2008 Chinese New Year recommends-Intel Platform better Cost/Performance combination
 

In 2007, the national economic storm impact and material cost raised situation,
most end users did treat their money more carefully, especially on livelihood and other extra spend.
I think that’s also the trend to save money and reduce the waste spend in 2008.

Maybe PC products is only 3C tools, not human livelihood must.
But how to purchase cheaper and better value products to save unnecessary cost is also an important subject all the time.


This time we use Intel Platform for example,
hope to use entry level cost to buy better overclock potential platform and make it become high value PC system.


On CPU side,
Here we have Intel C2D E1200 or E2160 with great value.
Because E2140 almost EOL, so I use E2160 retail 72USD in Taiwan,
of course the E1200 will have lower cost with 20USD less. But they are all comes with good overclock value.


CPU Packing



Product serial number.


Inside stuff



E2160 CPU




Memory module selection:
After DDR2 price crushed in late 2007, now everybody have cheap memory modules can choose.
Maybe this is not cheaper option to pick CORSAIR DDRII-800 1GB*2, but this is the best brand for overclock module selection.
The cost is about 60USD, depends on different regional retail difference.


CORSAIR TWIN2X2048-6400 G





Motherboard selection:
The hottest model in 2007 must be P35 chipset, now it’s still the best option.
P35 chipset launched for a time, so all there are many competitors in all level segment.
The MSI P35 Neo3 is close to mid-entry level price and with good overclock ability. This model retail price is about 100USD.






For VGA side,
I take more consider about 8500GT or 8600GT which is more value,
then I saw ELSA 8500GT OC version with 8600GT PCB, performance and overclock ability is also good, so pick this with 95USD under retail price.

850GT RA 256B3 2DT RH

Test platform setup
CPU:INTEL Core 2 Duo E2160
MB: MSI P35 Neo3
DRAM:CORSAIR TWIN2X2048-6400 G
VGA:ELSA 850GT RA 256B3 2DT RH
HD:Seagate 7200.10 320G
POWER:Corsair VX450W Power Supply
Cooler: Intel original cooler


Default setup test
CPU: 200.9X7=>1807.3Mhz
DRAM: DDRII 803 CL5
VGA: 600/2000

Super PI 1M/CPUMARK


PCMARK2005


CrystalMark


CINEBENCH


3DMARK2003


3DMARK2005


3DMARK2006

Overclock setup test
CPU: 400X8=>3200.1Mhz 1.375V
DRAM: DDRII 1000 CL5
VGA: 690/ 2250

Super PI 1M/CPUMARK


PCMARK2005


CrystalMark


CINEBENCH


3DMARK2003


3DMARK2005


3DMARK2006



3.2G 1.375V SP2004 stable


DRAM
DDRII 1100 CL5 5-5-15 2.10V
Dual SP2004 stable


EVEREST&Sandra memory bandwidth test

CPU
389X9=>3500Mhz 1.425V
Super PI 1M/CPUMARK



BIOS overclock setup adjust tips
For CPU setup:
When FSB set on 400MHz *8, CPU voltage depends on it’s capability, you may try 1.325V~1.40V.
About NB voltage, 1.45V/SB IO power, 1.8V will auto set to this voltage to help overclock, you can adjust the voltage to default numbers.



DRAM setup:
DRAM voltage set on 2.10V with 1:1.5 ratio



For the latency, recommend CL5-5-5-15, TRFC also adjust to 48 to help memory overclock.


Use RivaTuner to overclock VGA



Choose System Setting


You can choose Core and Memory frequency, test and try the best frequency under crush or break 3D image frequency.



On CPU performance, C2D presents great, especially the numbers after overclock.
The early stage E2160 did not have good overclock limited as E2140,
but new stage E2160 is not bad.
Use slim type original may have chance to be stable with 3.2GHz,
over 3.5GHz is possible if enhance the cooling.


DRAM overclock range is higher than my evaluate, DDRII-1100 didn’t need high voltage.
CORSAIR brand image and warranty is really good in Europe and America,
the only concern is the price will be higher than normal brand.

MB CPU voltage is not correct on CPU-Z monitor, hope new version BIOS could fix the issue.
For 100USD P35 motherboard,
FSB200 CPU can overclock to FSB400 and stable,
4 PCI slot and good DRAM overclock ability, this board did have excellent Cost/Performance ratio.

VGA price is little bit higher than normal 8500GT, but compare with better 8600GT is also cheaper, the only cons is the VGA cooler is not quiet.
3D default performance close to 8600GT level, use 8600GTS PCB and great overclock range,
this ELSA VGA can take consideration both cost and performance.


I want to make this review to have entry/mid level platform recommendation,
let end users can purchase a cheaper PC platform with good performance value,
and also take care good overclock capability, also can bring great benefit for users.
This combination is not the only choice,
just my personal pick for best value recommend, users can depends on their budget, favor or what can purchase in different regional.
Once users have more information to compare, they can choose their own PC components smarter, that’s my wish.


Will we have AMD platform recommends? I’m not sure,
but hope I could have time to make it, wish all of you have a better year after Chinese New Year!