Best Value Overclocking CPUs?

[Fetou]

I've been out of the desktop component market for a while and would love some suggestions on the best value overclocker processors right now. Only real requirement is 4 cores. Thanks

[masta121]

Best overclocker on a value?

The Intel i5 750/760 is only ~$200 and overclocks great. Easy to achieve 4GHZ+.

[lo3.explicit]

same with my i7920....stock 2.66 hits 4ghz pretty easy. i keep it 3.8 all day long though.

[Lusit]

i7 760 is a premiere overclocker. There's no real reason to get the 750 now that the 760 is out.

[madpistol]

For sheer overclocking value, as others, have said the i7 760 is the one to go for.

[smash]

same with my i7920....stock 2.66 hits 4ghz pretty easy. i keep it 3.8 all day long though.

Jeez, what kind of heatsink are you using? I don't know if it's my heatsink or what, but I have to run a lot of volts through mine to get it to 3.6Ghz and the temps are too hot for me to keep it at that speed.

Agreed on the 760, though.

[bes]

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2ghz - $154.99
AMD Phenom II x4 965 Black Edition 3.4ghz - $165.99

^^Both of those can OC to close to 4.0ghz or more depending on the motherboard

or if you really wanna go all out:

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition 3.2ghz - $290.00 --- 2 more cores than you wanted,but you can easily get 4.0ghz :D <---im running that one constantly at 4.0ghz or 3.7ghz all the time

AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8ghz - $200 ---- also 2 more cores than you wanted, and im told it can OC up to 4.0ghz as well even though its not a black edition..

[lo3.explicit]

Jeez, what kind of heatsink are you using? I don't know if it's my heatsink or what, but I have to run a lot of volts through mine to get it to 3.6Ghz and the temps are too hot for me to keep it at that speed.

Agreed on the 760, though.

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=1369616

Ive got it water cooled(swiftech loop dual 120mm rad). mid 30's idle, high 60's prime95 stable. never had it on air but ive heard its just as easily aircooled at this speed.

Revision makes a big difference. d0's which is what mine is overclocks better than the first revision did.

[smash]

Yeah, mine's a D0 and I'm using a Schythe Mugen 2. I must not have it sitting right.

[joemtnbike]

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2ghz - $154.99
AMD Phenom II x4 965 Black Edition 3.4ghz - $165.99

^^Both of those can OC to close to 4.0ghz or more depending on the motherboard

or if you really wanna go all out:

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition 3.2ghz - $290.00 --- 2 more cores than you wanted,but you can easily get 4.0ghz :D <---im running that one constantly at 4.0ghz or 3.7ghz all the time

AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8ghz - $200 ---- also 2 more cores than you wanted, and im told it can OC up to 4.0ghz as well even though its not a black edition..
So are you running it @ 3.7GHz or 4 GHz?
Better performance is achieved by bumping up the FSB vs. the clock multiplier

[Lachrymosity]

The Athlon X4 635 C3 revision is excellent from what I hear.

[wing0zero]

I've been out of the desktop component market for a while and would love some suggestions on the best value overclocker processors right now. Only real requirement is 4 cores. Thanks

If you go for a AMD Phenom II or a Intel i7 you would be happy with either, if it's just a gaming rig i would push you towards AMD there good enough for gaming and cost a bit less, and overclock quite well.

Jeez, what kind of heatsink are you using? I don't know if it's my heatsink or what, but I have to run a lot of volts through mine to get it to 3.6Ghz and the temps are too hot for me to keep it at that speed.

For a quick comparison i have my 930 @ 4.2, 1.325v, LLC level 2, Air Cooled, hits 70+ under stress tests but in games around 50/60 degrees.

There are some i7 9xx chips that wont reach the magic 4.0+ but they are pretty rare and it's unlucky if you landed one of them, iv'e had 4.6 stable but way too hot needs watercooling.

[Undead]

Doesn't an i5/i7 outperform AMD Phenom II x4 with 4GHz vs 4GHz?

[borg_7_of_9]

Doesn't an i5/i7 outperform AMD Phenom II x4 with 4GHz vs 4GHz?

My X9650 3G @3.2 out perform's my g/friend's new Amd build Phennom IIx4 955 @3.6 Ghz so a high I5, mid I7 should out do them easy!

Not sure if this would be the same if my Q9650 was running DDR2 though as I'm running DDR3 1600Mhz!

[wing0zero]

Doesn't an i5/i7 outperform AMD Phenom II x4 with 4GHz vs 4GHz?

