In need of some advice... (Motherboards, overclocking, etc.)

[Chaosenemy]

Specs:

Gateway Desktop Computer
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E4300 @ 1.8Ghz per core
ATI Radeon X1600 Pro 512MB graphics card
2GB DDR2 RAM

With that out of the way... as you can see, I need to do some upgrading to run newer games decently. I'm not sure what to do though.

I'm thinking of buying this graphics card here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130303 But if I do, my CPU is going to become a major bottleneck since it's only at 1.8Ghz. I decided I would overclock it, so I looked up some tutorials and went into my BIOS and discovered that I can't overclock (Gateway somehow locked it I guess?). I read somewhere that it's actually my motherboard that's stopping me from overclocking though (is that right?).

So what I'm thinking of doing is just buying a new motherboard, but the problem is, I know ZERO about buying motherboards. Do I simply look for a motherboard that is built for the Core 2 Duo, supports DDR2 RAM, and accepts PCIe cards? I don't know if there is anything else I should be looking for. Anyone have some advice for me? Please?

 

[_-..zKiLLA..-_]

well i think u should just go for that Vid Card a new mobo and a new Proc... then give me ur old vid card for ten dollars

heres a nice setup...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131013
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103771

 

[Rudster8161]

he doesnt want a new cpu

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188017
i would get that, its a good price\performance motherboard, and it shouldnt confuse you too much if you have to make changes in the BIOS.

 

[mayorredbeard]

Most games aren't extremely demanding on the processor. I think you can scrape by with that processor w/o becoming a major problem. Especially if you can overclock it to 2.0ghz, maybe 2.2ghz even. Look up an Overclocking guide on google. Read 2 different ones so you get a general idea of how to do it. It's not that hard. However to overclock a Gateway computer you will need to reseat the CPU. You can engage in an online chat session with a gateway tech and they'll explain how to do this. Otherwise the processor will not be able to be overclocked.

 

[worshipme]

I'd recommend Intel's P35 over the 650i TBH. The 650i supports SLI though I suppose.

 

[Chaosenemy]

Most games aren't extremely demanding on the processor. I think you can scrape by with that processor w/o becoming a major problem. Especially if you can overclock it to 2.0ghz, maybe 2.2ghz even. Look up an Overclocking guide on google. Read 2 different ones so you get a general idea of how to do it. It's not that hard. However to overclock a Gateway computer you will need to reseat the CPU. You can engage in an online chat session with a gateway tech and they'll explain how to do this. Otherwise the processor will not be able to be overclocked.

I like the sound of that... just reseting the CPU, but how exactly does reseating the CPU make it overclockable? My BIOS doesn't even have the options in it to overclock...

 

[borat_sagdiyev]

dude the e4300 is good, just get a new motherboard to overclock. i got my e4500 from 2.2 to 2.8ghz

 

[Chaosenemy]

Well, I just tried to use ClockGen to overclock my CPU while in Windows. My PLL is 954108 which ClockGen doesn't support, but I read on another forum that someone used 954148 for their 954108 and it worked for them, so I tried it as well.

It seemed to be working up until about 1925 mhz and my computer crashed. So I rebooted and tried to set the clock speed just a bit below that and it still crashed. So I rebooted again and started over, raising the clock slowly from 1800mhz. It froze at 1835mhz. WHAT?!

Obviously something is wrong here. The E4300 is known for how well it overclocks and I've never heard of an overclock as bad as 35mhz. I'm guessing its because the PLL I chose doesn't match exactly, so... looks like software overclocking isn't going to work for me. I will have to get a new motherboard for sure. Here are the two motherboards I'm considering:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188017
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059
(Thanks to Rudster for the first one)

The second seems to be about the same as the first (except for a 20 dollar difference) but it got better overall ratings. So what do you guys think? Which one should I get? Or does someone have another suggestion?

Also, I noticed the second one's memory standard is DDR2 1066... how do I tell if I currently have DDR2 800 or DDR2 1066? And if I have 800, will it work on a motherboard that wants 1066?

Anyways, thanks for the help so far guys; you're helping a ton.

 

[Rudster8161]

find the latest version of your BIOS and flash it, that will take care of the the not being able to OC problem.

 

[worshipme]

Please please get the P35 chipset, it's much better for overclocking that CPU.