I am preparing to run a week long course for middle schoolers which teaches them how to assemble PC components and OC and am working on our budget now. I am hoping the culmination will be for us to build and donate a new custom PC to someone in need.
For the overclocking portion I was hoping to have three setups for groups of 5 students to work on. I'm looking for suggestions on older/cheaper hardware that would make sense to source from ebay, etc. to put together for overclocking.
My plan is to have three open-air setups with the bare bones. I'll focus on CPU OCs so having a cheapo GPU won't run up costs. I plan on having us build our setups on a piece of wood so we don't waste money on a real test bench, using linux, etc.--anything to cut costs. We may also get donations of hardware from parents but I am not counting on any of it being fit for OCing, though it might be nice to pull apart...
I plan to bring in my own open air setup (i5 2500k on a Gigabyte Z68x UD7 board that I have had for some time) to show off as well.
I don't have much experience with AMD so any suggestions are appreciated. Our donated build will likely be an AMD build for cost considerations (and an excuse for me to get to play with some AMD hardware at my school's expense!)
What are some good used chipsets/socket platforms to play around with considering cost and ease of overclocking?
AM3+ socket. You can run a single core Sempron or an 8 core FX. For optimal overclocking I would suggest the new Asus Aura 970 motherboard, can be had for less than $100 new. CPU's can be had very cheap, DDR3 as well.
I'm not as knowledgable with AMD hardware but AM3+ sounds unnecessarily new, no? We don't need huge overclocks but I do want to make sure things are overclockable (unlocked multipliers, sufficient cooling and power delivery for mobo, etc.). Ideally, I'd feel ok if the stuff never got used again and could be donated.
I'm sourcing stuff on ebay and it looks like I can get phenom 2's and 3's for 20 - 30 bucks. I'm hoping to put together each setup for under $100.
If I remember correctly, the black edition was for OCing, no? Or was that before the X series? I totally don't know my way around AMD yet.
I'm not as knowledgable with AMD hardware but AM3+ sounds unnecessarily new, no? We don't need huge overclocks but I do want to make sure things are overclockable (unlocked multipliers, sufficient cooling and power delivery for mobo, etc.). Ideally, I'd feel ok if the stuff never got used again and could be donated.
I'm sourcing stuff on ebay and it looks like I can get phenom 2's and 3's for 20 - 30 bucks. I'm hoping to put together each setup for under $100.
If I remember correctly, the black edition was for OCing, no? Or was that before the X series? I totally don't know my way around AMD yet.
AM3+ is out since 2011. So it's not "new". If you want a low cost rig for medium overclocking, you could do this:
- FX6300 or FX4300 (cheaper)
- Asrock 970 G/3.1 (it should be able to do 4.5Ghz on 83xx, so with 63xx or 43xx, even more).
Or:
- Gigabyte 970 UD3P (this is very good bang for buck, but has a BIOS bug that will probably halt you at 4.4Ghz. If you don't mind that, you can get it).
- Cooler Master 212 Evo (cooler).
And of course you will need a GPU and DDR3 RAM (preferably 2 sticks).
If you get some AM3+ motherboards, you can install any of Phenom II's, Athlon II's, or FX processors on them. There should be quite a few on the secondary market, as a lot of people who once used these have moved on to Intel, either for good or at least until Zen is available. You can overclock any of them. If the plan is to build something good to donate at the end, just make sure you score at least one Phenom II X6 or an FX-83x0 and use that for the donation build.
If you live near enough to a Microcenter, you can pick up a 5350 for $40 and get any of the motherboards for free (specifically the ASRock AM1H-ITX supports OCing) ($40 off with compatible CPU and all AM1 boards are <$40 @Micro right now.)
You may have to flash the BIOS to get the UEFI settings to OC it. I think that will be your cheapest option and you can decide what to do with it after. Either make it a NAS for the school or some classroom after that, or a donatable cheapo throwaway rig since it has an iGPU with it.
I think that would be your cheapest option without hunting for something on eBay or CL. My opinion though.
Why not go for old P4 stuff? It's got the best ground-work (base clock overclocking, multi, voltages, etc.) Not overly complex because of its age and really cheap to come by.
Why not go for old P4 stuff? It's got the best ground-work (base clock overclocking, multi, voltages, etc.) Not overly complex because of its age and really cheap to come by.
Why not go for old P4 stuff? It's got the best ground-work (base clock overclocking, multi, voltages, etc.) Not overly complex because of its age and really cheap to come by.
P4 stuff is getting hard to come buy imho. Unless you buy oem stuff where overclocking is out of the question. The oldest stuff I would go for is socket 775.
Why not go for old P4 stuff? It's got the best ground-work (base clock overclocking, multi, voltages, etc.) Not overly complex because of its age and really cheap to come by.
If you want more PC/Kid ratio, this is an option. I see people selling entire P4 rigs between $20 and $50 all the time on local classified like Kijiji/CL. Though its not the best hardware to donate, its better than nothing!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Redwoodz
I think connectivity is a big plus for AM3 or AM1 over P4, and I think getting RAM and such would be easier. P4 could work though.
This is true, and a bit more modern/applicable to OCing now than P4, and much better quality. Tho price gets harder to accomodate and you'll have less PC/kid ratio this way, but have significantly better PC's to donate and more useful OC knwoledge building than P4 IMO. If for nothing else, but for using more modern parts and BIOS.
I would also keep an eye out for cheap FM1 Llano builds if possible. These are easy for mild/medium OC's but can require a bit of work for higher end OC's. Which IMO would be great for teaching the hobby and allow a good all around defficulty level for different age groups/skill levels. This would also allow you to donate decent and small/compact PC's.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chrisjames61
P4 stuff is getting hard to come buy imho. Unless you buy oem stuff where overclocking is out of the question. The oldest stuff I would go for is socket 775.
I can find them a dime a dozen in my area. And the PC community here is tiny with almost no PC shops anymore and a pitiful used component market.
But although I say the P4's would allow more PC's to kid ratio, it will also come with more issues since these systems are VERY old and the likelihood of failures with bad OC settings are higher. Plus, your gonna have to deal with all these issues on more computers. So going for less, but better quality PC's and having manageable yet bigger groups working on each could possibly be the best option, with far less headaches for you.
AM3/AM1/FM1 on the cheap is my suggestion mainly. Anything remotely modern with Intel and the price would likely be your biggest problem.
My only question would be, are you looking for just towers for your budget, or full setups with KB/mouse/monitor/speakers as well?
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