Yes, also an i7 @ 4GHz will outperform a X6 @ 4GHz.

[Fetou]

Thanks for all the responses guys.

I'm leaning for the $200 Phenom II X6 1055T because if I can get good clock speeds on a six core processor with a cheap motherboard, I should be set.

My Core 2 Duo E6300 (lowest end first model) is still running at 2.8GHz from 1.86 after all these years and I got it below $200. I'm searching for the value successor.

Any objections to the 1055T or is this likely the ~$200 champ?

[lo3.explicit]

that cpu would def be ok. but i heard i7 prices will be dropping very shortly. some even by 50%? dont quote me on it but that was in another post i saw with a link.

[wing0zero]

You can get the i7 930 for $200 from a Microcenter but you would need another $200 minimum for a Motherboard, but with AMD you can get a good motherboard for around $100 like the MSI 790X-G45 AM3 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130249).

But if you wanted a Nvidia GPU with the option for SLI in the future i would go with a Intel build.

[superdog_5678]

Jeez, what kind of heatsink are you using? ...the temps are too hot for me to keep it at that speed.

Your temps depend on motherboard, thermal paste, case/fans, and heatsink. I have aircooled Coolermaster 1000 and as follows:

The heatsink is a Vigor Monsoon III.

I run constant and stable with my i920 at 3.65 on an Asus P6T Deluxe V2.
On the P6T Deluxe it ran at 3.8 or so with the same cpu.

You also need a high-end thermal paste.
I used the Diamond stuff on the Deluxe and ran under 60C gaming load. On the V2 I used CoolerMaster Thermal Fusion 400 and it still runs under 60 C.

(it runs much lower than 60 C but some won't believe it so I said 60)

[bes]

So are you running it @ 3.7GHz or 4 GHz?
Better performance is achieved by bumping up the FSB vs. the clock multiplier

I switch between 3.7 and 4.0 all the time...currently im at 3.7GHZ..
Air cooled btw ..get around 85/90F idle using the ASUS PC Probe(speccy shows it at about 66F), 115F max load all 6-cores with ASUS PC Probe(speccy shows it at about 78F..lol)..

All other motherboard temps around 90F with ASUS PC Probe..

[Bugs Bunny]

Any objections to the 1055T or is this likely the ~$200 champ?

it's a sweet cpu, i've heard of a few hitting 4.2GHz (http://www.overclock.net/amd-cpus/720502-1055t-owners-club.html) on air/water...

[joemtnbike]

I switch between 3.7 and 4.0 all the time...currently im at 3.7GHZ..
Air cooled btw ..get around 85/90F idle using the ASUS PC Probe(speccy shows it at about 66F), 115F max load all 6-cores with ASUS PC Probe(speccy shows it at about 78F..lol)..

All other motherboard temps around 90F with ASUS PC Probe..

Why switch back and forth? Why not just leave it a 4.0 all of the time?

[bes]

Why switch back and forth? Why not just leave it a 4.0 all of the time?

Issues keeping the room temperature at 65/70F all the time, because we have some sort of weird hybrid condenser cooler that doesnt always work right to cool the house ..lol..

And every time I get it set right my wife keeps turning it off..lol

[Kibblesman]

I have had no problems with my i5 750, I have it overclocked to 3.39ghz, and it runs REALLY fast and stable.

Only reason why I got a i5 750 build is that I couldn't live with my Dell XPS 400 any longer.

EDIT: Bes, have you tried like 3.85ghz?

[Fetou]

I'm Thuban bound. I'll let you know how the OC turns out.

[MalthViking.]

phenom 2 with an unlocked multi is the way to go. 6 core cpu btw, is rather unnecessary at this time.

[Fetou]

phenom 2 with an unlocked multi is the way to go. 6 core cpu btw, is rather unnecessary at this time.
Clock speeds aren't the only thing in the equation. I'd rather have a slightly lower clock speed with the default multiplier and push the FSB and Memory more.

I try to buy to avoid upgrading. I bought an E6300 for under $200 when they were brand new and overclocked it over 50% of it's stock clock speed (2.8 from 1.86GHz). I feel like I hit the value point perfectly there and hopefully the extra two cores in time (say five years) will help me out vs. an unlocked multiplier.

[Cpt Eks]

If you have a good LGA775 motherboard, I would suggest getting a q6600. I got one for around 120$ a couple of months ago. I run it overclocked at 3.6 ghz (2.4 stock) which gives me fantastic performance in all games.

