Overclocking Results
It is important to state that in all cases we are using the stock retail heatsinks (except with the simulated X2 3800+, which used a Zalman CNPS9500). Again, adding a nice aftermarket cooling solution might improve overclocking results a bit, but for the extra $30-$50 you could simply upgrade to a faster processor instead. Here are the overclocking results we achieved as well as the settings that were used. We tried for 100 MHz increments on the CPU overclock, so if we could get a system running at 2.5 GHz but not 2.6 GHz, we stopped at 2.5 GHz. With additional time and effort, we could improve the final results and increase performance a few percent, but searching for the elusive last 3%-5% is beyond the scope of this article. (CPU speeds are approximate to within 10 MHz -- slight differences between the specified bus speed and the actual bus speed can affect clock speed slightly.)
Starting with the percent overclocks achieved, the two Sempron offerings tie for first place with a 39% overclock when using the budget motherboards (we were able to get a 50% overclock with the Sempron AM2 using the Gigabyte nForce 590 SLI motherboard), while the Pentium D 805 falls behind with "only" a 35% overclock. However, getting a 35% overclock out of a budget dual core platform is in some ways more impressive than a 40% overclock of a single core CPU. If you happen to run applications that take advantage of multiple processors, you can probably already guess that the Pentium D 805 is going to easily beat anything that the two Sempron platforms can put up in SMP-aware benchmarks. It's also important to note that the Pentium D would actually load Windows at 3.8 GHz and POST at up to 4.0 GHz. Better cooling (and a better power supply) would have almost certainly allowed a higher overclock, but as mentioned for the price you may as well start with a better CPU.
The Sempron systems were far less likely to POST at higher overclocks, at least with the budget motherboards. The Biostar TForce AM2 motherboard in particular hit a brick wall with a HyperTransport bus speed of 280 MHz; below that it would POST, but above that it required the use of the CMOS clear jumper to get the motherboard back online. Given our experience with other AM2 motherboards, we would venture to guess that a BIOS update could improve the Biostar motherboard. However, we are currently using the latest Biostar TForce 550 BIOS, and the motherboard has been available for about six weeks now. Hopefully, Biostar will release an improved BIOS for the motherboard that addresses performance and overclocking, but we don't make purchase recommendations based on hope.
In terms of ease of overclocking, the Biostar TForce4U-775 was actually the most difficult system to deal with. The difficulty wasn't so much in actual capability, but more in terms of understanding the BIOS options. We ended up using "expert" mode for the bus and memory settings, then we specified a front side bus value of 720 MHz and a memory speed of 540-720 MHz dependent on which memory was used. CPU-Z doesn't always report the correct memory speed on the motherboard, which caused some confusion on our part. For example, the 720 FSB speed and 720 MHz memory speed shows up in CPU-Z as a 1:1 memory ratio and a 360 MHz memory speed. However, benchmarks confirm that the memory is indeed running at a 1:2 ratio.
So now we've set the stage with the processors used and the overclocks achieved. Let's find out how things shake down in the actual benchmarks. We have run most of our typical motherboard benchmarks, and all benchmarking was conducted at 1280x1024 resolution with settings appropriate for a midrange graphics card, with the exception of 3DMark03/05 which were run at the default 1024x768.
It is important to state that in all cases we are using the stock retail heatsinks (except with the simulated X2 3800+, which used a Zalman CNPS9500). Again, adding a nice aftermarket cooling solution might improve overclocking results a bit, but for the extra $30-$50 you could simply upgrade to a faster processor instead. Here are the overclocking results we achieved as well as the settings that were used. We tried for 100 MHz increments on the CPU overclock, so if we could get a system running at 2.5 GHz but not 2.6 GHz, we stopped at 2.5 GHz. With additional time and effort, we could improve the final results and increase performance a few percent, but searching for the elusive last 3%-5% is beyond the scope of this article. (CPU speeds are approximate to within 10 MHz -- slight differences between the specified bus speed and the actual bus speed can affect clock speed slightly.)
