Overclocking Results
It is important to state that in all cases we are using the stock retail heatsinks (except with the simulated X2 3800+, which used a Zalman CNPS9500). Again, adding a nice aftermarket cooling solution might improve overclocking results a bit, but for the extra $30-$50 you could simply upgrade to a faster processor instead. Here are the overclocking results we achieved as well as the settings that were used. We tried for 100 MHz increments on the CPU overclock, so if we could get a system running at 2.5 GHz but not 2.6 GHz, we stopped at 2.5 GHz. With additional time and effort, we could improve the final results and increase performance a few percent, but searching for the elusive last 3%-5% is beyond the scope of this article. (CPU speeds are approximate to within 10 MHz -- slight differences between the specified bus speed and the actual bus speed can affect clock speed slightly.)
Starting with the percent overclocks achieved, the two Sempron offerings tie for first place with a 39% overclock when using the budget motherboards (we were able to get a 50% overclock with the Sempron AM2 using the Gigabyte nForce 590 SLI motherboard), while the Pentium D 805 falls behind with "only" a 35% overclock. However, getting a 35% overclock out of a budget dual core platform is in some ways more impressive than a 40% overclock of a single core CPU. If you happen to run applications that take advantage of multiple processors, you can probably already guess that the Pentium D 805 is going to easily beat anything that the two Sempron platforms can put up in SMP-aware benchmarks. It's also important to note that the Pentium D would actually load Windows at 3.8 GHz and POST at up to 4.0 GHz. Better cooling (and a better power supply) would have almost certainly allowed a higher overclock, but as mentioned for the price you may as well start with a better CPU.
The Sempron systems were far less likely to POST at higher overclocks, at least with the budget motherboards. The Biostar TForce AM2 motherboard in particular hit a brick wall with a HyperTransport bus speed of 280 MHz; below that it would POST, but above that it required the use of the CMOS clear jumper to get the motherboard back online. Given our experience with other AM2 motherboards, we would venture to guess that a BIOS update could improve the Biostar motherboard. However, we are currently using the latest Biostar TForce 550 BIOS, and the motherboard has been available for about six weeks now. Hopefully, Biostar will release an improved BIOS for the motherboard that addresses performance and overclocking, but we don't make purchase recommendations based on hope.
In terms of ease of overclocking, the Biostar TForce4U-775 was actually the most difficult system to deal with. The difficulty wasn't so much in actual capability, but more in terms of understanding the BIOS options. We ended up using "expert" mode for the bus and memory settings, then we specified a front side bus value of 720 MHz and a memory speed of 540-720 MHz dependent on which memory was used. CPU-Z doesn't always report the correct memory speed on the motherboard, which caused some confusion on our part. For example, the 720 FSB speed and 720 MHz memory speed shows up in CPU-Z as a 1:1 memory ratio and a 360 MHz memory speed. However, benchmarks confirm that the memory is indeed running at a 1:2 ratio.
So now we've set the stage with the processors used and the overclocks achieved. Let's find out how things shake down in the actual benchmarks. We have run most of our typical motherboard benchmarks, and all benchmarking was conducted at 1280x1024 resolution with settings appropriate for a midrange graphics card, with the exception of 3DMark03/05 which were run at the default 1024x768.
It is important to state that in all cases we are using the stock retail heatsinks (except with the simulated X2 3800+, which used a Zalman CNPS9500). Again, adding a nice aftermarket cooling solution might improve overclocking results a bit, but for the extra $30-$50 you could simply upgrade to a faster processor instead. Here are the overclocking results we achieved as well as the settings that were used. We tried for 100 MHz increments on the CPU overclock, so if we could get a system running at 2.5 GHz but not 2.6 GHz, we stopped at 2.5 GHz. With additional time and effort, we could improve the final results and increase performance a few percent, but searching for the elusive last 3%-5% is beyond the scope of this article. (CPU speeds are approximate to within 10 MHz -- slight differences between the specified bus speed and the actual bus speed can affect clock speed slightly.)