The thing is, you need a good MB + PSU to unlock the true potential of those 65mm chips...

[General Jameson]

Just my thinking. Do not shop for a CPU that has good overclocking potential. What I mean is get a CPU that will be able to do what you want at stock speeds. Then if it will overclock just consider it a added bonus.

Every chip is different and will have its limits. I would not buy a chip in hoping it can attain performance I really want or need with a overclock. I would just look to the next powerful thing and build around that.

If you are looking at AMD look at Black edition CPU, much easier to attain high clock speeds. Unlocked multiplier really help tweak the system. The Phenom II x6 1055t is not a Black Edition and you will have to have some good RAM and hope the IMC is up to the overclock.

[Fetou]

Well I got the rig set up and it's amazing. The 2.8GHz stock speed was easily increased to 3.6 on first boot and have't had an issue. Going to try to push for 3800-4000MHz territory.

AMD is providing some really good value right now. I'm happy with my new rig.

[Lachrymosity]

Make sure you overclock your NB/memory a bit. Anandtech did some testing recently and the P2s start trouncing all over the i7s per CPU clock at overclocked NB speeds.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3877/asrock-890fx-deluxe-full-review-and-an-investigation-of-thuban-performance-scaling/7

[Amun]

I'm having a blast overclocking my phenom II 955. It was about $140 when I bought it and it will go to 4GHz at a reasonable temp. with a tuniq tower extreme 120.

[mmstick]

The Phenom II X6 1055T and 1090T overclocks well for only $200. You can easily reach 4.2GHz with an air cooler on all cores. The stock cooler can reach a reasonable 3.5GHz but anything higher should use a better cooling device.

[Undead]

The Phenom II X6 1055T and 1090T overclocks well for only $200. You can easily reach 4.2GHz with an air cooler on all cores. The stock cooler can reach a reasonable 3.5GHz but anything higher should use a better cooling device.

Higher clock speed doesn't always mean better.
Phenom II X6 @ 4.2GHz would be compared to my i7 860 @ 3.5GHz...

[bes]

Higher clock speed doesn't always mean better.
Phenom II X6 @ 4.2GHz would be compared to my i7 860 @ 3.5GHz...

As usual, it doesnt matter for gaming performance, and all the benchmarks are wrong vs the 1090T if it doesnt beat all CPU's except the 980X...

Those are the legit ones... its been mentioned before that Intel code being run on AMD CPU's will cause the benchmarks to be lower for AMD vs Intel, if the code isnt optimized for either CPU and/or is optimized for both then the results would show that AMD CAN and will keep up with Intel..

The AMD 6-core can and SHOULD keep up or beat all Intel Quad-core CPU's ..regardless if the Intel CPU has hyperthreading or not..

[Undead]

As usual, it doesnt matter for gaming performance, and all the benchmarks are wrong vs the 1090T if it doesnt beat all CPU's except the 980X...

Those are the legit ones... its been mentioned before that Intel code being run on AMD CPU's will cause the benchmarks to be lower for AMD vs Intel, if the code isnt optimized for either CPU and/or is optimized for both then the results would show that AMD CAN and will keep up with Intel..

The AMD 6-core can and SHOULD keep up or beat all Intel Quad-core CPU's ..regardless if the Intel CPU has hyperthreading or not..

Only when it's overclocked and compared to a stock i7 would it beat it....

1090T can be comparable to most i7s, but the 1055T is pretty bad imo. Even then, and since you can get the 930 at roughly the same price as the 1090T, might as well get the 930 and be better stock-vs-stock... :)

Both will overclock extremely well and are really good for gaming.
Just a matter of preference really.

[mmstick]

Higher clock speed doesn't always mean better.
Phenom II X6 @ 4.2GHz would be compared to my i7 860 @ 3.5GHz...

What are you inferring? I said nothing of architecture. Phenom II X6 1055T @ 4.2GHz is better than Phenom II X6 @ 2.8GHz correct? And the 1055T is not bad, the 1055T is a 1090T with a locked multiplier. That doesn't mean it cant be overclocked. A Phenom II X6 1055T at the same clock frequencies as the 1090T is faster than the 1090T because other components can also be overclocked such as HT Link and NB which are very important for the X6. People don't realize how much the HT link effects the X6. And many don't understand what the NB frequency does. And a Phenom II X6 overclocked to 4.2GHz can be just as fast as a stock clocked Core i7 980x.

So same speed for 1/5th the cost.