X. Overclocking

After seeing how this motherboard performs at stock settings, and in combination with various flavors of processors (Single Core non-HT, Single Core HT, and Dual Core), as promised, I will now delve whether this motherboard is any good with overclocking. Again, as noted and mentioned many times in this article, this motherboard is geared on the value segment and is not made to extreme enthusiasts. If anything, never treat this motherboard as it is geared on the market: entry level.

Now, having said entry level, I will be using components that I believe are entry level. The use of different processor flavors has been covered already in the past article, so stability of this board even on dual core processor is already out of the question. For a budget system, I will still ensure that there will be no compromise in performance in stock settings, and of course, in overclocked settings. Bear this in mind as you look into my reasoning of choosing the components of this mini overclocking test.

::Test Setup One - Single Core::

• Processor: IntelŪ PentiumŪ 4 506 (2.66GHz/1MB/533MHz)
• Motherboard: IntelŪ Desktop Board D101GGC Bios 0304
• Memory: 512MB Kingston ValueRAM DDR400 (2x256MB)
• Hard Disk: Maxtor 80GB 7200rpm IDE
• Video Card: On-board, 64MB shared
• Optical Drive: LD DVD Drive
• Floppy Drive: Generic
• Chassis: Mars 722 Orbit
• Power Supply: Delta Electronics 320W
• Operating System: Windows XP SP2

Now, this board has absolutely zero overclocking tweaking options. Even Chipzilla's very own IDCC 1.x and 2.x is not working on this motherboard. This shouldn't be a major concern, since this is an entry level value motherboard. So buying this board in the hopes of easy overclocking will be met only with frustration. But of course, if there's a will, there will be a way to overclock them. However, unless you're one of the old school solder-overclocker, or one of the geeks, casual overclocker can't find a way to tweaking it to increase clock speed.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I am able to bump clock speed. I manage to hit a very stable and healthy 1.2GHz above the stock clock speed. Now, this is a very respectable speed. Why? Because without any kind of voltage tweak, no option in the BIOS, running on a stock fan, I am only using a 320w super old Delta Electronics power supply on a cheap chassis. The benchmark results are nothing to sneeze at as well as it offered tremendous increase in performance. The motherboard also allows a cheaper processor such as this IntelŪ PentiumŪ 4 506 to perform beyond its current capabilities. If you have any doubts about the screenshot, here's the validation link. With a 2.66GHz processor to a 3.8GHz processor on a supposedly non-overclockable board, I can't complain!

Now let's see if this board can still handle and overclock a dual core processor.

::Test Setup Two - Single Core::

• Processor: IntelŪ PentiumŪ D 840 (3.2GHz/2x1MB/800MHz)
• Motherboard: IntelŪ Desktop Board D101GGC Bios 0304
• Memory: 1024MB Kingston HyperX DDR400, 256MB GeIL Ultra Platinum PC4000(1x1GB, 1x256MB)
• Hard Disk: Maxtor 80GB 7200rpm IDE
• Video Card: On-board, 64MB shared
• Optical Drive: LD DVD Drive
• Floppy Drive: Generic
• Chassis: Mars 722 Orbit
• Power Supply: Delta Electronics 320W
• Operating System: Windows XP SP2

Since I am testing a motherboard here rather than the CPU overclockability, I puff down the multiplier down to 14 to simulate a 2.8GHz dual core processor. I then tried to push the FSB as high as I can until the OS will halt and crash. I reached that stable sweet spot of 240FSB, and suicide screenshot at 245FSB. I can not manage to break 250FSB since I only have a DDR400 1GB RAM, while the GeIL will not work without the Kingston. Anyway, a 245FSB above 200FSB stock for a cheap motherboard is very impressive.

XI. Parting thoughts...

IntelŪ did not make this motherboard a slouch. It is a very competitive board, and considering the target segment, it is feature packed. While 3D benchmark scores fared way below, this is not a "con", rather, an accepted norm within the value arena.

The audio solution is not for the audiophiles. While the bass and treble are rich, they are not deep enough for my taste. But then again, aside from it being a value board, user taste is far from being standard. I can personally say that I enjoyed the audio solution, using Windows Media Player and showing its Visualization option full screen never stalled the PC, providing clear and noise-free music.

The storage access speed is acceptable for regular use, installing the operating system from the scratch, took less than 30mins, and is straight forward. There was no pause to install any other additional drivers, except during the finalization stage: i.e. OS is fully installed and only need the bundled CD software. Using the bundled Express Installer takes away the hassle of thinking which driver to install first, as the software installs all the needed drivers in proper order.

The LAN speed is decent, peak bandwidth for the auto settings is about 80Mbps, with a test file transfer of 80Gbps using ATA 100 IDE harddisk on the server. The USB speed is also within the norm, and I never encountered issues plugging/unplugging USB devices. I utilized all four(4) USB rear connectors by adding USB Keyboard, Mouse, Camera, and a Flash Drive. Everything works flawlessly.

Overclocking the board is a lot of fun, it wasn't so hard, and aside from the annoying fact that my overclock always revert back to default every reboot, I really can not complain since Chipzilla isn't really known for allowing users to overclock their products (except for the high end one, and even those, are only limited to 10% maximum overclock). And may I add, that under overclocked settings, the whole system is very stable. I knew that if I would solder-mod the processor and tweak the vCore, then I can hit way beyond 3.8GHz. Now, imagine using a very affordable IntelŪ PentiumŪ D 805 and then overclock it, I bet you're going to enjoy it. Don't expect record breaking scores though.

Finally, to test supportability of this board, which is crucial for users who have little to no knowledge with PC, I called the Customer Support hotline. The agents are very knowledgable with the products and are able to answer all my queries. I ask about the warranty policy they provide for such a value board, and the fact is staggering: they provide free freight for pick up and delivery of any board found to be defective anywhere in the world. Now, in the US or any other mature country, this may sound like a normal thing. But from where I live where I have to shell out big bucks just have my board RMAed (not to mention, the gas and or commute fee and toll fee) since shipping abroad are very expensive. This fact separates IntelŪ from just your typical motherboard manufacturer: 3Years of Warranty with free pick-up and delivery anywhere in the world you may have purchased this item is truly unbeatable.

In closing, I highly recommend this board for those looking for a perfect bang for the buck motherboard that will never leave you in the dark.