I'm just building a new PC with using an Intel E2200 "Allendale" Core 2 2.2 GHz processor on an XFX nForce 630i model MG-630i-7159 motherboard. This is a very similar configuration to my $400 computer build list. Just for the heck of it I changed the FSB from 800 MHz to 1064 MHz using stock voltage and the next thing I know I'm running at 2.93 GHz. I haven't tried pushing it higher yet but pushing it to 1200 MHz base would jack the CPU up to 3.3 GHz which might require a voltage boost.
But before I try a faster speed, I ran a quick benchmark using wPrime 1.53 and compared it to my Intel E6600 2.4 GHz system. The E2200 @ 2.93 GHz completed the 32M test at 28.362 seconds while my E6600 at the stock 2.4 GHz took 34.125 seconds. Even this is an older 65nm dual-core value line CPU, I'm very impressed with it and I'm very pleased with this motherboard's ability to overclock.
The system has a 400 GB Seagate hard drive using the NVIDIA 7150 embedded graphics and has an 18x DVD burner. The total system at the wall idles at an impressive 48 watts and its overclocked setting at 2.93 GHz under load using wPrime 1.53 was an impressive 80 watts and seems to be stable so far. The embedded graphics performance seems to be decent but I need to do a more thorough review of that.
However, this system seems to lock up after it wakes out of S3 Sleep state and I log in to the computer. I thought it had something to do with the overclock setting but it wasn't. The system locks up even under all stock settings. Just to put this in to context, most systems I build I have had similar problems with an Abit motherboard with an Intel 945 chipset as well. The problem probably isn't chipset related since some because I've had other motherboards with the same chipset work just fine. I'll have to check with XFX to see why this is being problematic. I haven't tried updating the BIOS yet but that may be my next immediate step. I'm not sure if this is an implementation issue with XFX or an NVIDIA driver issue.
So far, it looks like a very stable motherboard for overclocking and the CPU will handle the higher clock speeds just fine, but this motherboard from XFX has a defective S3 sleep state. So if this was for a server or a media center that constantly stayed on, then it would be a great system since it uses so little power in idle. But this would be a problem for a normal PC since S3 sleep state operates at a very efficient 2 watts and allows instant-on.
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