How much of a performance boost should I expect?

I'm thinking of scrapping my K8V SE Deluxe MB and picking up the new DFI 754 MB.

I got in on the AMD 64 combo deal that included a K8V SE Deluxe MB, 3200+ Newcastle and Farcry.

Everything works at stock speeds, but if I try to nudge this MB over the manufacturer specs, bad things happen.

Right now I've got 2 512MB DIMMS of Buffalo Tech 3700 ( Micron 5B -C ) memory. I did have 2 512MB sticks of Corsair XMS BH-6 3200 memory, but I found that this ASUS MB had problems with the memory and everything was resolved when I switched to this Buffalo memory.

I haven't had a bit of trouble with this memory, but I'm not running it at it's rated speed either. I don't know what kind of performance I may or may not get out of it... I know some people had problems with theirs.

I'm NOT doing any volt mods or crazy **** like that, and I currently have no intention of upgrading the heatsink fan that came with this combo... I'd like to do watercooling one day, but not now.

Obviously nothing is guaranteed with overclocking, but I'm curious what kind of performance boost I might reasonably expect by picking up the new DFI board. Given my memory, CPU, and the only slot filled is my AGP slot with an ATI 9800 Pro (which should be irrelevant with the PCI/AGP locks).


I like tweaking my machines, but I'm not so sure the MB would be worth $150 in performance gain. I'd probably be better off putting that $150 towards one of the current generation video cards when they become more readily available.

Thanks!

p.s. I hate this ASUS K8V SE Deluxe. Coming from a Mobile XP/nForce2 combo, I feel almost completely locked and I can't push any of my componants.

I went from that ASUS board to the DFI. I have the BH6 that is problomatic, but it works great in the DFI (I know you don't have it anymore though). I'm running Prime95 @ 222x11 right now, 1.55V and no problems. The combo does, however, run a bit hot with this stock HS, even with the beta BIOS temp fix. First thing tomorrow I'm going to order a Thermalright HSF and a chipset cooler for it. If you want to push this board, you'll need to give it some more voltage, which will run too hot (IMO) for the stock fan.

The DFI board is $130 and you could sell your ASUS board for some money. If you are willing to upgrade the cooling, then go for it, otherwise I wouldn't really bother.

Thanks... exactly the kind of answer I was looking for. So, assuming that my current memory works well, I could probably get another 200Mhz from this CPU -- after that I'm going to need to upgrade my cooling.

It's so tempting, even if the performance gain doesn't justify the cost. For me, it's entertainment.

Thanks

I believe the temps for the N/Cs are still running to high, I get 56c idle with my N/C & 45c idle with my Clawhammer which is still kinda high . In my shuttle the same clawhammer runs 31c idle & I get a better overclock in my DFI which tells me its not running any hotter, so there may be temp reading problems with the DFI.

The DFI should by al means give you alot better performance than the board you have. I havnt seen the Bufflo mem in one yet but the board seems to be able to run any mem I have threw at it so far. It would shurely be able to max your mem out if it will run in this board. And also your CPU within the limits of your cooling.

So far there has been good results from most with this board & some with above expected performance.

I have the BH6 running 250 mem speed in mine which is hard to do. The DFI has many options in bios to allow one to get max performance out of what ever hardware you may have. And it has already takin a beating from me & still came back for more.

Jess1313