Overclocking XPs

[k0nigen]

Hoping to delve into the seedy world of the overclocker...

I've read documentation on how well the Mobile/Unlocked (?) 2500+ Bartons overclock - how do the others (eg - 3000, 3200) compare?

What about this 3200+?
Or this 3000+
Is it in the same genre as the 2500+ mentioned above? What kinds of speeds are they likely to reach?

Cheers muchly

[Dark Horse]

In essence:

The only processor worth buying for overclocking in the athlon xp series is the xp2500+ mobile (or the 2600+ if you can find it)

They are much better quality than any of the desktop chips and will easily hit 2200-2300mhz and most top out at 2500-2600mhz.

Also about 2/3 the price of a 3200+ which will only clock to maybe 2300+mhz easily and is also likely to be muliplier locked.

[specofdust]

The mobile is the undisputed daddy of Athlon XP overclocking. Because at stock it uses .2 volts less then the desktop versions. I would say go for the 2600M if you can find one still. I've reached 2.6Ghz on air on my 2600 mobile, although with water people can reach 2.7 and with great water or phase change cooling, even further can be reached.

The steppings you want to get are IQYHA, phone the shop and check that those are the steppings on the chips they're selling, since those are the best ones.

the 3000 will do ok, but nothing special, since it still won't get as high a clock speed as a mobile chip will. I would say go with a 2600. I can play Doom 3 in 1280x1024 with a 9600Pro, and HL2 in the same, maintaining a frame rate of about 40-60FPS in the latter, with decent options enabled. The chip is pretty good, if old, even by todays standards.

[LeChris]

With air cooling, you can reach 2400 to 2800MHz with a barton core. XP-Ms have the advantage of a changeable multiplier 'out of the box'. You just need a mainboard with multiplier-setting in BIOS, eg the ASUS A7N8X; ABIT NF7-S 2.0 or AN7.

Example: a 2400+ XP-M with 1800MHz and 133 FSB w/ 1.45V stock can often be clocked to 2400MHz, 200 FSB, 1.6-1.7Volts.

An 'original' 2500+ with 1833/166 can be set to 2200/200 without changing the multi - oc via FSB-setting - and equals a 3200+. Voltage may be raised from 1.65V a bit, good cooling always recommended.

As for the FSB, i've seen clocks up to 240 with some nForce2-boards like the AN7, good memory at same speed(sync).

A 3000+/3200+ does not make sense for oc, as the XP-M goes higher and is cheaper. Also they have already a quite high FSB of 200 and a fix multi. The option 2500+ >> 3200+ is mainly for mainstream-systems with a FSB-setting in BIOS to 'mutate' the cheaper CPU into the king of normal XPs.

Attention: a XP-M is recognized by all boards as 'Unknown Athlon CPU' and the settings are default 100FSB*5=500MHz. You *need* manual FSB and *multi* options in BIOS to go any higher. Extensive voltage options also recommended.

[k0nigen]

Thanks for the assistance
Looking into buying one now...