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Core Duo successfully over-clocked to 3.8GHz

May 9, 2006 by Dr. Macenstein
Filed under: News

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Faithful Macenstein reader rico has turned us on to a posting over at Cooling Masters which claims to have successfully over-clocked a Core Duo (T2600) chip to as high as 3.8GHz. (Or at least we think thatâ€™s what it saysâ€¦it’s in French, and we have enough trouble reading benchmarks in English.)

The T2600 is the current top of the line 2.16GHz chip Intel ships. Yet one user has gotten the chip to run as high as 3.21 GHz using air-cooling, and up to 3.8GHz using phase change cooling. (Of special note, it seems the over-clockers were limited not by the chip itself, but by the FSB instead!)

So, what does that mean for Mac users? It means there are people with way too much time and money on their hands (Phase change coolers run around $350). It also means (theoretically) the current stock of Intel chips could likely run much faster than they currently do, providing they were put inside something BIG enough to support such a cooling systemâ€¦ something like, say, a PowerMac.

Now, we all know Apple is waiting for the new Core 2 Duo chips before releasing a new PowerMac, but what I am hoping is this experiment implies that perhaps the Core 2 Duos will be shipping around the 3+ GHz range when they DO arrive, given Apple’s history of cooling experiments in the current batch of PowerMacs.

[UPDATE: Some benchmarks have now been posted.]

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Comments

16 Comments on Core Duo successfully over-clocked to 3.8GHz

Way Cool Jr. on Tue, 9th May 2006 7:11 am

Where’s liquid cooling fall in the whole cooling scheme?
how efficient compared to air and phase change?

frying on Tue, 9th May 2006 10:20 am

has somebody figured out eventual multiplier resistors on the macbook pro motherboard

Wow on Tue, 9th May 2006 1:57 pm

So Apple may finally meet that 3 Ghz mark.. hahaha

Agent Cody Banks on Tue, 9th May 2006 2:20 pm

Never happen.

Intel will keep inventing new chips that perform better with lower clock speeds.
The earth would crack in half if Apple ever released a 3 GHz machine.

Woz on Tue, 9th May 2006 4:45 pm

And I do know, that Apple will release a 3Ghz+ Mac Pro!

Woodcrest will make it possible. Theoretically the Power Mac G5 “Quad” already got 10Ghz.

And they already released one: the Transition Kit had a Pentium 4 with 3,4Ghz (or more… but I’m sure, it was more than 3Ghz)

Eugene F on Tue, 9th May 2006 6:48 pm

Considering how hot apple runs now, either they redesign the damn thing or are going to send computers that will last a few months to awaiting consumers.

Seandon Mooy on Tue, 9th May 2006 7:09 pm

High clock doesnt always mean higher performance.
the equation for “performance” defined at INTEL, is this:
performance = Clock cycles per second (the speed that is measued with the Ghz and Mhz) * intructions per clock cycle.

What do you think HyperThreading does, people? It uses idle steps during intructions to do other intructions; creating more “intructions per clock cycle”, meaning no frequency change (clock speed), but greater performance.
Its useful to note here that Intel and AMD both aim to raise intructions per clock cycle and lower clock cycles in general, thus greating better performance with lower power.

Andy on Tue, 9th May 2006 7:11 pm

# Eugene F Says:
May 9th, 2006 at 6:48 pm

Considering how hot apple runs now, either they redesign the damn thing or are going to send computers that will last a few months to awaiting consumers.

What are you talking about they will last a few months? I must be reading that wrong an g3 that still runs as good as the day I bought it. Apple dosent release cheap crap i’m afraid. (most of the time I’m sure somoene could point me to something that would be considered crap.)

Seandon Mooy on Tue, 9th May 2006 7:11 pm

thus greating better = thus creating better

Jason on Tue, 9th May 2006 7:45 pm

Actually, looking at my original Developer Transition Kit, it has a 3.6Ghz Xeon (not P4) … Looks like Apple broke the 3Ghz barrier with the very first Intel machine they made.

Way Cool Jr. on Tue, 9th May 2006 10:00 pm

Apple had nothing (very little) to do with those boxes.
The developer machines were stock Dells pretty much.

And those weren’t production machines. I’m sure Apple had 3GHz G5 machines in their sercret labs…But no 3GHz production machines.

Al on Wed, 10th May 2006 4:51 am

Doesnt Phase Change cooling = Liquid to Air cooling (aka a radiator/heatpipe)?

Anyway… Apple has not had anything to do with ANY of the new motherboards… they are stock intel designs.

Aladin on Wed, 10th May 2006 5:29 am

I am tinhking about what can Apple offer to Pro customers in next 12 month? Is it possible it woudl produce Intel based Mac Pro that would run Photoshop in Rosetta faster then Quad PM natively? God know but I guees not. So are they going to release at least one G5 update more? Together with new Intel Mac Pro line? It also sound strange. Will 2.5 GHz Quad PM be able to compete Merom based PCs?
It will be very interesting to see what is going on.

Dik on Mon, 15th May 2006 10:29 pm

“Doesnt Phase Change cooling = Liquid to Air cooling (aka a radiator/heatpipe)?”

Phase change would most likely be a refrigerant system that undergoes a phase change for temperature drop. Examples of this are your refrigerator/freezer and your automobile air conditioning. They both compress a gas, then cool it till it becomes a liquid, and expand it to a gas again with the resulting considerable drop in refrigerant temperature.

tsgqqgdoys on Sun, 25th Jun 2006 10:49 pm