Overclocking Core 2 Duo

[LoricaSefu]

Can somebody help me overclock my processor?

 

[GuiltySpark_]

What is the goal you have in mind? What do you do with this PC? 

 

That's a 16 year old dual core, for context. 

[LoricaSefu]

4 minutes ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

What is the goal you have in mind? What do you do with this PC? 

 

That's a 16 year old dual core, for context. 

i just want it to use for some old games, but it lags even in the windows, yk?

I have a GTX 970

5GB RAM

500HDD

Can you help me?

[chtorogu]

Overclocking that won't do much good even if you can get a decent overclock. If you really want to you first need to assertain if your motherboard can overclock. If so it has a chipset name that starts with "Z" or "X."

 

However, if you have to stick with that platform you'd be better off trying to find a core 2 quad processor. These have 4 cores which makes them more usable - or at least much less terrible - for modern computing.

 

If you haven't, you could also see if maybe your system and fans is dusty as that can make it even slower. Changing thermal paste would also help somewhat, if you haven't already.

Overclocking that won't do much good even if you can get a decent overclock.

 

However, if you have to stick with that platform you'd be better off trying to find a core 2 quad processor. These have 4 cores which makes them more usable - or at least much less terrible - for modern computing.

 

If you haven't, you could also see if maybe your system and fans is dusty as that can make it even slower. Changing thermal paste would also help somewhat, if you haven't already.

 

If your system is sufficiently clean and the thermal paste is good, then that HDD is the slowest part of the system and you would benefit significantly from replacing it with an SSD. Getting another 4 GB RAM stick would help a lot too, way more than an overclock. These are very cheap upgrades (as low as 30 USD total) and the SSD can be carried over to a new build later on.

 

Also, try using Linux as that will leave you much more resources for apps and games. Something like Linux Mint Xfce should work well and feel familiar.

[YoungBlade]

Something important to note is that you'll need a motherboard with overclocking support. If this is an old Dell or HP pre-built, for example, then you likely won't be able to overclock it. There might be BIOS mods that exist, but those can brick your system and isn't what I'd recommend for a novice overclocker unless you just don't care about the computer.

 

If your BIOS does support overclocking, it should be as simple as going into the menu and modifying the multiplier and/or base clock, and adding more voltage to the chip if it's not stable at that frequency. The thing to be careful with is to not push the voltage too high, as that can damage the chip. Looking at old forum posts from the time, it looks like 1.5V was considered a good safe maximum.

[YoungBlade]

1 minute ago, LoricaSefu said:

i just want it to use for some old games, but it lags even in the windows, yk?

I have a GTX 970

5GB RAM

500HDD

Can you help me?

Your best bet to improve Windows performance is to invest in a used Core 2 Quad and to get an SSD.

 

You can find dirt cheap Core 2 Quad CPUs on eBay, like the Q9400 often sells for $7 or even less sometimes.

 

And SSD prices have cratered recently. You can get 240GB SSDs for under $20 brand new these days.

[VIVO-US]

Is your task manager showing 100% CPU usage when lagging, or is it showing high HDD usage?  In my personal experience for parts that age, swapping the HDD for an SSD will be a bigger boost to loading times than the CPU.  Also, if the motherboard can handle it, you can get a quad core Q6600 or Q6700 for around $10.

[da na]

That 500GB HDD is what's lagging it, not the Core 2 Duo. But you'll need a good motherboard to overclock the chip, can't do that on, say, a Lenovo prebuilt or whatever. 

[8tg]

I would just install an older version of windows. If this is just for old games, the last thing you should be using is windows 10 anyway.

Install 7 or XP on that, should run substantially better, and you should have less issues with game compatibility as well.

3 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

Your best bet to improve Windows performance is to invest in a used Core 2 Quad and to get an SSD.

