A Step Backwards...

Well, my Intel journey took another twist and I'm back to an e8400 again.

For the uninitiated, I started out with a Wolfie right when they came out but fell prey to quad-envy and traded out for a q9300 a few months later.

Don't get me wrong- quads are nice but the 9300's low multiplier left me stuck at 3.3GHz and I missed the higher speed of the dualcore, a completely subjective decision I must admit.
Besides, I never did anything that utilized the four cores.

So, another series of deals leaves me with another new retail Wolfdale and some more harddrives (which I've yet to receive).

My first 8400 was a real "golden chip", capable of 4GHz at very low voltage and I was certain that this later batch would be less accommodating...and it is.
Haven't gone through the extensive burn-in process yet, so I don't know where this chip will end up but it did hit 3.6GHz relatively painlessly and I have hope.
With the benefit of more long term data, I think I'm going to up my voltage cap from 1.3v to 1.4v and this should get me back to 4GHz...but time will tell.

Here are two shots from PCPitstop with the chip at 3.6GHz.
The first is with all visual effects enabled...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/84001.jpg

And the second with them turned off...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v78/clocker/84002.jpg

The big change from my first time round is the switch to Vista Ultimate x64.
For some reason my video score has increased significantly (in Vista 32, even with all eyecandy off, I was only getting @550) but this may be just newer drivers...dunno.

Anyway, it's nice to be back.