Overclocking the AMD A64 4200+ AM2 Processor

Reaching 3GHz for $184

In all honesty I didn’t know what to expect in terms of overclocking when I started working on this article, but I’m very happy with the results. Taking a 2.2GHz processor that retails for $184 and overclocking it to 3.0GHz is priceless even if it wasn’t 100% stable. To reach this massive overclock we did use a number of products that are known to be good quality, but nothing was modified or any different than what you get when you order one from your favorite reseller.

We are not done with the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ AM2 processor and currently still have it on the test bench, but this time it’s under water. The goal here is to see if we can make it stable and get past 3.0GHz with the aid of water cooling. While this article was not a normal review for the site, we hope that you enjoy it and find it informative. Legit Reviews understands that not everyone can afford $400+ processors and that is why we got in a sub $200 processor. For $184 I feel this processor is a steal and when one looks at pricing the Intel versus AMD battle is interesting. You can pick up the 4200+ AMD for $184 and the Foxconn 590SLI motherboard for $180 – making this a $365 combo. Compare that to the Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Allendale which retails for $299 plus the cost of a decent i975X motherboard which start at $229.99 and they go up from there making an Intel combo at least $529. Saving $165 and having the chance of getting an AMD A64 X2 AM2 processor that can hit 3GHz sounds like a pretty good deal. What do you think? Sound off in our forums with your thoughts.

Update: Part 2 of this article has been published and can be read here. In part two we show performance benchmarks and use watercooling to overclock even higher than on air!