| AMD Sempron 754 System | ||
| Stock Setting | Overclocked Setting (39%) | |
| HyperTransport Speed | 200 MHz | 278 MHz |
| HyperTransport Multiplier | 5X | 3X |
| CPU Multiplier | 9X | 9X |
| CPU Speed | 1800 MHz | 2500 MHz |
| Memory Ratio | DDR-400 | DDR-400 |
| Actual Memory Speed | DDR-400 | DDR-556 |
| Memory Timings | 2-3-2-10-2T | 2.5-3-3-10-2T |
| CPU Voltage | 1.350 V | 1.550 V |
| Memory Voltage | 2.800 V | 2.800 V |
| AMD Sempron AM2 System | ||
| Stock Setting | Overclocked Setting (50%) | |
| HyperTransport Speed | 200 MHz | 300 MHz (278 MHz Biostar) |
| HyperTransport Multiplier | 5X | 4X |
| CPU Multiplier | 9X | 9X |
| CPU Speed | 1800 MHz | 2700 MHz (2500 MHz Biostar) |
| Memory Ratio | DDR2-800 | DDR2-533 |
| Actual Memory Speed | DDR2-720 | DDR2-772 (DDR2-714 Biostar) |
| Memory Timings | 4-4-4-12-2T | 4-4-4-12-2T |
| CPU Voltage | 1.350 V | 1.550 V |
| Memory Voltage | 2.100 V | 2.100 V |
| Intel Budget System | ||
| Stock Setting | Overclocked Setting (35%) | |
| Front Side Bus Speed | 533 MHz | 720 MHz |
| CPU Multiplier | 20X | 20X |
| CPU Speed | 2667 MHz | 3600 MHz |
| Memory Ratio | DDR2-667 (2:5) | DDR2-720 (1:2) |
| Actual Memory Speed | DDR2-667 | DDR2-720 |
| Memory Timings | 4-4-4-12-2T | 4-4-4-12-1T |
| CPU Voltage | 1.125 V | 1.400 V |
| Memory Voltage | 2.100 V | 2.100 V |
| Simulated AMD X2 3800+ AM2 System | ||
| Stock Setting | Overclocked Setting (30%) | |
| HyperTransport Speed | 200 MHz | 260 MHz |
| HyperTransport Multiplier | 5X | 5X |
| CPU Multiplier | 10X | 10X |
| CPU Speed | 1800 MHz | 2600 MHz |
| Memory Ratio | DDR2-800 | DDR2-533 |
| Actual Memory Speed | DDR2-720 | DDR2-650 |
| Memory Timings | 4-4-4-12-2T | 4-4-4-12-1T |
| CPU Voltage | 1.350 V | 1.500 V |
| Memory Voltage | 2.100 V | 2.100 V |
Starting with the percent overclocks achieved, the two Sempron offerings tie for first place with a 39% overclock when using the budget motherboards (we were able to get a 50% overclock with the Sempron AM2 using the Gigabyte nForce 590 SLI motherboard), while the Pentium D 805 falls behind with "only" a 35% overclock. However, getting a 35% overclock out of a budget dual core platform is in some ways more impressive than a 40% overclock of a single core CPU. If you happen to run applications that take advantage of multiple processors, you can probably already guess that the Pentium D 805 is going to easily beat anything that the two Sempron platforms can put up in SMP-aware benchmarks. It's also important to note that the Pentium D would actually load Windows at 3.8 GHz and POST at up to 4.0 GHz. Better cooling (and a better power supply) would have almost certainly allowed a higher overclock, but as mentioned for the price you may as well start with a better CPU.
The Sempron systems were far less likely to POST at higher overclocks, at least with the budget motherboards. The Biostar TForce AM2 motherboard in particular hit a brick wall with a HyperTransport bus speed of 280 MHz; below that it would POST, but above that it required the use of the CMOS clear jumper to get the motherboard back online. Given our experience with other AM2 motherboards, we would venture to guess that a BIOS update could improve the Biostar motherboard. However, we are currently using the latest Biostar TForce 550 BIOS, and the motherboard has been available for about six weeks now. Hopefully, Biostar will release an improved BIOS for the motherboard that addresses performance and overclocking, but we don't make purchase recommendations based on hope.
In terms of ease of overclocking, the Biostar TForce4U-775 was actually the most difficult system to deal with. The difficulty wasn't so much in actual capability, but more in terms of understanding the BIOS options. We ended up using "expert" mode for the bus and memory settings, then we specified a front side bus value of 720 MHz and a memory speed of 540-720 MHz dependent on which memory was used. CPU-Z doesn't always report the correct memory speed on the motherboard, which caused some confusion on our part. For example, the 720 FSB speed and 720 MHz memory speed shows up in CPU-Z as a 1:1 memory ratio and a 360 MHz memory speed. However, benchmarks confirm that the memory is indeed running at a 1:2 ratio.
