Core 2 Duo E6300 - The Next Overclocking King

[liqnit]

as it look from this article (http://hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=2014&cid=2&pg=1)

the statement is very clear .
the E6300 without too much OC can kill any other CPU.

price is ~ US$190

and on a smaller scale the new Sempron
a small OC prince... read on (http://eclipseoc.com/index.php?id=3,67,0,0,1,0)

It certainly seems that adding Semprons to the AM2 lineup was a wise choice. While Intel's Core 2 Duo may provide impossibly amazing performance, the cheapest model is around $225-250. Ontop of that, the boards that currently support C2D are expensive. For the overclocker on a budget, the 3400+ and a decent AM2 board weighs in under $200. This is truely something that is amazing, and had it not been for C2D's looming figure, the AM2 Semprons just might have become the next 2.4C's and s939 Opterons of the overclocking world.

[zachig]

WOW!!! It seems that this new Core Duo E6300 is a serious KILLER :twisted:

Too bad that the mobos to support it are pretty expensive...:(

Anyway, I've never been Intel fan, but this Sempron is also very surprising...:wink:

Thanks for the info, liqnit...:mrgreen:

[zachig]

Oh...I've found some more new info on the E6300 as well as on the E6400 Core 2 Duo CPUs:


Gamepc pays tribute to the E6400 and the E6300 Core2 Duo from the Intel family of processors. The results are beyond any doubt when it comes to benchmarks. The E6400 costs less than the 4600+ for example but manages to beat in in nearly every configuration and comes very close to the FX62, which costs three times more. In a matter of months, AMD's range of processors swapped place with Intel's. Not so long ago it was the infamous EE range that was rilled and ridiculed by the x2 range. Not only that, the chip overclocks wonderfully well and runs extra cool. Now I'd be glad if someone can explain to me why we should not buy that chip - except for motherboard problems. Read about it HERE (http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=c2le&page=13).

Anandtech has an interesting comparison in one of its articles. The Core2 Duo against the Core Duo. As one can expect, going from one core to two cores makes a small job of processing chores - pun intended. As Intel increased performance, battery life did not decrease at all. But as Core2 Duo laptops are gradually filling up the market and pushing out the Core ones, you will simply end up with Core2 Duo laptops by default. Read about it HERE (http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2808).

[liqnit]

as they say the E6300 is the KING .
low price great OC
only drawback expensive MB

[werty316]

Get a cheap CPU and OC'd the heck out of it; thats what I follow when I buy a CPU.

[vfrex]

Wow, that's inspiring. I'll be trying to OC my AM2 Sempron 3000 in a few hours 8)

[liqnit]

Wow, that's inspiring. I'll be trying to OC my AM2 Sempron 3000 in a few hours 8)
good luck
keep us posted
hope you will manage to get that high OC

[Kougar]

Hey Zachig, the first link in your second post is messed up. ;)

Also, if you haven't seen it Anandtech as a Allendale overclocking review (http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2802)... People over on XtremeSystems are getting anywhere from 2.2ghz to 3ghz with them, the sweet spot appears to be 2.4ghz to 2.8ghz. Since the cache halving has only a minimal impact, a little extra mhz will make up for any missing performance comapred to the Conroe cores... :)

Okay, and I have to admit I'm feeling quite happy right now, they used the same exact board in that hardwarezone article that I've ordered to replace the ASrock that arrived damaged from NewEgg. :-D I so wish I'd paid for 2 day shipping now... :roll:

[zachig]

Hey Zachig, the first link in your second post is messed up. ;)
FIXED!!! It should be OK now...:wink:

Okay, and I have to admit I'm feeling quite happy right now, they used the same exact board in that hardwarezone article that I've ordered to replace the ASrock that arrived damaged from NewEgg. :-D I so wish I'd paid for 2 day shipping now... :roll:
I'm happy for you and really hope you'll manage to get a decent overclock...:grin:
Hopefully, you'll get your new mobo soon...and don't forget to update us with your overclocking results...GOOD LUCK :mrgreen:

[Kougar]

Whoa, I just now thought to even check the Revision and Stepping of their "magic" Allendale over at the hardwarezone, and it's a genuiine, rare, retail B2 Stepping Revision 6 and not another ES Revision 5.

Thanks Zachig! :-D Upon paying a little closer inspection they tested with the GA-965P-DQ6, while claiming both the DQ6 and DS3 both attained ~480FSB speeds. I got the cheaper DS3, but judging by some other personal experiences I'm pretty eager to give it a shot, this time with some good, solid parts!

[liqnit]

Whoa, I just now thought to even check the Revision and Stepping of their "magic" Allendale over at the hardwarezone, and it's a genuiine, rare, retail B2 Stepping Revision 6 and not another ES Revision 5.

