[Adam] The Pentium G3258 Cheap Overclocking Experiment

[Karadjgne]

The chipsets have the capability to mess with the clock multiplier, but it's up to the firmware whether that ability is accessible. So, no, not any H81 could unlock it, just some that had the correct firmware. And yes, there are other reports of people OCing a K on a non-Z board. So it sounds like there is no "double lcok" as you call it that the CPUs have to detect a Z chipset to allow themselves to be unlocked.


Ah, so if you could get the firmware flash, you could unlock any H81, so in essence, the H boards are locked to the general public. So that would mean the Z boards already have this firmware, unlocking them.
By the same standards, non K cpu's have a locked multiplier, and even slapping one on a Z board does not unlock this, the K cpu has the unlocked multiplier.

So what I meant by 'double locked' is that not only is the mobo locked, but also the cpu is locked and even a firmware flash is not enough to unlock both, you'd need 2 flash's, one for the mobo and one for the cpu.
The G3258 Anniversary, is in essence a K cpu, its factory unlocked, so would require a Z board for general public use, or someone who could get the firmware flash (beta) like the tester above, could use an H or B board instead.

Or am I still wrong?

And yes F-14, I'm definitely understanding all about 'stack overflow' right now, as well as other age related memory issues lol, boss took a sudden vacation, no warning, and dropped everything on me, blind, so I've been up to my eyeballs in stuff for a week now heh.

 

[RedJaron]

Ah, so if you could get the firmware flash, you could unlock any H81, so in essence, the H boards are locked to the general public.

It does sound that way. However, some vendors were fairly vocal that their non-Z boards would allow OCing, so some boards were and still are available to the general public. This is why I'm interested to see some kind of list of what models do this.

So that would mean the Z boards already have this firmware, unlocking them.

Yep

By the same standards, non K cpu's have a locked multiplier, and even slapping one on a Z board does not unlock this, the K cpu has the unlocked multiplier.

Correct. I don't know the lock is implemented on the non-K chips, whether it's a hardware/lithography limitation or something else. Older Athlon XP chips could be unlocked using conductive ink to bridge some circuits. Doing so would unlock them in any platform. However, those same chips could also be unlocked in some nForce mboards without any modding at all. I haven't seen any easy workarounds for the non-K chips, so it seems like Intel has made sure they're firmly locked down.

So what I meant by 'double locked' is that not only is the mobo locked, but also the cpu is locked and even a firmware flash is not enough to unlock both, you'd need 2 flash's, one for the mobo and one for the cpu.

I got what you meant the first time. No worries.

The G3258 Anniversary, is in essence a K cpu, its factory unlocked, so would require a Z board for general public use, or someone who could get the firmware flash (beta) like the tester above, could use an H or B board instead.

Or am I still wrong?

Yes, the G3258 is essentially a K chip. Yes, it will OC just fine so long as you can get it in a board that will let you change the multiplier. No, you don't necessarily need some kind of specially cooked firmware to do it.

 

[Karadjgne]

Yeay, 5 for 5... and the clouds parted and the sun shone down..... and now my wife is home... where's my umbrella!

 

[mlga91]

Finally, a cheap motherboard for overclocking a cheap intel cpu,sick performance for the buck!

 

[Guest]

Interesting offering from Intel. I have heard that this CPU struggles a lot with stuttering though. And I believe it is missing several instruction sets that it's other Haswell brothers have. If I were in the market for a budget build, and wanted to go the Intel route, I'd have a very hard time getting this over just saving a bit longer for an I3.

 

[jlwtech]

A much more realistic review than the first one. Nicely done.
Although the Titan is still ridiculous.

 

[ivyanev]

Great article- it really shows what this processor is really about - cheap overclock that actually can make difference.

 

[m32]

LucoTF, the average overclocks for the 760k could be anywhere from 4.5-5.0GHz. Richland overclocks way better than Trinity.

 

[Novuake]

This makes me want to tinker...

I wonder how much an is issue the dual core config will be in some heavily threaded games. Since clock rate will not really be an issue.

 

[Barack_McBush]

Where can we get this custom firmware (bios version?) for the MSI H81M-P33 to allow overclocking? A link would be spectacular!

 

[damric]

thanks for the updated review.

 

[pierrerock]

Does a G3258 is supported by H81 P33 right out of the box ? since when BIOS support this chip ?

 

[rwinches]

List of MBs allowing G3258 unlocked multiplier:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2389948

 

[fkr]

i will always rec the cm 212 just from personal experience

 

[walterm]

Good article. Close choice.
Intel offers cheap/cheap, or spend a little more anticipating a future upgrade.
AMD offers 4 cores/2 modules
So, what is the best low cost upgrade cooler for these chips.
CM TX3 is about $20, CM 212 EVO about $30-35?

 

[LucoTF]

Good article. Close choice.
Intel offers cheap/cheap, or spend a little more anticipating a future upgrade.
AMD offers 4 cores/2 modules
So, what is the best low cost upgrade cooler for these chips.
CM TX3 is about $20, CM 212 EVO about $30-35?

The TX3 or the Zalman CNPS5X, otherwise you're pushing the price into FX-6300 territory imo

 

[Ben Wiseman]

I don't know, I still don't see cheaping out on a CPU as a good idea - I mean if you're going to overclock for around $100, why not just buy a cheap FX 6xx?

 

[LucoTF]

The FX 6xxx is another CPU that really deserves to be OC'd

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($69.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper TX3 54.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($48.38 @ Newegg)
Total: $133.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-05 06:36 EDT-0400

You wouldn't get much of an OC with a cheap FX mobo

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($109.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($44.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $154.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-05 06:37 EDT-0400

 

[Onus]

If this Pentium has an issue with stuttering, that needs to be examined in more detail before giving it a blanket recommendation.
I'll take a smooth 30FPS over a stuttering 40 FPS any day.

 

[LucoTF]

If this Pentium has an issue with stuttering, that needs to be examined in more detail before giving it a blanket recommendation.
I'll take a smooth 30FPS over a stuttering 40 FPS any day.

As an owner of a richland CPU, anyone who thinks the athlons are stutter free is sadly mistaken.

The answer for both CPUs is to run at a fixed 30 wherever possible, leaving some overhead for the CPU and reducing stutter

 

[Onus]

That could provoke some additional research. For example, is the stutter caused by the need for another thread / core, or low IPC?

 

[Novuake]

That could provoke some additional research. For example, is the stutter caused by the need for another thread / core, or low IPC?

Im inclined to think a lack of cache...

 

[Onus]

Could be, but Damric did some good research on that, at least on the AMD side. It indicated that cache wasn't the big deal a lot of people thought, at least not if the system was properly tuned. It would be interesting to apply some of the same tests to the Pentium. IPC problems (and possibly cache) can be overcome by overclocking and tuning, but lack of another thread (or two) would be impossible to "fix" that way.

 

[Onus]

^I know from my own comparisons in GW2 with a 970BE+HD7870 vs. i5-3570K+HD7770 that the latter was always smoother, regardless of graphical settings, so sometimes it is definitely IPC. I suspect that lack of threads is indeed the problem here though.

 

[Novuake]

^I know from my own comparisons in GW2 with a 970BE+HD7870 vs. i5-3570K+HD7770 that the latter was always smoother, regardless of graphical settings, so sometimes it is definitely IPC. I suspect that lack of threads is indeed the problem here though.

Ever manage to stay above 30 constantly no matter what in GW2? Because I have just about given up...

The Attack Lion's Arch patch was hellish on 3570K 4.7GHz.