A core2quad will make most other things faster, but not games really, and that’s only on windows 7 or newer since xp and vista wouldn’t really take advantage of the multiple cores 

an ssd is a must though with old builds, it makes everything way more tolerable, absolutely get a cheap ssd and roll that instead of any hard drive 

8 minutes ago, chtorogu said:

Overclocking that won't do much good even if you can get a decent overclock. If you really want to you first need to assertain if your motherboard can overclock. If so it has a chipset name that starts with "Z" or "X."

Lga 775 chipsets don’t follow the same naming schemes as new ones, most lga 775 chipsets can overclock, just the higher end ones can go further. P/Q/X all mostly have it intentionally built in, but even G chipsets can overclock a little.

11 minutes ago, LoricaSefu said:

i just want it to use for some old games, but it lags even in the windows, yk?

I have a GTX 970

5GB RAM

500HDD

The GTX 970 may have some problems on windows xp, that’s a bit excessive of a pairing for anything lga 775, but it shouldn’t have any problems with windows 7, that might be a decent middle ground for compatibility with the hardware, ease of networking (xp can be picky with modern networks) and game compatibility. 
5gb of ram spells out mismatched channels unless you for some reason have 2.5gb per channel, try to configure that evenly across both channels even if it means losing 1gb

and as others have mentioned, the hard drive is another part that’s making this system feel slow, replacing it with even a basic cheap ssd will make everything feel a lot faster 

[abit-sean]

12 minutes ago, chtorogu said:

Overclocking that won't do much good even if you can get a decent overclock. If you really want to you first need to assertain if your motherboard can overclock. If so it has a chipset name that starts with "Z" or "X."

 

However, if you have to stick with that platform you'd be better off trying to find a core 2 quad processor. These have 4 cores which makes them more usable - or at least much less terrible - for modern computing.

 

If you haven't, you could also see if maybe your system and fans is dusty as that can make it even slower. Changing thermal paste would also help somewhat, if you haven't already.

Overclocking that won't do much good even if you can get a decent overclock. If you really want to you first need to assertain if your motherboard can overclock. If so it has a chipset name that starts with "Z" or "X."

 

However, if you have to stick with that platform you'd be better off trying to find a core 2 quad processor. These have 4 cores which makes them more usable - or at least much less terrible - for modern computing.

 

If you haven't, you could also see if maybe your system and fans is dusty as that can make it even slower. Changing thermal paste would also help somewhat, if you haven't already.

 

If your system is sufficiently clean and the thermal paste is good, then that HDD is the slowest part of the system and you would benefit significantly from replacing it with an SSD. Getting another 4 GB RAM stick would help a lot too, way more than an overclock. These are very cheap upgrades (as low as 30 USD total) and the SSD can be carried over to a new build later on.

 

Also, try using Linux as that will leave you much more resources for apps and games. Something like Linux Mint Xfce should work well and feel familiar.

X and Z chipset didn't apply to that generation of CPU. They were still using both north and south bridges on the motherboard. It will depend on what manufacturer of the chipset i.e. intel, ati, via or nVidia.

[YoungBlade]

2 minutes ago, 8tg said:

A core2quad will make most other things faster, but not games really, and that’s only on windows 7 or newer since xp and vista wouldn’t really take advantage of the multiple cores

I wasn't even talking about games. I don't know if you've tried to use an old Core 2 Duo on the Internet these days, but it is rough. Most websites will take ages to load and run like garbage with a Core 2 Duo. I upgraded an old computer for my mom from a Core 2 Duo E4500 to a Core 2 Quad Q9400, and the difference was night and day.

 

And yes, I had already done an SSD upgrade, hoping that would fix it, and it still was slow as molasses. And this was even after I switched it to running Ubuntu Linux, not Windows 10. Windows was even slower.

[PDifolco]

31 minutes ago, LoricaSefu said:

Can somebody help me overclock my processor?

