How much can i overclock an amd x2 4600+?

Pershing121

Distinguished
Dec 5, 2008
385
0
18,790
I have it at stock each core running on 2.4 ghs. They each have a 512 L2 cache. It also is a 939 socket I believe but would the motherboard even matter?
 

Pershing121

Distinguished
Dec 5, 2008
385
0
18,790
when I run speedfan it says my temperature is 43C for gpu, temp1 is 23C, temp2 is 37C, temp3 is 25C, Temp with the check mark is 43C, and core is 34C.
 

caamsa

Distinguished
Apr 25, 2006
1,830
0
19,810
If you have a Gateway computer you will not be able to overclock the CPU. There are usually no options in the bios to overclock pre-built systems like Gateway, Dell, etc.
 

Pershing121

Distinguished
Dec 5, 2008
385
0
18,790
but why would they restrict it? Also what companies allow overclocking I mean every single person on this forum claims to be overclocked soa re you saying every single person on here built their own?
 

ricman

Distinguished
Dec 3, 2008
35
0
18,530
yeah thats exactly what hes saying.......we all bought our own parts and we all invested our own time to build our machines. pre-configured PCs like Dell and Comcrap and HP.....they are made to run stock.......if you swap the motherboard out with a decent board.....then you'll be able to OC

and each CPU really has its own sweet spot......it all the depends on the hardware ur using. im able to hit 3.2GHZ with my X2 5000+ BE (2.6GHZ stock) can i go higher.....maybe with the proper cooling and the right ram.
 

Pershing121

Distinguished
Dec 5, 2008
385
0
18,790
so you wasted all that time and effort just to build a pc that you probably overpaid (due to having to order individual parts) and an operating system for like 100 extra bucks?
 

ricman

Distinguished
Dec 3, 2008
35
0
18,530
you are making it obvious you dont know anything about computers. How much did u buy ur computer for? $1000? $1500?

with all my parts on my PC I have about $500 tops invested and here are my specs

Abit Fatality AN9-32X ($65)
AMD X2 5000+ BE ($45)
2GB OCZ Gold ($40)
Radeon HD3850 512MB ($65)
100GB HDD
DVD-Rom / CD-RW combo
DVD Writer
550W PSU
 

brendano257

Distinguished
Apr 18, 2008
899
0
18,990


Sorry, but that is wrong on sooo many levels. As a matter of fact building our own saves us tons of money. What Dell and Gateway etc don't mention is that THEY overcharge you by sometimes 100's of dollars just because they put it together and must warranty it. Building your own saves you a lot. My computer ranks at $900-1000, to get the same specs from a Dell or Gateway would cost upwards of $1500. And ontop of that I can overclock, and know what I have for parts and am not restricted at all.
 

angry_ducky

Distinguished
Mar 3, 2006
3,056
0
20,790


The only price range in which it makes financial sense to get a Dell or HP rather than a home-built system is in the super low-end (sub-$400), where you'll get more for your money from a Dell than you could with a home build. But once you get above like $500, a good home-built system will spank an equivalent Dell or HP.
 

hairycat101

Distinguished
Jul 7, 2007
895
0
18,980
Couple of quick points. You can bulid your own mid to high level machine for less then the pre-made stuff. On a low end setup, the big boxers can slap those together pretty darn cheap. Building a low ender doesn't add up. As for OC'ing that chip. I have that chip and I can easily hit 2.9 on the stock fan. I don't want to push it any further with just a stock fan.
 

unclefester

Distinguished
Nov 8, 2008
685
0
19,010
Well lets see, this is what you get with a Dell or GateWay
1.) Power Supply - up to 420W (peak= inferior, odd size in some instances and cannot be up-dated or replaced)
2.) Motherboard - with locked or crippled Bios, little if any OC ablity.
3.) CPU - adaquate (usually the main selling point, but stuck on stock speeds)
4.)Memory - value select ( bottom of the barrell, most likely the most inadaquate piece in the build.)
5.) Video Card - usaully ok ( can play some but not all games, will stream video, and great for surfing the web)
6.) HardDrive - storage ( whoo hoo, I can have 320 Gigs of clutter I can go thru)
7.) DVD - I've got 2 $30 bucks a piece.
8.)Operating System - Vista (know of at least 5 people who didn't like it and switched to Windows.)
9.) Some Dork - Telling me "Dude You Got A Dell"

Let me know if I left anthing out.
 

