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Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 - Effortless Overclocking

By Vijay Anand - 18 Jun 2007

Concluding Remarks

Core 2 Duo E6420 - Easy Overclocking, Easy Performance Gain

Leading performance, low power consumption and heat output were the official reasons why the Intel Core 2 Duo processors are a hit with consumers, but unofficially, the processor's knack for overclocking is as important a factor as its other credentials. In the enthusiast's world, it's all about performance and clock speeds and the ease of overclocking these processors with huge gains made them an instant hit with this voiceful group. This echo was soon picked up by the mainstream DIY'ers whose mission is to pack the most value for any amount spent. Obviously with the Core 2 Duo processors and their huge headroom, many have a chance to dabble in this art safely without much concern as well as bag notable performance improvements. Now who wouldn't want that?

While overclocking still isn't condoned by any component manufacturer, and the necessity for it has been diminishing these days, the thrill of overclocking and speedups for audio/video encoding as well as other time/resource intensive tasks are still welcomed by all. With the spotlight this time round on the Core 2 Duo E6420 processor, we've once again proven how easy it is to overclock and reap huge gains without any added costs at all. In fact, the total system cost by going with the E6420 route may be lower than that of the E6320. The E6420 processor has an 8x CPU multiplier versus 7x on the E6320, thus allowing it to scale the Gigahertz ladder a lot quicker, and with less effort. For one, very little voltage boost was required, thus the processor operates at a lower temperatures, consumes less power and doesn't require any aftermarket coolers in our observation.

If you thought overclocking the E6300 was easy, overclocking the Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 is a walk in the park! With an inherent higher CPU multiplier, climbing the Gigahertz ladder can be achieved with little or no voltage boosts with the right hardware combo.

In this article, we managed to overclock the E6420 processor to 3.23GHz at an FSB of 404MHz 'only'. An FSB of around 400MHz is within reach by almost all Intel P965 and Intel P35 motherboards with rudimentary overclocking controls. And with very little voltage boosts needed to both the processor and Northbridge, it's easy to get a stable 400MHz FSB overclock going. The E6420 at this speed felt cooler to the touch than our E6300 clocked at 3.36GHz, thus the stock cooler was sufficient for its needs. Memory is yet another aspect and at close to 400MHz FSB, we could utilize standard DDR2-800 memory modules (or even overclock the better DDR2-667 modules). The E6300 required DDR2-1000 modules to reach FSB speeds approaching 500MHz FSB for its maximum overclock (not to mention better overclocking-grade motherboards, higher voltages and a better performing after-market cooler for precaution's sake). The net result? The overclocked E6420 at 3.23GHz was just a shade slower than the E6300 at 3.36GHz, but it did manage to better the latter in certain tests.

Overclocking for notable improvements has never been as easy as it has been with the Intel Core 2 Duo E6420, and more so since it doesn't require expensive supporting components. If you're still sitting on the fence, it's about time you try it out yourself too and enjoy the kicks.

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