jamiematthews88

MoBo: MSI P35 Neo-F Socket 775, 1033MHz FSB,ATX (link)
CPU: Intel Pentium Dual Core E2220 2.4GHz (800MHz), Socket 775, L2 1Mb Cache
GPU: XFX 9600GT 512Mb DDR3 PCI-E
RAM: 8Gb (4x2Gb) Kingston HyperX DDR2 800MHz (PC2-6400), Non-ECC CL5, 2V Unbuffered, Dimm 240 pin
PSU: Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 460W (RS-460-PAP-A3)
HDD: Seagate ST3500320AS 500GB, SATA II 7200rpm 32Mb Cache
Case: Cooler Master Elite 330 Black (with 1x 120mm rear fan, expelling air)
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium (64 bit), fully updated

The PSU came free with the Cooler Master case (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135101)

I hope to overclock the CPU up to 3.0GHz, or higher if stable, so plan on buying an aftermarket heatsink and fan to help improve the cooling. I also plan on adding a 120mm fan at the front, to intake air through the case. I have no experience in overclocking, so have no idea where to start and want to err on the side of caution before I risk damaging my main gaming PC which is now a year old and needs a boost. How suitable is my rig for overclocking? If anything had to be changed what would you recommend and how much is it likely to cost?

Ideally I need help changing the BIOS settings, to be given values to input, so the system runs stable 24/7 as I often leave it on for days (heavy use in the day and downloading files overnight). Also I would like to hear what aftermarket heatsinks and fans are recommended, currently I plan on spending about £30, but will go further if recommended. I believe that my GPU is SLI compliant and am wondering about the potential improvement from overclocking what I have or linking another similar GPU (although I have no idea whether I could with my MoBo, does the second GPU go in a 4x PCI-E slot?)

Sadly I am not able to access my PC currently, I am in Scotland working on a summer uni project and my PC is in Cornwall, so for now I want to get all the info needed before I go any further and actually try to overclock my system. I have programs such as CPU-z and CoreTemp but am unable to use them on the PC until I get back to Cornwall.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice that you can give and let me know if you need anymore information.

(I live in the UK so could any links to stores be ones that are for the UK, I have had experience with both Ebuyer and Overclockers UK and tend to find them the cheapest.)

greenbrucelee

how to overclock if you are new to overclocking / read here for starters

You are going to have to buy an aftermarket cooler and a better power supply, MSI mobos are not that good but you can still overclock but the cooler and psu are a must

Phædrus2401

I have an E2200 which is very similar to the E2220, and they make great overclockers. The E2220 is great because it has an x12 multiplier, so every time you increase the FSB by 10MHz the CPU speed goes up by 120MHz. That means that with FSB:270 (what I'm at now) you'd have a CPU speed of 3.24GHz, while I'm at 2.97GHz.

Now before you get all excited, Bruce there is right. Overclocking puts a lot of strain on the CPU, motherboard, and most importantly the power supply. Not only does the PSU need to deliver more power (in my case my CPU consumes 110w under max load instead of 65w) but it has to be *stable* power, with relatively little voltage or current fluctuation. The CoolerMaster eXtreme PSUs are crap and are known to have voltage fluctuation, and 460w is cutting it thin for what you have now. I would recommend a quality 550-650w PSU for your system if you want to overclock, the Corsair tx650w is on sale for $100 on Newegg.com.

You'll also need good cooling. A stock heatsink will support an overclock of only perhaps a 20MHz FSB increase, which would put you at 2.64GHz, an improvement but not an amazing one. If you want something on the cheap you could get the Arctic Freezer Pro 7, which is about ~$35 which would let you overclock up to maybe 3.12GHz before your temperatures started hitting the danger zone. If you want to spend $50-60 the Zalman 9700 and 9900 heatsinks and the Thermaltake V1 (what I'm using) are quite good and will let you overclock that CPU as high as it will go.

Finally, not all CPUs can overclock to the same extent. If the E2220 is in any way comparable to the E2200 you should be able to get an FSB increase to ~260MHz with no difficulty and up to 280MHz or higher with some tinkering. But you might only make it to 230MHz. There's no way to tell.

Finally, read the guide Bruce linked to, it's a good place to start.

jamiematthews88

Thanks for the responses, I have previously read the guides an plan on doing so before I actually try to overclock my system.

The new heatsink and PSU recommended would come to around £100-110, which goes a long way to buying a new Quad core CPU. For around £150-180 I could get a relatively good CPU, the Q6600 for example. So should I just focus on saving up for a new CPU in 6 months? I understand that a good PSU is important, but for a stock PC I have had no problems so far with the current one. Would it handle a Quad or does the PSU also need upgrading for that too?

Thanks :)

Phædrus2401

It might handle a quad, but again a new quality PSU would give a lot more stability to your system. You're a little underpowered as it is, and most of the Core 2 Quads have a TDP of 130w, as opposed to 65w for the Core 2 Duo/Pentium Dual Cores. Also, at present a fast-clocked dual core CPU is a lot better for gaming than a quad core since games don't use the extra cores at more than 5%. So if this is a gaming rig it would be wiser to overclock what you have now. However, if you're going to be using this as a workstation for programs like AutoCAD or Photoshop, a mid-range quad core would be a better choice.

I would seriously consider buying a new PSU whatever you do. What you have will work, probably, at least for six months to a year, but again you're already on the low side for what you have, and the CoolerMaster eXtream PSUs are not very good. If you put in a quad core CPU or overclock your current one (either will lead to similar load conditions) you stand a lot higher chance of wearing it out quickly, and if it decides to go explosively it can fry the rest of your system as it goes.

