E6420 E0 on a P5Q SE

[jjz-]

The setup in the title is with a stock cooler with some japanese-made thermal paste. I cannot remember the name right now; however, they are a relatively well known thermal paste company.

I was wondering, ROUGHLY, what overclock I could be looking at with this setup on the stock cooler on default voltage (not underclocking, nor overclocking)? I am not looking to overvolt or anything, since there are plenty of other bottlenecks in the system right now. I would just like to get a stable overclock that will get a bit more performance out of the processor.

If you need to know my ram, it is 4gb DDR2-800 elixir ram. This will probably prevent me from getting too much above 3.2 ghz I would assume? Or can I lock in the ram at 800 mhz and still clock the fsb above 400 mhz without issue? I honestly forget.

If you need to know my PSU, it is a random japanese one at 550 watts. Since my system is sporting a 9600GT, which I don't really use, 550 watts is more than enough, even if it is a crappy psu which cannot provide most of the power to the 12V lines. I am not worried about it too much.

I have no real money right now, as I work a cheap job here in Japan. So I have to make due with these components. They are all mostly gifts from my family or my girlfriend, anyway.

If you need stock idling temps, a cpuz shot, or anything, I can easily get that.

Thanks!

-Ian

 

[Zero82z]

On stock voltage, I'd guess somewhere in the 2.6-2.7GHz range.

As for the RAM limiting you, that may be a problem, but chances are that you'll be able to overclock it a bit over its rated speed, so you'll be able to get some more out of the chip.

 

[jjz-]

Ah, only 2.6 ghz or so. I am already at that with my MSI motherboard I got for $30, which limits fsb to 333 lol. Guess my gf getting the P5Q for me was kind of a waste then.

 

[Zero82z]

Well, that's only on stock voltage. Jack it up a bit and you should be good for at least 3.2GHz. And that was just an estimation. There's no way to really know until you try it.