WiZdoM

Distinguished
Dec 20, 2008
90
0
18,630
Dell etc., limit your ability to overclock, so that people like you who really don't know what they are doing don't go and fry the cpu's and such and then claim warranty.

For those of us who build our own pc's, it's not only cost effective, but it's a great hobby. I know everything about my pc, inside and out, and I love building and modifying computers.

Also, keep in mind pershing, next time you upgrade (buy a new Dell) you will be paying for Windows yet again.

And not everyone here has paid for Windows, I know alot of people who prefer Linux (it's free). I prefer to run both.... that way this $400 investment can play Gears Of War cranked without a flinch :)

Pershing, next time you want a new pc consider building one..it'll save you money, and you'll get a better pc if you do the research.
 

Pershing121

Distinguished
Dec 5, 2008
385
0
18,790
Well I paid a pretty low price and am thinking of just upgrading part by part rather than spending a lot at once and having to learn all at once how to built opne I rather just upgrade. I have a weak performances in games no matter how much ram or video card I have due to the processor only being x2 4600+. Since it is a prebuilt Gateway I was wondering if it would be possible to upgrade my processor? Would it be as simple as opening the fan and taking out the old processor and putting the new one in and the fan with heat sink over it and turning the computer on (its that simple for a psu or video card on vista upgrade)? Would I have to play with bios or anything else? I'm completely new to this. I already opened the old processor and put it back in but the screws wont go in all the way on the fan/heat sink due to the size of the holes (Like gateway purposely tried to keep people form upgrading).
 

unclefester

Distinguished
Nov 8, 2008
685
0
19,010
Pershing121, lets see if we can breathe a little life into your system. Start by downloading everest 3.50 and /or everest 4.50 (these will be the trial versions so their free)
Memory will propably give you a boost at lower frame-rates, to help with any studdering/slow down in game play. besides being the cheapest and easiest up-grade.
Run everest and look in Motherboard>SPD> voltage (example mine is 2.1 v
Next go to Benchmark> Memory Latency (when you click on it, it will be highlighted in blue) then in the top left-hand corner click the refresh symble this will start the benchmark.
I need to see your timings (ie... Dual DDR2-800 4-4-4-8 CR2)
Then we can go from there.
Fester
 

WiZdoM

Distinguished
Dec 20, 2008
90
0
18,630
I would be more than happy to help with your upgrade Pershing, and I'm sure most everyone else here would also.

Typically the biggest performance booster for video games you can make is upgrading your video card....of course RAM is always essential, but I have seen extremely low end cpu's perform miracles with a video card that is doing most of the other work.

Like fester said, get a program that will tell you all about your hardware, such as cpuid (which is free) and post your specs here.
 

unclefester

Distinguished
Nov 8, 2008
685
0
19,010
WiZdoM, you are right about the vid card giving a better boost in performance. I was just afraid that Pershing's power supply may limit the selection.
So let see some specs and get that thing up and gaming.
 

Pershing121

Distinguished
Dec 5, 2008
385
0
18,790
I also upgraded to a 650 watt psu with 3 12V rails at like 20 amps a piece. And I only get like 8300 on 3dmark06 and have a hard time playing crysis on descent settings or gta 4.
 

WiZdoM

Distinguished
Dec 20, 2008
90
0
18,630
Pershing, this is a very easy one... You need a BETTER video card...period. That is your first step..with a better video card and the (slower) RAM you have, even with the stock Motherboard, you will be able to play crysis.

You will need to buy a very good video card...how much do you want to spend?

Then, in the future you can upgrade RAM and motherboard...motherboard first with some overclocking abilities to speed up your cpu and RAM...but for now vidcard will do.
 

Pershing121

Distinguished
Dec 5, 2008
385
0
18,790
and I have 4 giugs of the fastest ddr2 ram possible (800 mghs). ANd I dont want to upgrade my motherboard, I want to take the current one I have (which is a new one from a computer I recently bought) to its limits in terms of speeds of processors it can support.