Jplaz

Hello, my friend and I are having an overclocking competition, best overclock wins. The rules are:
Max budget of $150
Must be AMD
Anyways, I'd also like to use this as a backup to my laptop (sig).
I have a CD/DVD drive, Hard Drive (IDE), a 250 watt PSU (I might need a better one?) and I don't need a video card just yet. I'll also being running this caseless for the time being. So far I'm thinking of getting an Athlon II x2 245, a Gigabyte GA-MA770-DS3 (used) and 2GB of DDR2 RAM. I may also spring for an OCZ Vendetta Cooler of ZipZoomFly for $8. How does this check out? Constructive responses will be rewarded with +rep.

Thanks, Jplaz...

__________________
Please read the TOS Folding for OCN, at a lousy 400-800 points a day...
Multiplying the number of cores by clock speed DOES NOT equal "final speed" or "computational power"

sugarmankie

If you can grab a more powerful Power supply (350 watts) such as this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817709010

I mean 13 bucks ? unbeatable imo.

also are you deciding the winner by cpu clocks alone? if so you could possibly grab a better chip. just a thought.

good luck with your contest = ]

sugar

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like a boss

Jplaz

^No, we have yet to decide the exact tests used but benchmarks as well as clock speed will be taken into effect.

I'm not sure about that PSU, Sunbeam usually gets blasted for making cheap PSUs.

How is this motherboard? Is it any better than the previously mentioned one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135240

__________________
Please read the TOS Folding for OCN, at a lousy 400-800 points a day...
Multiplying the number of cores by clock speed DOES NOT equal "final speed" or "computational power"

Jplaz

Well, I've slightly changed my plans with this, I've decied to purchase a solid AM3 mobo, and start with a Sempron 140 or something.

So, what a decent, sub $100 AM3 mobo, preferably with DDR3 RAM?

I was looking at this but I heard that the chipset isn't too good for overclocking. All suggestions are welcome...

__________________
Please read the TOS Folding for OCN, at a lousy 400-800 points a day...
Multiplying the number of cores by clock speed DOES NOT equal "final speed" or "computational power"

hermitmaster

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16813157168R

Jplaz

A Sempron 140 can use DDR3 RAM correct? I'm pretty sure it can, I'm just double checking...

^That looks nice, thanks.

__________________
Please read the TOS Folding for OCN, at a lousy 400-800 points a day...
Multiplying the number of cores by clock speed DOES NOT equal "final speed" or "computational power"

LightsInTheDark

+ for the sempron 140

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I did error10's Windows Challenge and Windows now runs me!

Jplaz

Can one unlock cores on the 140 if one had such a mobo?

__________________
Please read the TOS Folding for OCN, at a lousy 400-800 points a day...
Multiplying the number of cores by clock speed DOES NOT equal "final speed" or "computational power"

Dopamin3

Correct. Pretty much any motherboard with ACC (SB710+) can do it. The only manufacturer that doesn't support core unlocking that I know of is ECS.

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Jplaz

Nice! The only thing I don't quite understand, aren't the cores locked because they're broken, so why would you want to unlock a gimpy core? And This mobo can do that right? Thanks.

__________________
Please read the TOS Folding for OCN, at a lousy 400-800 points a day...
Multiplying the number of cores by clock speed DOES NOT equal "final speed" or "computational power"