Low budget 45 nm - Intel E7200 overclocking report

Overclocking/Overclocking Tests by piotke @ 2008-06-15

The release of the Intel Core 2 Duo E8x00 series caused a lot of overclocking records to be broken. Now we have a light version of those processors, Intel Core 2 Duo E7xx series. We took the E7200 for an overclocking spin. Let´s find out how high it soars

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Introduction

Introduction

Just over two years ago Intel started a comeback with the Core processors. A few months later, summer 2006 the Core 2 architecture was presented to the audience. A real hit as the Core 2 Duo chips were very fast. Although Intel didn't release a processor faster then 2.93 GHz, enthusiasts were able to push these processors to over 4 Ghz. And some lucky ones topped the 5 Ghz barrier.

The months after Intel continued improving their 65 nm architecture. More models (often budget minded) were released. And the Core 2 Quad series followed not that much later. But no big changes were made....

Some interesting Madshrimps reviews and overclocking articles of 65 nm processors:

  • Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 Overclocking with Air Cooling
  • Overclocking the Intel X6800 with Liquid Nitrogen (LN2)
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 M0 Stepping CPU Review
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 vs E6300: Budget CPU Comparison
  • Intel Core 2 Performance, Overclocking, Power Usage Review
  • Battle of the Mobile CPUs: Core Duo vs Pentium M

    Until winter 2007. The 45 nm manufacturing process was finally ready to be commercialized. The biggest advantages were more chips from a wafer (and thus cheaper processors) and also more energy efficient and thus less heat output. But we only saw one processor being released back then. The Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9650. A very expensive chip (+/- 1000 euro), but the performance was better, and more interesting for us, overclockability also. Where a year before 4 GHz was a reasonable overclock with sub zero cooling, we now reached 5 Ghz. And the 6 GHz barrier was also broken.


    Madshrimps (c)


    Some interesting Madshrimps reviews and overclocking articles of 45 nm processors:

  • Mainstream Quad Core Processors Compared from AMD and Intel
  • Intel SkullTrail Super High End PC Platform Review
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 45nm Wolfdale CPU Review
  • Intel Core 2 on 45nm: Performance, Overclocking, Power Usage
  • Intel Xeon X3320 45nm Quad Core Overclocking Test
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 OC: AIR vs Phase vs LN2 Cooling
  • Intel Quad Core Q9300 Goes Subzero - OC Fun [OCTB]


    At the same time Intel also announced a cheaper dual core series manufactured the 45 nm, the E8xxx series and Q9xxx for the quad series. They were very hard to find the first months but then finally, end Q1 2008, beginning Q2 2008 more and more chips became available. One record after another was broken...

    And just as before Intel continued optimising their 45 nm architecture. We see now chips reaching 6.3 GHz and higher and also more budget friendly processors, such as the E7xxx series. Recently I bough the cheapest 45 nm processor I could find, the Intel Core 2 Duo E7200.

    As there are already plenty of reviews on the internet, I decided to take this processor for a spin, overclocking wise. This is how it looked like before we pushed it beyond reference speeds....

    Madshrimps (c)


    Test platform


    Test Setup
    CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53 GHz
    Mainboard Asus Commando
    Memory 2 * 1024 Mb DDR2 PC7200 OCZ
    Other
  • Seagate 7200.10 500 Gb SATA
  • Nvidia Geforce 7100 Gs
  • Zalman 1000 watt Power Supply


  • Let's put it all together. >>>
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    Comment from jmke @ 2008/06/15
    excellent work, cool runnings!
    Comment from thorgal @ 2008/06/15
    Excellent Piotr, glad to see you're back.

    Especially like the quick rundown of the cooling system: nice and clear explanation.
    Comment from piotke @ 2008/06/15
    Glad you all like it. Dry ice is cheap and fun
    Comment from Pardons @ 2008/06/15
    Nice to see one of my previous pots in action! great result piotr!!
    Comment from piotke @ 2008/06/15
    Jop, it's the fatjack 2 or 3 I think. Decent pot.

     

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