Thanks Zachig! :-D Upon paying a little closer inspection they tested with the GA-965P-DQ6, while claiming both the DQ6 and DS3 both attained ~480FSB speeds. I got the cheaper DS3, but judging by some other personal experiences I'm pretty eager to give it a shot, this time with some good, solid parts!
Keep us posted with the results
you should have some great OC at no time by judjing from all the reviews

[vfrex]

No luck on my overclock. Most likely doing something wrong :p

[dukeman]

i just got my opty 165 and i already want to sell it for one of those beasts. what sucks is you have to buy new mb and memory.

[Kougar]

No luck on my overclock. Most likely doing something wrong :p

Make a thread & post the specs... ;) One person on Anandtech's BBS posted screenies of his BIOS settings on a Gigabyte DS3 for a 400FSB+ OC with a E6300, which apparently did the trick for a bunch of others in that thread. XtremeSystem's is an even better place to get some info... to tweak your OCs :)

[zachig]

Yeah, your should post your overclock/BIOS settings, then maybe we can help you out...:roll::wink:

[vfrex]

Guys, the thread was already there before Kougar posted 8)

[zachig]

Guys, the thread was already there before Kougar posted 8)

Oops...sorry :wink:

[harry18]

yea, ive got this feeling that i can push my core a lil further, i shouldnt have gottten the p5w deluxe, i think on XS the tested it with a e6300 and it wont go past 3ghz :(

[Chakka]

Hey guys Im not going to upgrade this year but I keep reading about the E6600 is the one to get because of the 4mb of l2 cache.

Is there much of a real world performance difference between 2mb of l2 cache or 4mb of l2 cache?

[werty316]

Hey guys Im not going to upgrade this year but I keep reading about the E6600 is the one to get because of the 4mb of l2 cache.

Is there much of a real world performance difference between 2mb of l2 cache or 4mb of l2 cache?

For the extra $200, I would say no; you are looking at 5% or so; you can OC the E6300 and E6400 to some serious speeds.

[Kougar]

Hey guys Im not going to upgrade this year but I keep reading about the E6600 is the one to get because of the 4mb of l2 cache.

Is there much of a real world performance difference between 2mb of l2 cache or 4mb of l2 cache?

There is about a 2-8% performance difference, 10% best case I think. Because most motherboards are limited in the FSB overclock area the E6300 and E6400 will not always get over 3ghz. Any GOOD motherboard can do a 400FSB though, and paired with a E6600 that is about the best OC you can aim for, 3.6ghz to 4ghz would be what a P5w-dh and a E6600 can do. Anandtech recommends the cache, and honestly so would I.

[werty316]

Why didn't you get a E6600 then? I see it as if you have the money to spend get a E6600 but if not a E6400/E6300 will be just fine with and an OC at around 2.7-3.0GHz is damn worth the price for the 2MB cache..

[Kougar]

Why didn't you get a E6600 then? I see it as if you have the money to spend get a E6600 but if not a E6400/E6300 will be just fine with and an OC at around 2.7-3.0GHz is damn worth the price for the 2MB cache..


At the time they didn't exist anywhere, and the couple places that did get them would price gouge them to the point it would be cheaper to buy a E6700 outright. You can still find E6600's going for over $400, way far above the MSRP. The difference between a E6300 and any E6600's I did happen to eventually find at the time was enough that I could buy two E6300s for one E6600. :-P

It's a rough estimate off the top of my head, but I think a 200-300mhz increase will offset any advantage the cache can provide in a best case scenario. Although I sure as heck didn't see myself getting 3.6ghz overclocks with mine when I bought it either...

I should add that it isn't for a lack of Intel trying. The demand for the E6600 in particular is so great that retailers that restock it sell out again within a mere handful of hours. If I didn't delete the email notifications I could prove it, although other forums are still full of "Conroe/Allendale" sighted at good prices threads if you search for them. ClubIT has restocked so many times I couldn't even guess at the number... Frys sold out twice that I know of but they were late to the game, ZZF is at least more than 4 times for the E6600 alone, and is currently out again... need I go on? ;)

[Ski]

Just doing my first piece of overclocking here (that's a *warning* to any reader!). I'm using:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
2 * 1 GB of GEIL PC6400 memory certified for 800 MHz
Gigabyte 965-DS3 MoBo
Seasonic 500W Power Supply
Zalman 9500 cooler

As an overclocking newbie it was a piece of cake to get to a stable 2.3GHz system...just up the FSB to 333MHz and up the VCore to 1.3V and it just works.

However, my target is 2.8GHz, and just about everything I've read points to the CPU being able to deliver that as long as I find the right tweaks. So I've tried setting the FSB to 400MHz and upping Vcore a bit further...to no effect. The system doesn't even boot, just seems to bring itself to the POST and then shuts itself down, resetting the BIOS parms to defaults in the process...then boots itself normally.

Can anyone give me a few hints as to what to tweak next please?

Thanks in hope....

[Vaerilis]

Try setting the VFSB and VMCH to +0.1V, don't change the VCORE, the E6300 should reach 2.8GHz at stock voltage.

