{"id":230,"date":"2006-08-03T07:38:33","date_gmt":"2006-08-03T07:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/neosmart.net\/blog\/archives\/230"},"modified":"2013-08-26T18:10:17","modified_gmt":"2013-08-26T23:10:17","slug":"overclocking-the-conroe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neosmart.net\/blog\/overclocking-the-conroe\/","title":{"rendered":"Overclocking the Conroe"},"content":{"rendered":"

So you Want to Overclock that Conroe?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Intel [[INTC]] finally has its new line of Conroe processors out, and no matter who or where you ask, they’ve done quite a good job with them. On the other side of the court AMD is readying its own AM2 line for release, with the FX-64 promising quite a punch.. While we haven’t been lucky enough to receive prototypes of either of these two product lines, our product analysts have been hard at work studying the reviews conducted by other big names in the hardware review industry. As such, this isn’t a review, rather it’s more of an analysis of these next generation CPUs, the technology behind them, and what it means for overclockers and bleeding-edge enthusiasts today.<\/p>\n

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Intel’s Conroes use the new 65nm manufacturing process which is a reference to just how small the transistors on the CPU die really are. Because it uses smaller transistors, Intel can pack more of these transistors into the same amount of space to accomplish what they normally did with less. Counter-intuitive it may be, but in this case, more for less is better. Instead of spending money making each transistor more powerful and pack more of a punch, Intel has elected to make each transistor smaller<\/em> and just use more of them — making it quite a bit cheaper for them to produce.<\/p>\n

The price has its obvious effects (such as making AMD shake and lower their prices at a cost to themselves), but for the hard-core overclocker, all it means is that ground-zero is suddenly a bit higher up than it used to be: you start off with more power, and it’s only logical that you can take it further than ever before. But it’s much more important and far more complicated than a bit of high-school economics and “wallet science,” in fact, it’s pure physics from here on.<\/p>\n

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The Science<\/strong><\/p>\n

The science of many smaller chips over fewer more powerful ones is all in the energy. If you have a lot of transistors splitting the load, it’s a much more efficient process. The difficulties of producing such small transistors aside, it means that each smaller transistor will demand less<\/em> energy and power than its predecessor, and the greater transistor count just means it’ll carry out that much more work per cycle — so far, so good.<\/p>\n

But what matters more than all this is the thermal density wall. The real limit in overclocking is the juice: how much you can give the CPU, and how much it can take. With the Conroes, there is only good news to report: the (far) lower power consumption means that you can overclock it quite a bit more. Here’s why:<\/p>\n

Energy cannot be created or destroyed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This fundamental law of physics in one sentence sums up everything you need to know to properly deal with heat management and CPUs. In a word, it means that whatever juice your CPU sucks in, it will spit back out as heat for you to deal with. The more power it consumes, the hotter it’s going to run. The hotter it runs, the less room you have for overclocking. Easy.<\/p>\n

In the past, overclockers have had to resort to diabolical measures to keep the CPU cores from overheating: Tunic Tower, Water, LN2, Dry Ice, and more. With the Conroe, you don’t have to. Well, obviously, you still can; but you’ll get far enough without it too. <\/p>\n

As the studies show, the Conroes are amazingly efficient and have excellent performance\/power ratios. Intel’s traditional problem has been the thermal density wall: their technologies (theoretically) would have been excellent for higher clock-speeds, but for the fact that the heat kept them from reaching it.<\/p>\n

These long years later, the heat index has been reset but the performance is still going, and that’s all what matters to overclocking enthusiasts. Since the “ground-zero” heat barrier has dropped considerably, there is all of a sudden a lot more room for you to drive your performance upward at little or no cost.<\/p>\n

While this “review” of sorts has focused on Intel and specifically, the Conroe processors; from what we hear AMD might very well have the same by the end of the year, and the same rules should apply. It doesn’t matter if they get their 65nm line out today, tomorrow, or in a year, the laws of physics are here to stay and can’t be broken, so worry not, they’ll apply!<\/p>\n

Sources and Recommended Reading<\/strong> <\/p>\n