So now we've set the stage with the processors used and the overclocks achieved. Let's find out how things shake down in the actual benchmarks. We have run most of our typical motherboard benchmarks, and all benchmarking was conducted at 1280x1024 resolution with settings appropriate for a midrange graphics card, with the exception of 3DMark03/05 which were run at the default 1024x768.
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JarredWalton - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
I'd be more inclined to drop to a 3200+ and spend the money for a 7900 GT if you're looking for gaming performance. Get that with one of the 570SLI boards (yeah, there goes the budget) and maybe 2x1024MB of DDR2-667. That'd be a nice mid-range config.Avalon - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
I've also had good luck with Apex/Allied case/PSU combos. Bought several a couple years ago for some AXP systems, and they're still going strong. Generic isn't always bad. Just powmax ;)DrMrLordX - Tuesday, July 11, 2006 - link
Sadly, the Apex case + PSU combo I got for my current system didn't work out well at all PSU-wise. I got the Apex TU-124 and it came with a dinky little 350W PSU that I immediately removed from the case and replaced with my old Antec Smartpower 400W PSU. The Antec had previously been in my 1 ghz Tbird rig and is still running, while the PSU from the Apex case went into my Tbird rig when I upgraded. I later gave away the Tbird, only for the system to die after about 6-8 months of operation in new hands. The Tbird was put together in early 2001, and can you guess what component died after I gave it away? The PSU.I'm not sure what it was about that Tbird rig, but it killed two generic PSUs (the original that came with the case I bought for it and the one from the Apex case I bought in March 2005). The Antec PSU, however, worked just fine. I got that one back in 2004 or so when Antec was still putting out PSUs with high marks for reliability.
Operandi - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
"Generic case with iCute 400W PSU (Purchased Locally)"Generic PSUs and cases should never be recommended, particularly PSUs. Reliability is not something you can benchmark with one sample in six months time. If you can't afford a $50 InWin, Evercase, or entry level Antec case along with a $30-50 Forton-Source PSU you should probably be shopping at Dell or HP which will almost certainly get you more reliable machine.
I believe AOpen cases are still shipping with Fortons built in, so that would be a very good choice. Antec case PSU/bundles while not the best are fairly decent and that really should be the entry level even for a low budget machine, not generic garbage.
johnsonx - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
I do grow tired of the Power Supply snobs. Yes, yes, we all know that there are some really lousy power supplies out there bundled with cheap cases. There are also many perfectly good power supplies bundled with cheap cases. For the purpose herein, *most* generic power supplies will work just fine.Anyone looking for a low-cost case that comes bundled with a reasonably good power supply, check out Athenatech:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Subm...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...rchInDes...
I've used several of these cases, including quite a number of the MicroATX cases which include Sparkle power supplies.
mindless1 - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
There are snobs and then there are SNOBS.Fact is, we dont' actually have sufficient data about longevity of generic PSU with modern, higher wattage system configs. That your 4 year old box has now 4 years running off a different generic is no evidence that another generic will run a modern system pulling 50% more current.
DrMrLordX - Tuesday, July 11, 2006 - link
Sparkle is hardly generic, though. Those are rebranded Fortrons.mesyn191 - Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - link
Yup, FSP/Sparkle are quality PSU's that are cheap. Inwin aint' bad either.OP is really a PSU snob he just doesn't know it!!
JarredWalton - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
Cases are something you can go out and grab whatever you really want; I bought this locally because that was convenient 6 months ago. Sorry if this isn't clear, but the case/PSU was listed for disclosure purposes. Yes, there are better choices, but that's what was used for these benchmarks. Fotron Source would be a great choice for a 400W-500W PSU that would certainly be better than the iCute I used. I hoped people would understand that the configurations were a look at some available parts and not a specific recommendation, i.e. get a different GPU than the XFX, possibly different RAM, the Tforce 550 has some performance issues right now....Basically, I built three budget platforms that more or less were priced similarly, and looked at how they compare in terms of performance. Out of the three, I'd take the PD805 for my purposes. Makes a nice addition to a folding farm. :)
CSMR - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
The title says budget PC, but the article makes clear it is a "budget gaming system" that is being talked about. So the title should be changed to budget gaming system or budget gaming PC.