| AMD Sempron 754 System | ||
| Stock Setting | Overclocked Setting (39%) | |
| HyperTransport Speed | 200 MHz | 278 MHz |
| HyperTransport Multiplier | 5X | 3X |
| CPU Multiplier | 9X | 9X |
| CPU Speed | 1800 MHz | 2500 MHz |
| Memory Ratio | DDR-400 | DDR-400 |
| Actual Memory Speed | DDR-400 | DDR-556 |
| Memory Timings | 2-3-2-10-2T | 2.5-3-3-10-2T |
| CPU Voltage | 1.350 V | 1.550 V |
| Memory Voltage | 2.800 V | 2.800 V |
| AMD Sempron AM2 System | ||
| Stock Setting | Overclocked Setting (50%) | |
| HyperTransport Speed | 200 MHz | 300 MHz (278 MHz Biostar) |
| HyperTransport Multiplier | 5X | 4X |
| CPU Multiplier | 9X | 9X |
| CPU Speed | 1800 MHz | 2700 MHz (2500 MHz Biostar) |
| Memory Ratio | DDR2-800 | DDR2-533 |
| Actual Memory Speed | DDR2-720 | DDR2-772 (DDR2-714 Biostar) |
| Memory Timings | 4-4-4-12-2T | 4-4-4-12-2T |
| CPU Voltage | 1.350 V | 1.550 V |
| Memory Voltage | 2.100 V | 2.100 V |
| Intel Budget System | ||
| Stock Setting | Overclocked Setting (35%) | |
| Front Side Bus Speed | 533 MHz | 720 MHz |
| CPU Multiplier | 20X | 20X |
| CPU Speed | 2667 MHz | 3600 MHz |
| Memory Ratio | DDR2-667 (2:5) | DDR2-720 (1:2) |
| Actual Memory Speed | DDR2-667 | DDR2-720 |
| Memory Timings | 4-4-4-12-2T | 4-4-4-12-1T |
| CPU Voltage | 1.125 V | 1.400 V |
| Memory Voltage | 2.100 V | 2.100 V |
| Simulated AMD X2 3800+ AM2 System | ||
| Stock Setting | Overclocked Setting (30%) | |
| HyperTransport Speed | 200 MHz | 260 MHz |
| HyperTransport Multiplier | 5X | 5X |
| CPU Multiplier | 10X | 10X |
| CPU Speed | 1800 MHz | 2600 MHz |
| Memory Ratio | DDR2-800 | DDR2-533 |
| Actual Memory Speed | DDR2-720 | DDR2-650 |
| Memory Timings | 4-4-4-12-2T | 4-4-4-12-1T |
| CPU Voltage | 1.350 V | 1.500 V |
| Memory Voltage | 2.100 V | 2.100 V |
Starting with the percent overclocks achieved, the two Sempron offerings tie for first place with a 39% overclock when using the budget motherboards (we were able to get a 50% overclock with the Sempron AM2 using the Gigabyte nForce 590 SLI motherboard), while the Pentium D 805 falls behind with "only" a 35% overclock. However, getting a 35% overclock out of a budget dual core platform is in some ways more impressive than a 40% overclock of a single core CPU. If you happen to run applications that take advantage of multiple processors, you can probably already guess that the Pentium D 805 is going to easily beat anything that the two Sempron platforms can put up in SMP-aware benchmarks. It's also important to note that the Pentium D would actually load Windows at 3.8 GHz and POST at up to 4.0 GHz. Better cooling (and a better power supply) would have almost certainly allowed a higher overclock, but as mentioned for the price you may as well start with a better CPU.
The Sempron systems were far less likely to POST at higher overclocks, at least with the budget motherboards. The Biostar TForce AM2 motherboard in particular hit a brick wall with a HyperTransport bus speed of 280 MHz; below that it would POST, but above that it required the use of the CMOS clear jumper to get the motherboard back online. Given our experience with other AM2 motherboards, we would venture to guess that a BIOS update could improve the Biostar motherboard. However, we are currently using the latest Biostar TForce 550 BIOS, and the motherboard has been available for about six weeks now. Hopefully, Biostar will release an improved BIOS for the motherboard that addresses performance and overclocking, but we don't make purchase recommendations based on hope.
In terms of ease of overclocking, the Biostar TForce4U-775 was actually the most difficult system to deal with. The difficulty wasn't so much in actual capability, but more in terms of understanding the BIOS options. We ended up using "expert" mode for the bus and memory settings, then we specified a front side bus value of 720 MHz and a memory speed of 540-720 MHz dependent on which memory was used. CPU-Z doesn't always report the correct memory speed on the motherboard, which caused some confusion on our part. For example, the 720 FSB speed and 720 MHz memory speed shows up in CPU-Z as a 1:1 memory ratio and a 360 MHz memory speed. However, benchmarks confirm that the memory is indeed running at a 1:2 ratio.
