Maximum overclock

[hijaz]

Hey guys im planning to use my pc for gaming maxed out until end of 2011.is it worth getting a core 2 quad or overclocking my core 2 duo e 7200 to maximum.which is better ? and i dont have so much money for a upgrade on cpu so can i go with ocing my c2d by getting a cooler?

what is the maximum overclock for e7200.

 

[saaiello]

The only core 2 quad worth getting is the Q9650 and that will cost you around 250 to 300 so thats out most likely. The E7200 should get up to around 3.5 ghz with little trouble with the right motherboard and some good cooling. I have an E8200 which has a stock clock of 2.6 only 100 mhz more then you and i run at 3.8 stable no problem and can even get over 4ghz but heat starts to become an issue. Your best bet would be to stay with the E7200 OC the crap out of it with proper cooling of course. Most new games are more GPU dependent anyways so a decent video card will keep you gaming maxed out for the next year at least.

 

[hunter315]

Depends how games end up getting developed over the next few years, if more games begin leading towards quad cores then the core 2 quad would give you better performance, and if you intend to play something like GTA IV definitely get the quad. If you get a good cooler like the CM Hyper 212+ you should be able to get it fairly high, probably 3.6ish.

Which c2q were you considering getting? If its one of the slower ones an OC'ed c2d will almost certainly beat it, but for absolute best performance, a good cooler to OC a core 2 quad will let you get the most out of your platform, but i think you are going to determine that your PC doesnt last until then end of 2011 without needing a more significant upgrade unfortunately.

 

[hijaz]

hey thanks guys

And hunter315 do u say that if oc my c2d it wont last till 2011?Did u mean that

 

[hunter315]

The chip itself will likely last through 2011, what i meant is that you will likely reach a point where a CPU upgrade becomes necessary and socket 775 chips may not be available at that time, steam hw survey now shows that 24% of people are at quads now, so i would expect developers to begin taking more use of the additional cores. Hopefully none will be as bad as GTA IV which shows a fairly large discrepancy between duals and quads but i would expect by mid 2011 for a quad to begin becoming necessary.

 

[hijaz]

Thanks man