 

Again, you have a cart that goes 10kmph, super slow, OCing will make it reach 11kmph, and you won't see any difference  

[chtorogu]

25 minutes ago, abit-sean said:

X and Z chipset didn't apply to that generation of CPU. They were still using both north and south bridges on the motherboard. It will depend on what manufacturer of the chipset i.e. intel, ati, via or nVidia.

I stand corrected, thanks for the info. I missed out on that generation as I had an AMD system during that time.

 

Then he should be able to guage overclockabilty by finding out the number of power phases and/or by the size of the heatsinks.

 

If he gets a Core 2 Quad and it turns out to be a good overclocker he may get decent performance. I think I heard randomgaminginhd mention some could go to like 3.5 GHz.

 

Note though, @LoricaSefu, that you also need a good aftermarket cooler to overclock successfully/safely.

 

Here's a look at what you can expect if you get a Core 2 Quad. Not too bad, for instance Rise of the Tomb Raider benchmarking at 35 fps average with a similar graphics card to OPs. Something like GTA V at 30 fps should be possible too.

 

[thevictor390]

21 minutes ago, 8tg said:

5gb of ram spells out mismatched channels unless you for some reason have 2.5gb per channel, try to configure that evenly across both channels even if it means losing 1gb

 

We're talking DDR2, I may or may not have run the 2+2+0.5+0.5 configuration in the past...

[Somerandomtechyboi]

32 minutes ago, chtorogu said:

Overclocking that won't do much good even if you can get a decent overclock. If you really want to you first need to assertain if your motherboard can overclock. If so it has a chipset name that starts with "Z" or "X."

On 775 thats board dependant

All chipsets (incl q) can overclock, the 41 and 43 chipsets dont overclock for shit so avoid those

 

just some boards wont allow overclocking which can be bypassed anyways via bsel modding / set fsb, voltages are as simple as pad modding if board doesnt have voltage control (theres an excel sheet for pad modding volts, you can also just look up vid definitions on volume 1 of whatever 775 chip datasheet like p4, e8000, etc.)

 

Z boards dont exist yet

X boards would be 975x but that chipset is irrelevant when x38 and x48 exist

 

 

39 minutes ago, YoungBlade said:

If your BIOS does support overclocking, it should be as simple as going into the menu and modifying the multiplier and/or base clock, and adding more voltage to the chip if it's not stable at that frequency. The thing to be careful with is to not push the voltage too high, as that can damage the chip. Looking at old forum posts from the time, it looks like 1.5V was considered a good safe maximum.

775 heavily emphazises on fsb overclocking and trying to hit 450+ can be a pain with garbage rams, and unfortunately theres alot of info lost to time so youll literally have to gamble on which 1gbit ic is actually decent

 

Only remaining info is regarding micron d9 as thats the best ddr2 you can get for benching shenanigans, i do have extreem dark 1066c6 ddr2 which clock 1500+ stable (max 1520) atleast when the 3rd stick was still alive and didnt just randomly shelf death for no reason and these are single sided nanya "d die" but good luck finding nanya bare pcbs, elpida is also a decent option but idk which ones are decent, ive heard acbg are decent, but you def wanna avoid aese cause even if it clocks somewhat decent (~1100) you need to fine tune the subtimings otherwise it wont be stable

 

 

Also those old quacks were conservative asf so id take any voltage reccomendation and give it a good +0.2-0.3v, for 65nm 1.6v if you wanna be conservative, 1.7v if you wanna run max daily oc, though you may have trouble cooling >1.6v

 

its not like today where there are ppl that do some validation for somewhat accurate safe voltages, obviously there are still some glaring issues mainly regarding more niche stuff like ram oc but still alot better than the baseless claims they had back in those days

 

54 minutes ago, LoricaSefu said:

i just want it to use for some old games, but it lags even in the windows, yk?

I have a GTX 970

5GB RAM

500HDD

Can you help me?

