Overclocking Results:

stock max. oc processor speed: 3.16 ghz 4.24 ghz if you're new to Overclocking and not sure what to do, check out these two excellent Guides for some pointers: Overclocking the CPU and Memory Overclocking the Videocard

The Intel Core 2 Duo processor family is already known for its overclocking capabilities, so let's get to the good stuff! First the basics. Intel's Core 2 Duo E8500 CPU has a default clock speed of 3.16GHz, and the particular CPU PCSTATS is testing today is the 'SLB9K' type, or 'E0' stepping.

Going in to the overclocking challenge we're anticipating a healthy overclock of at least 1.0GHz... maybe even more. The previous Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 chip PCSTATS tested managed a good 1.05GHz overclock, so the Core 2 Duo E8500 should be capable pushing things at least that far. The processor will be overclocked on ASUS's fantastic P5E3 Premium motherboard (X48 Express chipset / DDR3 version) with a 2GB set of Patriot PDC32G1866LLK low latency high speed DDR3 memory.

Starting from 333 MHz FSB, the ASUS P5E3 Premium's frequency will be increased in 10 MHz increments. It was clear right from the get go that the 3.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 is quick overclocker!

All voltage settings were left to 'auto' in the ASUS AiTweaker BIOS, and in no time the E8500 chip was passing 3.65GHz, then 3.97GHz.... and 4.15GHz. That's a full 1.0GHz overclock!

Continuing to overclock the Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 processor further, PCSTATS increased the front side bus in from 435MHz to 445MHz, then 455MHz FSB which proved to be the ceiling for this particular E8500 CPU.

Still, that's a maximum overclocked speed of 4.34GHz, or 1.18GHz faster than stock!

Not bad at all considering we're using the stock Intel heatsink.

Unfortunately, while the computer did POST fine, and boot into Windows Vista at 4.34GHz, the system BSOD'd very shortly thereafter when stressed. The FSB speed was dialed back a bit and PCSTATS settled for a more stable overclock of 4.24GHz from the Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 processor.

I think one thing is pretty clear, even if you don't have a super fancy heatsink and just a quick motherboard and good set of memory you should be able to achieve some great overclocking results, PCSTATS achieved a 1.08GHz overclock with the Core 2 Duo E8500 processor!

Core 2 Duo E8500 Heatsink

One of the strange trends of Intel processors has been that new processors are generally more power efficient, if not cooler running, so thermal solutions have been getting smaller and smaller. The situation used to be completely opposite - newer chips meant bigger and more powerful CPU heatsinks that boasted copper, bigger fans and heatpipes designed to handle the extra heat load.

Instead, with the Core 2 Duo E8500 we get this rather pitiful looking, slim extruded aluminum heatsink.

On the upside this 65W processor doesn't require anything more substantial, so Intel can supply a heatsink which is lightweight, fairly quiet, and inexpensive. The base of the heatsink comes with a pre-applied patch of thermal compound so installation is easy.

PCSTATS has written a simple guide to installing / removing socket 775 heatsinks incase you have questions about how to upgrade your CPU, or want to replace the stock cooler with a more powerful heatsink right here. Also see Frostytech's Top 5 Heatsink Chart for a couple great recommendations.

Prelude to Benchmarks - Test System Configuration

Over the following page we'll be running the socket 775 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 processor though PCSTATS standard set of gaming, and productivity benchmarks. There are a wide variety of gaming and synthetic benchmarks here to illustrate what kind of performance boost users can expect from this dual core processor.

The specific details of how the Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 processor test system was configured for benchmarking - including the hardware, software drivers, operating system and benchmark versions - are indicated below. In the third and fourth columns are the general specs for the AMD and Intel reference platforms that it will be compared against. Please take a moment to look over PCSTATS test system configurations before moving on to the individual benchmark results on the next several pages.

PCSTATS Test System Configurations

test system reference system #1 reference system #2 reference system #3 processor: intel core 2 duo e8500* intel Core 2 Duo E8400 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition Intel Core i7 920 CPU Process Technology: 45nm 45nm 45nm 45nm Socket: Socket LGA775 Socket AM3/AM2+ Socket AM3/AM2+ Socket LGA1366 Clock Speed: 9.5 x 333 MHz = 3.16GHz (E8500) 9 x 333 MHz = 3.0 GHz (E8400) 16 x 200 MHz = 3.2 GHz 14 x 200 MHz = 2.8 GHz 20 x 133 MHz = 2.67 GHz Motherboard: Asus P5E3 Premium* (X48 Express) MSI X48 Platinum (X48 Express) Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P (AMD 790FX) ASUS M4A78T-E (AMD 790GX)* ASUS M3A78-T (AMD 790GX) MSI X58 Platinum (X58 Express) Videocard: ASUS ENGTS250 DK * (Geforce GTS250) MSI NX8800GTS-T2D320E (Geforce 8800GTS) ASUS ENGTS250 DK (Geforce GTS250) MSI NX8800GTS-T2D320E (Geforce 8800GTS) ASUS ENGTS250 DK (Geforce GTS 250) Memory: 2x1GB Patriot PDC32G1600LLK DDR3 2x2GB Corsair XMS3-1600C9 DDR3 2x1GB Patriot PDC32G1600LLK DDR3* 2x1GB Corsair Twin2X-8888C4D DDR2 3x2GB Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D DDR3 Hard Drive: 74GB Western Digital Raptor WD740 Optical Drive: ASUS BC-1205PT-BD Power Supply: PC Power amp; Cooling TurboCool 750W Heatsink: Intel Reference 775 Heatsink Athlon64 K8 Reference Heatsink Intel Reference 1366 Heatsink Software Setup: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Intel INF 9.0.0.1008 nVIDIA Forceware 169.25 Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate AMD Catalyst 9.4 nVIDIA Forceware 182.08 Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate AMD Catalyst 9.1 nVIDIA Forceware 169.25 Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Intel INF 9.1.0.1012 nVIDIA Forceware 182.08 Benchmarks: System Benchmarks: SYSmark 2007 PCMark Vantage SiSoft Sandra 2009 Calculation B/M: Super Pi 1.5 wPrime 2.0 ScienceMark 2.3 WinRAR 3.8 Bibble 5 Rendering B/M: Cinebench R10 POV-Ray 3.7 SPECviewPerf 10 Gaming B/M: 3DMark06 3DMark Vantage Cyrsis FEAR TEST NOTES: * The E0 stepping Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 CPU would not run in the MSI X48 Platinum motherboard (BIOS issues, no update available to fix), so the ASUS P5E3 Premium motherboard was selected.