CPU/Mobo Easier & Cheaper OCing for C2Ds with P5N-E

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PoBoy

PoBoy

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Legion Hardware

The ASUS P5N-E SLI features everything die hard gamers could ever need, such as Nvidia’s SLI technology, quad-core processor support, Firewire, eSATA, Gigabit LAN and much more.
The ASUS P5N-E SLI is like a completely new motherboard with this updated BIOS revision. Overclocking has never been easier and the fact that users have the option to run the Core 2 Duo E6400 at 3.50GHz with DDR2-800 memory is impressive!
Using nothing more than the standard Intel box cooler, the E6400 was happy to run at 3.50GHz on the ASUS P5N-E SLI all day every day, with no voltage adjustments.
... the only setting that required any attention was the FSB.
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"standard Intel box cooler" - Think that's right ?
 
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Legion Hardware
The Intel 975X and 965P chipsets will allow a minimum clock multiplier of 2x, meaning that if you were to overclock an E6300 processor to 3.2GHz for example using a 457MHz FSB, the memory would be operating at 914MHz.

Nevertheless, Nvidia has just recently released their nForce 6 series of chipsets for the Intel platform, which allow a much greater degree of flexibility when overclocking. For example, a memory multiplier of just 1.33x can be used allowing users to run DDR2-667 memory with a 500MHz FSB overclock, which would result in an E6300 overclock of 3.5GHz.

Our advice for anyone looking at building a Core 2 Duo system for gaming and plan to carry out a little or a lot of overclocking, is this; save your money that would have gone towards high-end DDR2 memory and simply buy more low latency memory. Finally, get a Nvidia based motherboard and keep the memory at 800MHz!
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One more rave here :
The Tech Report - Asus' P5N-E SLI and Striker Extreme motherboards

... with SpeedStep enabled and the E6300's default 7x multiplier ... We made it all the way up to 380MHz with the P5N-E before Windows became unstable. However, pushing the north bridge voltage up to 1.5V quickly resolved that problem, and we were able to get the P5N-E all the way up to a 470MHz front-side bus speed—stunning for a board that costs just $120.
For the most part, the board is every bit as fast as the Striker. You also get a decent array of BIOS options and just enough onboard peripherals.
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Post #2 wrt memory freq, this wrt latency :
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In total there was just a 5% bandwidth difference between the CAS3 T1 timings and the CAS6 T2 timings!
From our previous testing it almost appeared that the DDR2-667 and even the DDR2-800 memory was keeping up with and often beating the DDR2-1181 memory because of their tighter memory timings. Evidently this is not the case, as we have just found that in at least four of the six games we tested, low-latency DDR2 memory is really no faster than CAS5 or even CAS6 memory.
In the past it would have been unusual to recommend memory that features weaker timings and lower frequencies. For example AMD Athlon64 processors are very sensitive when it comes to memory timings and also love to work with a 1:1 ratio. This just is not the case when using the new Core 2 Duo processors with any of the new nForce 6 chipsets. That said, I have also found similar results with the Intel 975X and 965P chipsets!
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EVGA 650i Ultra review at AT : "As it is, we have to judge the board on its own merits against other offerings in the same price range and with that we present it a Silver Editors' Choice Award."

AnandTech: EVGA nForce 650i Ultra: Performance on a Budget

The EVGA 650i Ultra stands out from other boards in this price category by offering top tier performance in several areas and a feature list that cannot be beat at very reasonable pricing. When comparing features to Intel P965 chipsets found in this price sector we see our EVGA 650i Ultra offering onboard RAID, asynchronous memory capability, and best-in-class overclocking for the same or less money. The addition of GPU optimizations that offer a free 2% to 4% improvement with certain GPUs in our gaming scores is an added bonus.
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We are concerned about the lack of a 2.2V memory setting as we would have liked some additional headroom with our mid to upper range memory modules. As it stands, we are still able to utilize CAS3 and 1T command rates with the SPP voltage increased to 1.30V with our premium memory selection. In all honesty, the application performance differences between our budget memory modules and the higher performing modules were usually less than 5%
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The overclocking aspects of the board are terrific considering the price point and with the asynchronous memory capability you can really push the FSB while retaining budget priced DDR2-800 memory in the system. This is one area where NVIDIA has an advantage over Intel in this price sector as the P965 boards are generally limited to 400FSB and less than stellar memory performance.
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Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4

VR-Zone : Technology Beats - Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4 650i SLI Review

Motherboards Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4 Abit Fatal1ty FP-IN9 SLI ASUS P5N-E SLI
Overclocking 520FSB 475FSB 486FSB
CPU PWM 6-Phase 4-Phase 3-Phase
Voltage Control Best Average Average
Price USD$140 USD$130 USD$140

On the same price level as the ASUS, the Gigabyte beats it with better overclocking in FSB and PWM, and way better voltage options in BIOS ...
The Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4 would be closer to perfection with a BIOS update so that it will be able to recognize a 266FSB strap via the LGA BSEL setup. This will help the E4300 overclock better. We have already seen it's amazing overclocking capability with the 266FSB processors. The overclocking on this 650i board puts even many of the 680i boards to shame...
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