What you have is a fine CPU, and if overclocked it will run anything out there acceptably well (although I've noticed slowdowns in AutoCAD when running my E2200 at 2.97GHz). It all comes down to what your specific needs are.

greenbrucelee

you would be safer in doing so regardless of wether you go for core 2 quad or overclock this current system. Its safer to have a big margin (so you can upgrade in the future) rather than having small margin and risking computer death.

jamiematthews88

Well put, I do agree with what you are saying and I guess the PSU and heatsink will be good for future upgrades aswell. Personally I use consoles for gaming, but for some reason want to get back into MMORPG's (either Warhammer or Aion).

I think I will go for the overclock on the current system, once I upgrade the heatsink and PSU. Which heatsink is best out of the Zalman 9900 and the Thermaltake V1? I take it that it is safe to mount onto a MoBo which is in a tower (so vertical), they do look top heavy. Also will the heatsink come with new thermal paste or do I need to get some of that too? Plus what would be the best way of removing the current paste? I don't have anything to mind except paint stripper or soapy water currently, would be a pain just to buy the alcohol cleaner for one use.

Finally what about the SLI or overclocking of the GPU? Currently I find that the CPU is what is holding the PC back when it comes to keeping a high FPS in games, so I cannot tell how much the GPU is working/straining.

Phædrus2401

Either the 9900 or the V1 will work well, the 9900 is cheaper, has a larger fan, and reputedly has a more efficient design than the V1, so I'd go with that, though I haven't had an opportunity to compare the two. They will work fine in a tower case, you just have to make sure it's firmly attached, but they're well within the weight limit for your average motherboard.

They come with their own thermal grease, but I prefer to use Arctic Silver 5, it generally runs the CPU about 2-5C cooler than stock grease and it usually costs around US$8, call it 5-6 pounds.

Soap and water will damage the CPU, and a petroleum based product like paint stripper will stop the thermal grease from bonding to the CPU surface, as well as also potentially harm the CPU depending on its exact chemical make-up. You can get a bottle of plain 90+% isopropyl alcohol at your drugstore, along with some paper coffee filters, I find that works best for removing the old paste. Even if you only use the alcohol once to clean the CPU it's still handy to have around, I have my bottle in the medicine chest for cleaning cuts.

jamiematthews88

Just a quick update.

I have been looking at aftermarket coolers and have found that the Noctua NH-U12P (link) has slightly better reviews/results than the Zalman 9900. Would the Noctua be better and be compatible with my CPU? Also how does the Noctua and Zalman thermal compounds rate when compared to Arctic Silver 5?

Things I need to buy:
- Noctua/Zalman cooler
- 120mm case fan
- Corsair 650W TX PSU
- Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound (If the one with the cooler is not good enough)
- Thermal material remover.

I have seen "Arctic Silver ArctiClean" (link) and am wondering if the benefits that it claims over the isopropyl alcohol are worth it, after all I don't have much use for the alcohol after this apart from future overclocking.

EDIT: I have also seen reviews for Titan Fenrir TTC-NK85TZ, which supposedly outpermforms the Noctua cooler and is cheaper. How good is the Titan compared to the Noctua and Zalman aswell?

Thanks, sorry about being such a novice I just want to get the best fan possible seeing as they will all cost a similar price.

jamiematthews88

Sorry for the double post, the edit option isn't there for my last post.

After research on coolers the shortlist of possibles is:
- TRUE 120 (Thermalright Ultra eXtreme 120)
- Titan Fenrir TTC-NK85TZ
- Noctua NH-U12P
- Zalman 9900

I have seen mixed reviews and benchmarks for each of the coolers, but generally are rated best at the top of the list.

Which would be the best and most suitable (after all I need it to fit in my current case)? The Titan appears to be the best value, at only £30 compared to £40-45 for the other 3, but I am worried that it might not fit in my case.

Would the Titan be the smartest buy for me? A couple of degrees temperature difference does not mean much to me as I only plan on overclocking to stable and long-lasting levels.

Phædrus2401

I don't like the design on those other units, but they'll work fine. I haven't heard of Titan or True before, but they're almost identical in base design to the Noctua unit so I think they may all get them from the same manufacturer. I would prefer the Zalman because the heatsink is copper and thus will dissipate heat better, also it's a bit smaller. If you did go for one of the other three I would pick the Titan, partly because it's cheaper but also because it has eight heatpipes as opposed to six on the Noctua.

madmatt10583

The TRUE is a brilliant cooler. I have my Q9550 @4.01 and it tops out at 65 degrees on intel burn test. Really recomend.

jamiematthews88

What fan is best to run on it? I take it that you buy the 120mm fan seperately for that cooler, which adds cost.

madmatt10583

Any 120mm fan you want. The one i put on cost me about 5 quid. It's quiet and does the job. I'm not into the flashy led ones as i don't like my room lit up when i'm trying to sleep!

grimx133

Look for something with as much cfm and as low noise as you can find.
Scythe Slipstream, Noctua NF-P12, that sort.

jamiematthews88

UPDATE:

I have purchased the following products:
- Corsair 650W TX PSU
- Titan Fenrir Cooler
- Scythe Slip Stream 1200rpm (x2) case fans
- Acousti ultra-soft fan mounts
- Arctic Silver 5
- ArctiClean

I used ebuyer.co.uk and overclockers.co.uk, it all came to £142

I won't be able to do much with the components until I go back down to Cornwall, but will let you know when I do.

Thanks for all of the help .

madmatt10583

Nice one. Enjoy mate. I use ebuyer a lot.