The most affordable option for upgrading the G3258/G3260 is the cheapest motherboard available.
The most affordable option for upgrading the G3258/G3260 is the cheapest motherboard available.
I'm preparing to assemble an Intel G3258/G3260 right now. I've heard this processor is excellent for overclocking and offers good value. I plan to use it for schoolwork and playing Dota, and I'm new to OC and working with a very limited budget.
I want to know:
- What's the maximum clock speed achievable with a stock cooler, and how much does it improve?
- Can it run Dota 2 at its base clock with the built-in GPU?
- Will the CPU's base clock become a bottleneck when using a GeForce 750 Ti or 960?
- Is it possible to perform an OC on this model using an ECS H81H3-M4?
The stock cooler is a robust Intel cooler, but it may not match the performance of a 212 Evo. It should be sufficient for overclocking the chip to its full capacity, likely.
Your second question remains unclear—I can't provide a detailed response.
It might cause some bottlenecking, though not significantly (it won't be noticeable unless you're running tasks that only use one or two cores). As I mentioned, if your workloads are mainly optimized for just a few cores, a decent overclock (around 4.2) will keep things smooth.
Question 4 mainly depends on whether you're comfortable using non-standard BIOS settings. Many 81 and 85 series motherboards have available BIOS versions that support Haswell overclocking. You should look it up online.