So now we've set the stage with the processors used and the overclocks achieved. Let's find out how things shake down in the actual benchmarks. We have run most of our typical motherboard benchmarks, and all benchmarking was conducted at 1280x1024 resolution with settings appropriate for a midrange graphics card, with the exception of 3DMark03/05 which were run at the default 1024x768.
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JarredWalton - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
Drop the $180 GPU and throw in a $50 GPU and you've got a non-gaming platform.mino - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
Wrong,i.e.: changes to make 754 config a good budget PC:
drop DFI MB, drop the GPU, put in quality ATI Xpress200 or Geforce 6100 MB
drop that dual channel Patriot nonsense for singel channel s754, put in Kinkston/
Corsair 1GB stick of DDR400 CL3
drop that insane 400W PSU(100W system), drop in budget case, drop in FSP300-60GLN
example:
CPU: Sempron 2800+ ~$50
MB: JetWay A200GDMS ~$70 or some Geforce6100 board
RAM: 1GB brand DDR400 ~$90
HDD: any 250G ~$80
DVD: NEC 4571 ~$35 or any you like
case: ASUS TM250 ~$30 or any generic case without PSU
PSU: FSP300-60GLN ~$30
Final price: <= $400
You can drop some better GPU later but such a system will be with you for a long time.
As someone wrote above, your configs are good budget GAMER/OVERCLOCKER choices. Not budget PC choices.
JarredWalton - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
But I would quantify my system as a "better" budget system - the extra $200 or so goes a long ways towards improving features and performance. Again, you don't *have* to buy these systems, but they are what I had available and you can see performnace (stock and OC'ed). It's something a bit different from our regular budget buyers' guides.mino - Thursday, July 13, 2006 - link
Almost forgot,I really appreciated the review, realy.
Just not for the text part, instead for the numbers and mostly the configs being tested.
mino - Thursday, July 13, 2006 - link
IMHO we have a common attitude for system config creation. But a different view on what a budget PC is. For me, it is a -as cheap as possible- workhorse, for you, a gaming machine able to work.My intention was just to show off that it is not so simple - like change the GPU and it is a classic budget system. IMHO you know that it is more complicated, but many readers do not(an the article supports them here).
the message:
"To build a good, balanced PC is a system solution problem, not a component solution one."
Best regards.
mino - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
Wrong,i.e.: changes to make 754 config a good budget PC:
drop DFI MB, drop the GPU, put in quality ATI Xpress200 or Geforce 6100 MB
drop that dual channel Patriot nonsense for singel channel s754, put in Kinkston/
Corsair 1GB stick of DDR400 CL3
drop that insane 400W PSU(100W system), drop in budget case, drop in FSP300-60GLN
you've got:
CPU: Sempron 2800+ $50
MB:
mino - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
this post was unintentional, gog give us EDIT :)Josh7289 - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
So, the Pentium D's are going even lower, when the X2's lower as well? What about the other single cores from Intel and AMD, are they lowering with Core 2 Duo's launch?Looking back at that article from one and a half years ago. it's pretty cool to see what one can get today for less money than what one could get back then. I remember reading that article last year shortly before I built the PC I use now and using it as a kind of guideline, even though it was a few months old then.
Anyway, this spell check on Firefox 2.0 Beta 1 is freaking sweet. :)
PC Surgeon - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
The review overall was very good. But I do have one problem and it has to do with this statement:
"Still, we're inclined to recommend socket AM2 right now, as we have yet to see any budget socket 775 motherboards available that will support Core 2 Duo chips.
Oh yeah? Well what about this one?
ASRock 775Dual-VSTA $58.99 www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157092
It supports Conroe, DDR, DDRII, AGP, PCI-e....which to me is somewhat the equevelent of the ASROCK 939DUAL SATAII. For people with older systems that have DDR, or AGP, the 775Dual-VSTA is the board that can make the transition a little cheaper.
Why you guys didn't recommend this board I don't know...maybe you didnt know about it? Or worse (and I doubt this is true) it was showing AMD bias.
That's my bone to pick....
JarredWalton - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
I will let Gary's review explore overclocking on the ASRock motherboard. I really have no idea how it will perform, and the truth is that I started working on this article several weeks ago. If I knew for sure which budget motherboards can run Core 2 Duo and overclock well, I would be happy to recommend such a motherboard. We'll probably have to wait a few more weeks to get a clear feel for that market.