[eko]

Unfortunately, I spent too much money for the rig I bought last year, so I can't afford to spend another 5-600 dollars for another computer now.
Hope that the next contest here will be for a Conroe processor and a motherboard :))
I will get it then!
Good luck to all fellow overclockers, from now. I managed to get a 3200+ to 2500 stable, but the memory modules are only Geil Value...

[Kougar]

Just doing my first piece of overclocking here (that's a *warning* to any reader!). I'm using:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
2 * 1 GB of GEIL PC6400 memory certified for 800 MHz
Gigabyte 965-DS3 MoBo
Seasonic 500W Power Supply
Zalman 9500 cooler

As an overclocking newbie it was a piece of cake to get to a stable 2.3GHz system...just up the FSB to 333MHz and up the VCore to 1.3V and it just works.

However, my target is 2.8GHz, and just about everything I've read points to the CPU being able to deliver that as long as I find the right tweaks. So I've tried setting the FSB to 400MHz and upping Vcore a bit further...to no effect. The system doesn't even boot, just seems to bring itself to the POST and then shuts itself down, resetting the BIOS parms to defaults in the process...then boots itself normally.

Can anyone give me a few hints as to what to tweak next please?

Thanks in hope....

Okay, a few things first off! If you have not already done so, you need to be using the official F4 BIOS, or in the very least the earlier beta F4e. The Current F4 is available on their website.

Next, what did you set your Memory multiplier at? You should have it at "2" otherwise your RAM will quickly go way out of specs.

You shouldn't need to be changing the FSB or MCH voltages at all, I still have left both of mine at stock as they just are not doing anything and not needed at a "mere" 3.33ghz. If you change either of these you will need active cooling on your chipset heatsinks... and the stock Intel cooler really isn't worth using at 2.8ghz, I hope you got yourself an aftermarket cooler? ;)

[Ski]

Thanks Kougar for the information in response to my earlier post about getting my E6300 stable at 2.8GHz. Terrific - it made all the difference. I followed your suggestion, checked the memory multipler was down at 2X, got the F4 BIOS using the @BIOS utility - I don't know why it had downloaded the F3 version first time I used it :(

One other thing I noticed was that lots of people were saying that the right VCORE for E6300 is 1.3V. My DS3 motherboard defaulted to 1.325 volts. I took the voltage down to 1.300, and the raised the FSB....stable at 2.8GHZ the first time I tested it.

Great stuff - and thanks again to Kougar!

[liqnit]

Thanks Kougar for the information in response to my earlier post about getting my E6300 stable at 2.8GHz. Terrific - it made all the difference. I followed your suggestion, checked the memory multipler was down at 2X, got the F4 BIOS using the @BIOS utility - I don't know why it had downloaded the F3 version first time I used it :(

One other thing I noticed was that lots of people were saying that the right VCORE for E6300 is 1.3V. My DS3 motherboard defaulted to 1.325 volts. I took the voltage down to 1.300, and the raised the FSB....stable at 2.8GHZ the first time I tested it.

Great stuff - and thanks again to Kougar!
Good to hear that you were able to OC as you wanted
how are the temps?

[Kougar]

Glad to hear you got it working for you, Ski!

Stock vcore should be 1.325v for an E6300. Listed on the processor box next to the packing date is the "max" vcore Intel allows for, which is 1.35v. The sSpec number further gives the max as "1.3525v"... And as a reference point, my 3.33ghz OC is using 1.3625vCore only, a small notch above the max recommended spec. This is really one sweet processor...

As a note, I did try higher vcores, but the motherboard is simply at it's limits, even if the processor can work at 3.6ghz it just won't be stable. Under dual Prime95 load temps are roughly 40-45c in speedfan and around 53-58c if measuring both internal die temperatures with CoreTemp.

[HarleyRoadKing]

Ok, I'm a n00b when it comes to overclocking. There, I've said it....I've tried to OC my rig just a little and all it will do is reboot and return to the default settings. So I'm hoping someone here with way more experience than me can help out. I've heard of people getting 3.8Ghz + out of simaliar setups. I'm not looking to push the max out of this system, if I can sqeeze 3.2 out of it, I'd be extremely satisfied.

I'd appreciate some help with this if anyone has any ideas. Here's my specs:

C2D E6400 with Zalman 9500 Cooler
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (f6 Bios)
OCZ Memory
Capacity 2GB (2 x 1GB)
Speed DDR2 667 (PC2 5400)
Cas Latency 4
Timing 4-4-4-12
Voltage 1.8V
ECC No
2 x Maxtor 250GB SATAII (Raid)
eVGA 7800 GTX
SB Audigy 2 ZS


If you do have any suggestions, could you please reply with specific bios settings....

[Kougar]

OCZ memory is likely your problem. What voltage setting are you giving it in the BIOS, and what voltage reading is Speedfan giving you?

[Kougar]

Any news, Harley??


I'm pretty surprised, I finally found the sweet spot with what appears to be a 100% stable 3.5ghz overclock with further headroom to explore... That is an 87.5% overclock from the original 1.86ghz :lol: I am still letting it dual-Prime95 for 24 hours to be sure first before I go higher.