CPU & motherboard advice

[DDY]

I'm looking for the cheapest CPU and motherboard combo capable of performance similar or better than a Q6600 @ 3.2GHz in single threaded applications. Needless to say, overclocking is a necessity in this situation, a good overclocking board and CPU is vital.

I need said CPU and motherboard to build a rig to run processor intensive software, it's pretty old and not SMP capable. I don't mind going the Intel or AMD route so long as it's cheap.

Cheers,

[MSIC]

I can't think of any single core CPU which would be as good, although i'm sure a good dual core would do the job. Is your app cache sensitive?

[DDY]

You're right, dual core is probably the only option. I 'think' what I'm running is cache sensitive but not certain.

[MSIC]

So probably one of the Intel C2D's? A 7000 series maybe? They clock well.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would say an E5200 will do the job if overclocking will be involved.

This thread will be of use to you:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/sho...php?t=17929621

[DDY]

Any suggestions for cheap motherboards capable of taking a C2D FSB to 400MHz?

[MSIC]

I'd favour one of the good Gigabytes, and almost certainly a P45 chipset, although perhaps wouldnt exclude a P35 if budget was a concern.
You dont need any ridicolous cooling on the motherboard though, they all seem to clock well.

The Gigabyte EP45-DS3L is under £85, but in truth i reckon a P43 based one for under £65 would do almost the same job.

The Intel E5200 is on Today Only for under £55.

I take it that to get really good overclocking, you also know which heatsink/fan you want?

[DDY]

I've got everything else sorted, sold my gaming rig a a few months ago and in the time between then and now I've feel out of touch with the latest. I had a secondary rig which I also regretably sold with the same build idea as I do now, sporting a P31-DS3, E5200 @ 3.2GHz, but the E5200's gone up in price and the P31-DS3's discontinued.

Is there a specific value overclocker, like the P31-DS3 around?

[GSte]

Any suggestions for cheap motherboards capable of taking a C2D FSB to 400MHz?

If you're getting an E5200 you won't need to hit 400FSB mate, around 300 should be sufficient to hit it's max clock, that's the beauty of them, so high-end motherboards aren't a necessity as they have a 12.5x multi.

http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/user-...pu-review.html


Great chips for the money.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would go for the Gigabyte GA-EP43-S3L too:

http://www.scan.co.uk/product.aspx?ProductId=27951