Overclock or Unlock?

[finfer123]

First off hello. I have a few questions, so ill start with the main one. I'm planning on purchasing an AMD Sempron 145 Should I unlock the second core (try) or Overclock the single? This is for mainly office browsing and maybe some CounterStrike:Global Offensive on all low.

Next: I ordered a msi 760gm-p23 (FX)motherboard. Cheap choice, but I'm on tight budget (Hence the Sempron). According to the website, it supports a max 95W CPU, which is why I'm deciding between an OC or an unlock. To increase safety, should I put heatsink's on the VRM/MOSFETS? If so, please point out exactly where they are and an example of the heatsink I would need. Thanks!

System Specs:
Sempron 145 (Unless you guys have other, cheap suggestions)
NVidia GT 610
8GB RAM
MSI 760GM P23 FX
No PSU, Case, or Hard Drive yet

 

[clutchc]

If you can get the Sempron to unlock, you would probably be ahead going that direction. 2 cores would make for a better performance bump per watt than a small OC would. Unlocking the 2nd core would probably increase the TDP less than an OC. If it were me, I'd plug the system into a kill-a-watt meter and see what the watts read at stock under load. Then if you can unlock it, see what it increases by. You could do the same with it as a single core OC'ed. Then you'd know for sure which was the best solution power-wise.
http://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU

If you decide to OC, yes... add heat sinks. Or watch that the wattage stays low. That board was not designed for OC'ing. But you better see if it unlocks to a stable dual core first. The one I had did not.

 

[finfer123]

If you can get the Sempron to unlock, you would probably be ahead going that direction. 2 cores would make for a better performance bump per watt than a small OC would. Unlocking the 2nd core would probably increase the TDP less than an OC. If it were me, I'd plug the system into a kill-a-watt meter and see what the watts read at stock under load. Then if you can unlock it, see what it increases by. You could do the same with it as a single core OC'ed. Then you'd know for sure which was the best solution power-wise.
http://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU

If you decide to OC, yes... add heat sinks. Or watch that the wattage stays low. That board was not designed for OC'ing. But you better see if it unlocks to a stable dual core first. The one I had did not.

Ok. Should I put some cheap heatsink's like these http:// on for good measure? Thanks for your help!

 

[clutchc]

If you OC, yes. But if you simply unlock the dormant core, you should only have a Athlon II X2 240, a 95W CPU. There is however, the chance that the 2nd core was disabled because it drew too much load watts. In that case, it may be more than the 95W TDP. I suppose it would do no harm to add the heatsinks if you want to give the board a bit more lifespan for the VRMs should the 2nd core go over the 95W TDP.

But first, let's see what kind of luck you have with unlocking it to a stable dual core.