A solid upgrade? Opinions?

[chesirecat1701]

I've debated alot on a complete i7 build but I just don't have the cash to back it at the moment, as I have other hobbies such as finishing my subwoofer project, modding my 360, grabbing a new surf board, my aquariums, etc etc

so I've known that the E5200 is a serious overclocker and do I love to overclock

so I'm looking at the E5200 and this Gigabyte motherboard

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

I have two curiousities

1) is the e5200 still a ripe overclocker?

and

2) is this motherboard ging to be able to push the e5200 to 4 GHz without too many issues?

fyi: I'm just going to transfer my 4 Gb of OCZ SLI PC6400 over unless the performance by higher clocked memory is a huge difference

I mean this is only talking ~ $204 with free shipping

 

[LowLife]

gigabyte mobo's are top notch so that shouldn't be a problem, I not sure about the E5200 still being ripe though

 

[chesirecat1701]

well I made the order and my thermal paste should be good today so I'll find out,

In most of the reviews I've seen people have taken the e5200 to 4GHz with the Gigabyte P35 board, I'm sure my P45 should be up to the task with no problem, it's also about time my RAM gets a work out

hopefully I got a good chip (fingers crossed)

 

[baron5]

the e5400 is only a little bit more and overclocks even better because i think it has a higher multi, by yes the e5200 is still def. a ripe overclocker. As for the mobo, it should be fine, The ud3 series has seen some great overclocks and the P version would still be the same chipset with some added features.

 

[chesirecat1701]

well the e5200 was only $70 and comes with a 6.5-12.5 multi which is really where the proc really shines, can't wait to get home and see how far I can get

 

[Albo23]

Gigabyte is very solid, have one for my own overclockings and never fails me.

 

[chesirecat1701]

yup, I pushed a mild 3.4GHz (10x340Mhz) just playing around when I booted up after I got home, the board doesn't even flinch

temps are looking good at idle (38C) but i haven't stressed them yet

EDIT: I guess my cooler took a crap on me, my computer shut off before I could even boot due to temps from the 3.4GHz OC, I backed down to 3.0Ghz and the same result, so at all stock settings I've come to find the my internet usage and and WMP are already pushing my core temps to 44 and 37 respectively

so after I investigated it turns out the cooler doesn't have enough pressure against the CPU heat plate which in turn I come to find out the bracket isn't big enough to push the cooler all the way tight, as it sits I can wiggle my cooler oh so slightly

so time for a new cooler

can someone give me a rundown on the best air coolers to consider, seems as I've been outta the loop a while, thanks