Intel Core 2 duo E2180

ally_uk

Hi Guys this is the processor i'm looking at sticking in my new gaming rig

2.00GHZ ( 800 FSB)

retail £55.21 inc VAT

I have read positive reviews about the overlock potential of this chip from what I can tell you can pump it up to 3.0ghz on the standard stock fan with ease.

Problem is I have never overclocked a machine before what am I letting myself in for? do Intel provide you with a easy to use gui based application to do so or do I have to get down and dirty with jumper settings lol

Is this a good Cpu to get my hands on in terms of bang for buck performance

JDMurray

Overclocking starts with the motherboard. If you are using a motherboard with a BIOS specific designed for OCing the CPU is easy. You'll also be able to control the OCing with software in Windows too. There is also no guarantee that any CPU you buy will OC to a specific speed. If you burn the CPU you won't be able to return or exchange it. And the excess heat generated by an OC'ed CPU requires a superior cooling system. OCing from 2.8GHz to 3.0GHz is not a big deal, but a full 1GHz jump will certainly shorten the life of the CPU.

NinjaBoy

If I were you I would just buy a better processor (like a Core 2 Duo CPU for example) the E2180 aren't a C2D chip - they have half the amount of cache on them, and in my eyes are just 2 celerons slapped together. See here for a product comparison.

If you go down the overclocking route, you're going to have to get a better MB, Ram, cooling, etc... otherwise like JDMurray already said: "but a full 1GHz jump will certainly shorten the life of the CPU." And you may experience intermittant windows faults. But that's just my opinion...

-Ken

JDMurray

The Wikipedia page on overclocking also makes a good point that CPUs are not burned-in at speeds higher than their factory rating. If your 2.0GHz does successfully work at 3.0GHz, you may still encounter intermittent stability problems from defects not found during the factory burn-in tests performed at the original CPU speed. It's safe to expect that a massively OC'ed CPU will likely fail until it has demonstrated a few hundred hours of stable operation.

NinjaBoy is correct in that there are other factors than clock speed that make a high-performance CPU, such as processor architecture, multiple cores, and amount of L1 cache. In fact, the multi-core CPUs have made higher processor speeds unnecessary. For example, a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo can beat the pants off a Hyperthreaded 3.2GHz Pentium 4.

ally_uk

Thanks for your response guys very interesting read!

I think I will give the overclocking and the budget cpu's a miss I am slightly confused though

you have the E6600 and the E6700 and the E6750 out of these CPU's the E6750 is priced cheaper than the 6600 and 6700 why is this?

isn't in terms of performance a better cpu?

JDMurray

ally_uk wrote:

you have the E6600 and the E6700 and the E6750 out of these CPU's the E6750 is priced cheaper than the 6600 and 6700 why is this?

Pricing depends on manufacturing costs, availability of the product, and what kind of price-war is necessary to stay ahead of your competition. And yes, the E6750 looks like a damn-fine dual-core CPU: Extreme FSB: Taking the E6750 Beyond 4 GHz.

Lee H

Can i ask why you have chosen INTEL, on a gaming rig i am under the impression that an AMD chip is better, correct me if i am wrong

Plus if money is no object you must take advantage of quad sli, 4 X 512mb graphics will have some serious power, me thinks 4 X 19" widescreen TFT to go with that

ally_uk

Flaming hell Lee i'm not Bill bloody Gates lol quad SLI is a bit overkill plus instead of 1 card being outdated over time you end up with 4 cards

I have chosen intel because since they switched the architecture from Pentium 4's which to be honest made excellent radiators lol I have heard excellent reviews about the Core 2 platform

I could get a AMD rig I'm not really impressed with what I have read about the Spider platform and the Phenom so I think I will stick to my guns and go for a E6750 with 2 gigs of ram and a medium level geforce 8 which I will switch out when the geforce 9 drops