Overclocking Help

[Bubi]

Hi Guys,
I understand overclocking and how to do it. My question is will I benefit from it and is it worth it.

I play IL2 Forgotten Battles and my system ran the game super when I had the old monitor and ran at 1280X resolution. I could crank the graphics and she was smooth and real. I bought the new Samsung P2450 and she doesn't like to run at 1920 X 1080. The graphics card is an EVGA GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB GDDR5. So it should handle the game and the monitor. Here is the rest of the system,

MB is ASUS M2N-E AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 Ultra MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
CPU is AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Windsor 2.4GHz Socket AM2 89W Dual-Core
RAM is 4GB of G.SKILL 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800

I assume overclocking the RAM is no good since the MB doesn't recognize anything faster? How about the CPU. If I overclock the CPU how far can I go with the stock heat sink and will I gain anything from it? I'm thinking the CPU is my issue right now??? Is overclocking the BIOS the best or use one of the utilities that came with my MB?

Thoughts?? Thanks!

Bubi

 

[jameseboy]

I managed to get my 3800+ (2.0ghz stock) to 2.8 on the same motherboard and similar ram. And overclocking in your bios is most likely the best. Ive had a 460 running in mines, it works alright, but it does bottleneck it.

 

[manu2b]

IL 2 is cpu bound (like many flight sims).

Your GFX card is fine, at least for medium to high settings, and giving a 25/30% bump to your CPU speed will certainly help.

You won't go far with the stock heatsink. That's a unfortunately a fact.

A high end air aftermarket HSF is a good investment, as you will keep it through future upgrades.

And finally, +1 for overclocking in the BIOS.

 

[Bubi]

Good advice. I have not looked real deeply online about overclocking my CPU. I did see something noted someplace that it's not overclockable.....the black box versions are the only one that can be overclocked. Is that true?

Any advice on an affordable HSF? I did see a few 3.0GHZ CPU's that were pretty affordable. Maybe I should consider putting in a faster CPU? Would 3.0 balance my system out pretty well? RAM speed, GPU speec, and CPU speed???

Thanks again!!!!

 

[RGone]

When one begins to think of being cpu bound with a system tthat is likely over 4 years old in technology, it is time to move to a new platform in general. Back before the DFI forum closed in late 2010, there were many trying to find faster 939 cpus and the cost was just not good for those older cpus. Some of the fast 939 cpus cost more today than they did new or nearly so. Supply is short and maybe demand has been high and prices are now high.

I would certainly think about a complete system upgrade to a faster stock later cpu and DDR 3 ram and stay away from Nvidia chipset motherboards. Nvidia has not released any new updated chipsets in nearly 5 years now. They are living on lost lustre in the mobo chipset arena.

Most of my stuff is dated and if I were heavy into gaming, a new setup is about all I could do as well in the AMD lineup anyway. Good luck in your endeavors in whatever direction they take you.

 

[Bubi]

Hey James,
Did you overclock with the stock heatsink and Fan?

I've found a 3.0 GHz Athlon 64 X2 6000+ for about $45.00. I'm not sure what expense I'm looking at for an upgrade HSF....Is it better to just buy a 3.0 and run with it?

Bubi

 

[jameseboy]

I had a zalman cnps10x performa heatsink or my h100 on it.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Bubi you could always go with a Coolermaster Hyper 212 + or 212 evo, both are very affordable and very good heatsinks for the price.

 

[jameseboy]

the 212+ beats my cnps10x under the water. Its just superior in almost every aspect.

 

[Bubi]

Awesome. I did some looking around last night and found a few too. I can pick them up new in the box on e-bay pretty cheap. is the 212+ or evo the better of the two? Also, has anyone used this Arctic Freezer? It's in the same price range on ebay. here it is, http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/cpu/3/freezer-13.html?c=2181

Bubi

 

[jameseboy]

I know people who swear by those artic coolers. But its still go for the 212+ over it.

 

[Mandrake4565]

the 212 Evo is the newer model of the 212 + I believe it performs a little better then the 212+. I also read a couple of reviews for the Arctic freezer 13 and it didn't perform as well as the 212+.