With these specs id just resell that 775 and try to get atleast 1156 as that is also next to valueless nowadays and you can get an i5 750/760 for a few $ alongside a dirt cheap gigabyte h55/p55 (asus sucks for quad stick, msi h55 boards are fragile asf and things such as shutting it down in bios is enough to kill the board, besides gigabyte doesnt have asus tax and ocs better)

 

Ddr3 is dirt cheap nowadays with 4gb sticks being 3-4$ and 8gb sticks being 6-7$ atleast over here in indo, good stuff is also very common with samsung d die (m378b5673dh0) and hynix cfr (hmt351u6cfr8c) that do very good subtimings and clock 2800+ with ease, with 8gb sticks you have double sided hynix mfr (hmt41gu6mfr8c) that do 3600+ ddr3

 

For other platforms that may be equally valueless but alot better would be x58 and 1155 with cheap 6 core xeons/i7 or cheap 2500k/2600k

[Dedayog]

1 hour ago, LoricaSefu said:

i just want it to use for some old games, but it lags even in the windows, yk?

I have a GTX 970

5GB RAM

500HDD

Can you help me?

Get an SSD.  The lag is more due to the HDD than the CPU.

 

That 6750 should get to 3.5GHZ or so.

 

https://www.anandtech.com/show/2255/10#:~:text=Our Core 2 Duo E6750,voltage we were quite impressed.

[Jurrunio]

What old games are you trying to run? Lack of AVX support is an issue for these for quite some time now.

[chtorogu]

10 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Get an SSD.  The lag is more due to the HDD than the CPU.

 

That 6750 should get to 3.5GHZ or so.

 

https://www.anandtech.com/show/2255/10#:~:text=Our Core 2 Duo E6750,voltage we were quite impressed.

If it can be overclocked that high it should make a significant difference as long as he keeps multitasking to a minimum and plays games that are happy with two cores. Anything pre PS4/Xbox One should run fine and some a bit newer should be playable as well. Especially if he can run it on XP or, even better, a lightweight Linux. The Linux option also gives current driver support and supports Steam. @LoricaSefu

[LoricaSefu]

7 hours ago, VIVO-US said:

Is your task manager showing 100% CPU usage when lagging, or is it showing high HDD usage?  In my personal experience for parts that age, swapping the HDD for an SSD will be a bigger boost to loading times than the CPU.  Also, if the motherboard can handle it, you can get a quad core Q6600 or Q6700 for around $10.

both

 

 

5 hours ago, chtorogu said:

If it can be overclocked that high it should make a significant difference as long as he keeps multitasking to a minimum and plays games that are happy with two cores. Anything pre PS4/Xbox One should run fine and some a bit newer should be playable as well. Especially if he can run it on XP or, even better, a lightweight Linux. The Linux option also gives current driver support and supports Steam. @LoricaSefu

thanks

[LoricaSefu]

Help?

[Guille.R]

U should give us a little more info for us to help u, like for example what are u exactly wanting to do, what mobo, cpu and cooler u have…

[Dedayog]

2 minutes ago, LoricaSefu said:

Push the DOWN key once.  Hit Enter.

 

Done.

[LoricaSefu]

1 minute ago, Dedayog said:

Push the DOWN key once.  Hit Enter.

 

Done.

it barely overclocks it

[LoricaSefu]

1 minute ago, Guille.R said:

U should give us a little more info for us to help u, like for example what are u exactly wanting to do, what mobo, cpu and cooler u have…

intel core 2 duo 

asus, 

i guess the coolers are the stock one

i have a gtx 970 4gb

5gb ram

500hdd

i would love to oc the cpu from 2.6ghz to 3.2 atleast? or to give a bit of performance, if you cold help me on discord or somewhere? 

[chtorogu]

18 minutes ago, LoricaSefu said:

Help?

You could try "ai overclock" to begin with. That will try to automatically set a stable overclock. However, you're not going to benefit much from an overclock until you replace the HDD with an SSD.

 

What kind of CPU cooler do you have? Have you replaced the thermal paste?