CPU upgrade? socket A...

[streetster]

Hey Guys,

I currently have an 1700+ xp, as per my sig.. only got it clocked at 1.9Ghz due to my nforce2 motherboard being crap in comparison to my old via/epox one which let me run at 2.3Ghz....

so basically, I was wondering if i should get a 3200+ barton or something similar as this board isnt so good for overclocking, just give me a general speed boost, just.. well just for the sake of it..

any ideas / places with any bargain XPs ?

[OV3RCL0C3R]

Hey Guys,

I currently have an 1700+ xp, as per my sig.. only got it clocked at 1.9Ghz due to my nforce2 motherboard being crap in comparison to my old via/epox one which let me run at 2.3Ghz....

so basically, I was wondering if i should get a 3200+ barton or something similar as this board isnt so good for overclocking, just give me a general speed boost, just.. well just for the sake of it..

any ideas / places with any bargain XPs ?

i would suggest that sell the cpu and mobo combo you got right now. The money you get from that, add it to the money you were going to spend on cpu and then get your self a new mobo and cpu, socket 939 in agp

[streetster]

tempting, but id need to get a new 1/2" waterblock.. and its just generally more effort.. I guess there isnt a great urgency to upgrade, just thought that if there is anywhere flogging old XPs it might be worth grabbing one... I think i'll try and save some money over the summer and replace this box with whatever nice shuttle is out around that time 64bit + pci-e + 2gb ram etc

[Rave]

There aren't really any bargain socket A CPUs around to buy new atm; you could keep an eye out for secondhand stuff of course. I'm not sure why you'd want a new CPU when your motherboard is the limiting factor though?

[streetster]

its the limiting factor in the overclock.. the old epox board used to support a vcore of 1.8v + but the nforce maxes out at 1.75... so if i had a CPU which could handle a higher speed by default it would be faster... i think.. hmm think i'll just stick with what ive got.

[malfunction]

its the limiting factor in the overclock.. the old epox board used to support a vcore of 1.8v + but the nforce maxes out at 1.75... so if i had a CPU which could handle a higher speed by default it would be faster... i think.. hmm think i'll just stick with what ive got.

You can always wire wrap the vid pins on the CPU to get a higher default voltage (on that score have you tried the uber bios?)... My XP-M 2500+ is wrapped to get 1.85V default (which actually produces 1.9V)... That's the max the board supports without any volt modding. I have had some weird issues with the 10 and 10.5x multipliers on my board (also an A7N8X DLX v2.0) and have always had LOADS of trouble trying to get it run at > 200MHz FSB (even with REALLY high latencies - and I've tried the board with both TwinMOS and Samsung PC3200). All in all it's the quirkiest Asus board I've ever used. If you can grab a picture / write down all your settings in the advanced part of the BIOS (where the multiplier, etc is set) I will have a look and see if anything looks suspect (I'm at work at the moment so I may need to refer to my board at home this evening)

[russ0r!]

AthlonXP 2500 if you can find one. Preferably -M as they're multiplier unlocked. Although I hear the M's are like golddust these days.

Mine is multiplier locked and I've had it running at XP3200 speeds on an nForce2 motherboard. And it cost me about half the price of a 3200.

But since they discontinued Athlons, you'll probly be best just selling up and getting an A64. Short of the 3100, Semprons aren't worth it.

[streetster]

You can always wire wrap the vid pins on the CPU to get a higher default voltage (on that score have you tried the uber bios?)... My XP-M 2500+ is wrapped to get 1.85V default (which actually produces 1.9V)... That's the max the board supports without any volt modding. I have had some weird issues with the 10 and 10.5x multipliers on my board (also an A7N8X DLX v2.0) and have always had LOADS of trouble trying to get it run at > 200MHz FSB (even with REALLY high latencies - and I've tried the board with both TwinMOS and Samsung PC3200). All in all it's the quirkiest Asus board I've ever used. If you can grab a picture / write down all your settings in the advanced part of the BIOS (where the multiplier, etc is set) I will have a look and see if anything looks suspect (I'm at work at the moment so I may need to refer to my board at home this evening)

Im using the latest UBER bios.. pretty sure the vCore only goes up to 1.75v.. with the old via board i could run 11.5x200 no trouble (and that was a KT333 chip i think thats what they're called?) whereas this one will post at 11x200 but i get crashing in windows - i assume that there is not enough volts.. also the computer doesnt always turn on first attempt.. I've got 2 sticks of pc3200 twinmos as per my sig, but previously I had 2x256mb pc2700 samsung which ran @ 200mhz fine..

Not too keen on any volt mods.. I was just wondering if there were any 3200+ bartons going cheap whether it would be worth picking one up.. as for the mobile 2500+, I've heard good things, but id rather a default high clock

[Rave]

Both my NForce2 boards fail to run a gig of memory at 200MHZ.... have you tried lowering the FSB a bit and increasing the multi?

[malfunction]

Have read before that the Asus board in particular is picky about RAM. Have had troubles myself in the past but it's a while ago now... The Samsung RAM I have now is definitely happier at higher speeds than the TwinMOS was - but then the Samsung is CL3 and the TwinMOS was CL2.5 IIRC

[russ0r!]

Both my NForce2 boards fail to run a gig of memory at 200MHZ.... have you tried lowering the FSB a bit and increasing the multi?

Which boards are these you're using?
I'm running a gig at about 191 on an MSI K7N2 Delta... Wondering if I should bother trying to take it any further.

[Rave]

Epox 8RDA+ and 8RGA+; I'm using the 8RGA+ ATM at 185MHz. I've found a 2T command rate bios (I.E. CPC off) for the 8RDA+ which I'm tempted to try but I'm not sure I can be bothered with pulling all the bits out of my main computer to test it. I've had the 8RDA+ prime stable at 235MHz with 2x256, but over 200MHz is a complete no go for prime with 2x512 (even though memtest passes at over 220MHz ).