Of the current CPU's that are out there, which one is the most overclockable? Meaning the one that can achieve the highest Ghz number yet still remain stable for daily operation. Thank you.

In the realm of affordability, the most popular processors are the E6700 and the Q6600 for the older generation 65nm Core 2 and the E8400 and the Q9300 for the new 45nm CPUs. Dunno about the 45nm chips, but they're similar and produce less heat. My Q6600 is OCed to 3.3 and is stable after running Prime95 for 10 hours, but will probably hit 3.4-3.5 with a top of the line heatsink, which I don't have. E6700 Duos can go to 3.6 and above with less cooling.Then you have the Extreme series processors, but the advantages of those really only starts showing when you have gone to liquid, phase change, or liquid nitrogen/dry ice cooling. The Extreme CPUs are useful for getting past the limits of FSB overclocking when your cpu cooling is extreme and you have a lot of headroom in the CPU but not the motherboard's FSB. If you have some wild cooling, the Extreme series will take you far out there.

Generally, people are getting higher overclocks out of dual-core cpu's as opposed to quads. That's not to say there are not some amazing quad-core Extreme-Edition overclocks--there are, with the phase change and rad cooling Mach42 mentions...it's just that by and large the dualies overclock higher.The E8500 is also overclocking well, Carl (lasnubes) here has passed 4.0 ghz 24/7 stable with only a little work.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

Thank you for that info. I've never overclocked before so this is all quite new to me. I'm pretty sure that I will attempt to overclock my next system.When you guys refer to Extreme series, are you talking about the QX9770 and the QX9775?

>Thank you for that info. I've never overclocked before so>this is all quite new to me. I'm pretty sure that I will>attempt to overclock my next system.>When you guys refer to Extreme series, are you talking about>the QX9770 and the QX9775? yes. And there are others too. All of them are $1000+RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

>yes. And there are others too. All of them are $1000+>>>RhettWhat are the others?

For aprox 85 bucks you can get a AMD 5000 Black Edition and it runs at 3.2 not bad at all - check it out :)

>>>yes. And there are others too. All of them are $1000+>>>>>>Rhett>>>What are the others?Intel started this type of branding several years agoThere was/is a Pentium 4 extreme edition cpu I believethere is also the QX6700, the QX6800, QX6850 (all 65nm cpu's)and the new QX9650, QX9770 and QX9775 (45 nm cpu's)RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

>Intel started this type of branding several years ago>There was/is a Pentium 4 extreme edition cpu I believe>>there is also the QX6700, the QX6800, QX6850 (all 65nm cpu's)>and the new QX9650, QX9770 and QX9775 (45 nm cpu's)>>RhettHaha the P4 Extreme is what I currently have. Talk about high end:)

>Generally, people are getting higher overclocks out of>dual-core cpu's as opposed to quads. That's not to say there>are not some amazing quad-core Extreme-Edition>overclocks--there are, with the phase change and rad cooling>Mach42 mentions...it's just that by and large the dualies>overclock higher.>>The E8500 is also overclocking well, Carl (lasnubes) here has>passed 4.0 ghz 24/7 stable with only a little work.>>Rhett>>AMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS>A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150>gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb>5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster PraetorianRhett is correct- I run my e8500 at 4.0gHz- 24/7- Prime95 stable- and it wasn't a lot of work to get there. I do recommend a tower/heat pipe design cooler (I use the Tuniq 120). Should you want to get to 4.1 or 4.2 (which they say is entirely possible) I would suggest a board with a newer chipset- my P35 based board seems to top out at 4.0.Still, at 4.0gHz on AIR- FS9 is simply delightful and in dabbling with FSX I have been very pleased as well. I plan on staying here until Sandy Bridge.Best-Carl F. Avari-Cooper BAW0225http://online.vatsimindicators.net/980091/523.png| XP Pro SP2 | 2 x APC UPS | Coolermaster Stacker 830 SE | Gigabyte P35 DS3R | e8500 @ 4gHz | Tuniq Tower 120 | EVGA 8800GT 512MB | Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty | 2 x 1 GB Corsair XMS2 | 2 x 320GB WD Caviar RAID 0 | Corsair HX620W PS | CH Products Yoke-Pedals-Throttle Quadrant | Aerosoft 747MCP-EFIS-EICAS |

Carl, I have ordered an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro.It will cool my e8500 cpu. I'll be running the X48 chipset with DDR3 1600 mem.I hope the Freezer 7 Pro is sufficient to get me to around 4.0 ghz. I think it will be. If it's not, I will get some other cpu cooler.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian

Rhett-I think you will like the x38 and the DDR3 memory. In fact, I think that as long as the Artic is able, you may get to 4.2 quite easily. Do let me know, but try in SMALL steps :). Also, I'm not sure its worth it, but I read somewhere that its better to run stock for a few days first.......Best-Carl F. Avari-Cooper BAW0225http://online.vatsimindicators.net/980091/523.png| XP Pro SP2 | 2 x APC UPS | Coolermaster Stacker 830 SE | Gigabyte P35 DS3R | e8500 @ 4gHz | Tuniq Tower 120 | EVGA 8800GT 512MB | Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty | 2 x 1 GB Corsair XMS2 | 2 x 320GB WD Caviar RAID 0 | Corsair HX620W PS | CH Products Yoke-Pedals-Throttle Quadrant | Aerosoft 747MCP-EFIS-EICAS |

Don't worry, I am very conservative in my overclocking. Plus I will have Vista64 to get used to...I kind of dread that.I will run stock for a while until I make sure things are all running ok, and I get things installed and going. I think, even at the stock 3.16 ghz, the E8500 will be quite a change from my overclocked 3700+.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian