see this 3.8- 4GHZ OC with stock HSF. I don't think so. Then the overclock lock issues which hav'nt been settled, have they? My understanding is 10% over stock FSB, yeilding about 3.4 Ghz far from 4ghz, the system crashes!! What kind of overclockers choice is that?
chuwawa - Tuesday, July 27, 2004 - link
Perhaps it's time to start recommending the Athlon64 3000+ for the value OC alternative.bluedart - Tuesday, July 27, 2004 - link
This is a great guide for overclocking, although I believe that there needs to be some more acutal testing with the 755 and 939 sockets to give us a better picture of how they perform. It is especially difficult when PCIxpress and ddr2 aren't widely available yet.If anyone else has some REAL data on overclocking these new platforms, I would like to see those posts.
Currently I am making a heat sink out of synthetic Diamond (better heat transfer than copper and silver by 2x) and will be testing it on the FX system. If there are any other reccommendations I would be more than happy to hear them.
expletive - Tuesday, July 27, 2004 - link
I would cast a vote for the A64 3500+. If it can reach 2.6 like an FX53 at half the price that's tough to beat.The 3500+ is currently retailing for $390 shipped online. I know thats not quite a 'value' but to get FX53 gaming performance for half the price, that can't be denied....