Unlocking a 2500+?

[Starburn]

Whats the easiest way to do it?

I've been running my 2500+ at 11x201 for over a year now.. runs at 38c & very stable, so I'm thinking of taking the multiplier up.
Also thinking of overclocking my Radeon, but without knowing what temperature its running at.. I'm a little cautious (don't want to destroy it ).

System:
Epox 8RDA+ 1.1, XP2500+ (@ 3200+), 2x256 Corsair Value (2-3-3-8), Radeon 9800pro.

[BUFF]

if it's a locked Barton you can't unlock it on an nForce2 platform.

[blockers]

Bartons after week 40 were multipler locked iirc - nothing will unlock them.

Post the speed of the RAM (pc2700/3200 etc)

Depending how confident you are, take of the radeon heatsink, and remove all the thermal grease/pad and apply a fresh ultra thin layer of AS5. Then download radlinker and start overclocking slowly. When you notice artifacts (white dots on teh screen) then back off a bit.

You shouldnt have to worry about killing the card as long as you go slowly, and dont up the voltage or do voltmods.

Will.

[mrdata2003]

try ATItool to find the max overclock on the 9800pro


only the new bartons are super locked so can't be multi unlocked, if yours is a year old then the 8RDA+ nforce2 board should allow you to change the multi.

[BUFF]

only the new bartons are super locked so can't be multi unlocked, if yours is a year old then the 8RDA+ nforce2 board should allow you to change the multi.

It was ~week 40 of 2003 that they started superlocking & they don't make desktop Barton 2500+s at all any more

[Starburn]

Bought my 2500+ on the 6/01/04.. just checked order history

Hmm I may put some AS5 on my Radeon, & my NB while I'm there.. although I left my AS5 at home :/ (I'm at uni atm).
Currently doing some case modding, might do it when I switch over the stuff from this case into the new one.

The RAM is PC3200.. I doubt Corsair value 2700 would do 201mhz.. although I might be wrong.

[blockers]

Why dont you keep raising the fsb. as pc3200 is designed to run at 200fsb, so it should go a fair bit more that 201!!

I managed to get my samsung pc2700 (166fsb) to 200.

Also, if you are having trouble going further maybe slacken the timings and see how that affects your overall performance. This may just be for abit nf7-s but if you set the divider to 6/6 and the last timing to 11 (cant remember the name) it is faster and more stable. Alternatively you could up the voltage a bit......hhmm, gone slightly off topic.

Good luck.

[Starburn]

VCore: 1.665v
VDimm: 2.752v

Had a diddle with OC'ing the Radeon:
"All Stock": 11x166mhz, RAM 2.5-3-3-7, Radeon 378/337.5(675)
"Overclocked": 11x203mhz, RAM 2.5-3-3-8, Radeon 405/355(710)

3DMark 03' -
All Stock: 5698
Overclocked: 6171

3DMark 01' -
All Stock: 15251
Overclocked: 17978

Sorry no compare for the stock 03', can only publish one
Its a fair improvement, shame I can't unlock the multiplier on the barton though.
I may get a new HSF & some memory heatsinks for the radeon; see how far I can take it.

Why dont you keep raising the fsb. as pc3200 is designed to run at 200fsb, so it should go a fair bit more that 201!!

I don't really want to push it further than 201-203ish as my NB is currently only passive cooled & my SB has no cooling at-all - I'm also lead to believe the 8RDA+ 1.1 was originally only meant to run at a max of 166 too.

[Rave]

Yeah it was- that doesn't mean it won't happily do more than 200 though. I have an 8RGA+ here that seems perfectly happy at 200, whereas my V2.1 8RDA+ craps out at 189 even though it's actually designed for 200.

You'll get slightly better memory performance if you set the memory to 2.5-3-3-11. Don't ask me why, but Nforce2 and A64 platforms perform best with a tRAS of 10 or 11.

[blockers]

As long as you dont up the voltage on the NB then it should be fine, when it starts to cause problems drop it down a few fsb. It wont do any permenant damage without a voltage increase. As for the SB, i found that on my NF7-S the sound via soundstorm started ot go crackly when it was getting hot. so as long as you watch out for that you should be fine.