Best motherboard for overclocking...?

I am looking to purchase a motherboard for use with an E7300 and DDR2 memory. Preferably a P45 chipset, I want to OC the CPU close to 4GHz, so it should come with good OC facilities. Also built in VGA is not required.

Tom's Hardware OC'd the CPU using an MSI P45 Diamond getting 3.8GHz as a stable clock. I found that motherboard at the cheapest for £85, so I was wondering if anyone knew of any cheaper alternatives?

Thanks in advance, Lloyd.

 

I mean DDR3 lol....

 

DDR3 memory is absolutely pointless for Core 2 CPUs.
This should overclock pretty well:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Bios...DDR2-1066-12006-667-800-SATA-II-SATA-RAID-ATX
but if you can stretch to this, you should be good for well over 4Ghz (assuming you bought a good CPU cooler)
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Bios...2-1066-1200(OC)-667-800-SATA-II-SATA-RAID-ATX

 

Thanks. Yeah I was thinking that, but I thought I might get more flexibility for ocing, prehaps not though, lol...

What would you say to going for AMD Phenom II X2 550, could I clock that up as high? If so what motherboard would do the job. Or would it be more expensive? What about the MSI P45 Neo-F for the Intel?

Obviously its all about highest performance, particularly in gaming, for the lowest price.

Thanks again...

 

Oh, and I would appreciate suggestions for a reasonably (£30ish) priced air coller for the CPU...?

 

The Biostar boards are the ones that set the overclocking records for the P45 chipset. MSIs do well, but Biostar are probably the best overclockers.
The X2 550 chip is good value for stock, but AMDs don't overclock very well, so if you're a power-overclocker, you should avoid AMDs. The 550 probably overclocks as well as the best of AMD's CPUs and tops out at only 22-25% overclock, whereas the E7400 can manage around 40-45% in most systems, 50% in good ones.
My favourite air cooler for that budget is the Thermalright Ultra-120A. Close performance to the extreme cooler, but much cheaper.

 

C2D E7500 or Phenom II X3 Tri Core 720 Black Edition, which is better for gaming? (When OC'd of course)

Thanks

 

After overclocking, the 7500, hands down.

 

Please do not compare INTEL CPU'S to amd.

That would be the same as a fight between JAWS and a goldfish.

Only amd to amd.

 

Thats not true in the least. The AMD Phenoms are a great processor but quality wise they dont stack up to the Intel, but in real world performance there around the same as an i5 I believe.

And the low end AMDs are a better budget cpu then the Intels.

 

Agreed, it's a perfectly valid comparison, the two are hardly mutually exclusive in the games area. The E7400 is a better gaming CPU than the X3 720, but the X3 has some multitasking advantages.

 

Ok, thanks a lot guys. I'm going to be using this for gaming mainly so I'll probably go for the Dual Core E6300 (like the E7400 but with 1MB less cache and a whole lot cheaper). Aside from that I want a nice overclocking experience so Intel is the way forward for me.

P.S My Athlon X2 4600+ has served me very well, except in large RTS matches, where it has died on a regular basis...

 

and slower of course. it's better value though.
Any of the Pentium Dual Core chips overclock like crazy, so you can end up with a very powerful CPU from that (a few of the Intel dual cores overclock so well they outperform AMD's tri-core CPUs even when overclocked)