o/c my xp2000....

[Austin]

It's handy to find out the type of XP2000+ you have as there are 4 possible types ...

Pally = Hot, locked and tops out around 1.7ghz XP2100+.
TbredA = Cooler, sometimes unlocked but tops out around 1.9ghz XP2300+.
TbredB = Very cool, unlocked and often top out around 2.25ghz XP2800+.
Thorton = Same as TbredB (essentially a Barton with half the cache disabled). It may be locked, AMD seems to be going that way with it's CPUs.

That gives you a good indication of what your CPU is likely to achieve even though your mobo, RAM and cooling could all limit its potential. What mobo are you running, in particular what chipset? Anyway if you're stable then you're stable and needn't worry about much of this. To ensure you are stable it's a good idea to download Prime95 and run its Torture Test for at least 10 min.

140/35 will give you a decent 5% perf boost, going from XP2000+ to practically XP2200+ is nothing to sniff at anyway, people paid big wads for that not so long ago. Gfx card o/c'ing does yield the best perf increases when it comes to gaming, what gfx card do you use at the mo? Anyway for temp monitoring the best guide is the BIOS closely followed by sw specific to your mobo. Even so they are only rough guides in the first place, mostly good to see what effect a certain o/c or added cooling have on temps than actual temps you're running.

[mt50]

i ran comand prompt and typed set this is what i got-


my motherboard is only a cheap one, it a matsonic ms8137c+ the chipset is a via kt266A my graphics card is again only a cheap 64mb GeForce 4 mx 440 ( infact my whole pc is only a cheapo one as my old pc broke so needed a new one asap and thats all i could afford at the time ;( ) so i don't think i can overclock the cpu anymorew than i got it to allready

[Austin]

Good news is that CPU is a TbredB so if the mobo, cooling and RAM permitted it should run happily at around 2.2ghz with normal 1.65v type voltage! If you used 400FSB athat would give an XP rating of around XP3000+!

Your KT266A will obviously hold you back, AFAIK none were made with 8235 south so there's no hope of attaining 333FSB. However in raw perf it's very close to the KT600, SiS748 and nForce2 400 (single channel). The biggest downside is 266FSB support with a likely max mobo o/c of 290FSB. 12.5x145=1.8ghz (XP2200+ ish). You could consider upgrading to something like SiS746FX or KT400 which would get great speed out of your XP2000+. More ideal would be SiS748, KT600 or of course an nForce2 mobo. nForce2 (single channel) come in pretty cheap over at www.dabs.com ... £37 for the Biostar/DabsV and even the Dual Channel one is around £47! What RAM are you using? If it's PC2100 you're very unlikely to hit much over 266FSB, but 256MB DDR400-PC3200 (good branded) is around £30 so again it's not too pricey considering the huge leap in speed your CPU should be capable of. If you need a better cooler www.dabs.com do Volcano 11/12 cheap, £15/16 IIRC!

Your GF4MX440 is going to hold your PC's gaming perf back far more though, so it would be best to consider upgrading that first. You are faster than most GF2 but slower and far less capable than the Rad8500-9200, GF4TI or any GF-FX which should knock you only £50ish.

EDIT: Still for under £140 you could o/c your CPU and get to ...

AthlonXP2000+ @ XP3000+ (ish)
256MB DDR400-PC3200
nForce2 400 mobo
Great DX8 gfx card
Volcano 11/12 HSF

... and of course you could still sell your existing mobo, RAM, HSF and gfx card for some cash too! You can always do things gradually (I'd rec gfx card first) ... anyway your PC is still very good and capable of playing many games (and apps) well.

[mt50]

thanks for that, so when i upgrade i can keep the cpu which is good news , for now though i'm quite happy with my pc ( only had it 2 months anyway) it can play call of duty etc on medium detail which i'm happy with. i think i will upgrade early next year.

i am looking at the 9600XT card for around £120 atm though

thanks for the advise austin

[Austin]

If you go for a 9600PRO or 9600XT you can expect a HUGE boost in gaming perf and abilities. Obviously there isn't anything that truly uses DX9 but the 9600 is great at AA+AF, that can make a huge diff (esp when you see it in the flesh). Most games will play the same with a GF4MX whether they're coupled with a Duron 1.3ghz or AthlonXP3200+ ... the archy behind the GF4MX (GF2) simply wastes much of the PC's power, the likes of a Rad9600PRO/XT (or even GF4TI) will really let your PC fly.

[mt50]

just one more thing austin-
i just ran wcpuid, and this is what i got-


when i ran my cpu at default settings( xp2000) i got 266.8 for the system bus, when it was at xp 2100 speeds i got 280 and now i get that, should i be worried or is it going to slow my pc down?
i've got pc2100 ram

thanks

[Austin]

With KT266A your RAM always runs in sync, when you o/c your FSB to 280mhz (2x140mhz) you inherently o/c your PC2100 from the std 266mhz (2x133) to 280mhz (2x140) which most PC2100 shoudl be happy with (PC2200). Stress test your PC with something like Prime95 Torture Test and Memtest86 or similar. I f you are unstable (which I doubt) you should find higher RAM timings or disabling things like Bank Mode should enable you to run the RAM that bit faster stably. Or you could buy PC2700+ of course (but there should be no need). Bottom line, there should be no need to worry at all, the RAM will run at the same speed as the FSB and it will not slow your PC down.

[mt50]

thanks , if i do buy PC2700 ram will it run in my pc which can only take PC2100 i guess if it does then it'll be at PC2100 speeds?.
just thinking ahead for when i upgrade my motherboard.

thanks

[gamezfreak]

I think the multiplier is locked at 15x on my board.

Is it safe to overclock my processor say 140 x 15? (2100mhz)

[Austin]

mt50 PC3200 and PC2700 is backwards compatible so should (as always) run very happily as PC2100 and should do so with VERY fast timings (if you can be bothered witht he hassle of testing). You may need to set manual timings as it has been known for some mobos to set them too agressive for fast RAM running as PC2100.

gamezfreak very few mobos can correctly alter a CPU which uses a stock multiplier of 13x or higher, it requires manipulation of the 5th FID bit. Abit NF7-S is one mobo that is known to do it, most of the latest nForce Ultra400 and KT600 should too. In any case to run 280FSB (ie 2x140 with DDR FSB) would require your mobo, RAM and cooling to be up to it as well as the CPU. As always take small steps and test each time to check you are truly stable. AFAIK XP2400+ is the only AMD CPU to use 15x and therefore is always a TbredB (or if VERY new Thorton). Either way ti should happily do 2.10ghz if not more of 2.3ghz. 1.65v is normal voltage, 1.70v SHOULD be perfectly safe and allow you alittle higher so long as cooling permitts. Again small steps and test thoroughly. BTW MSI KT6 Delta FIS2R is KT600 (AFAIK) so will happily run all the way up to 400FSB (though not at 15x!).

[gamezfreak]

I tried changing the multiplier to 12x the other day (at 145fsb) and my system wouldn't boot.

It seems to be locked at 15x multiplier.

I'll go n have a look at some MSI sites, see what they say.

[silent]

is this mobo good:

http://www.dabs.com/uk/productview?quicklinx=2Q7L

it looks ok, but lacks ie1394 and sata, but looks ok. is it as good as the nf2-s board???

austin: the fountain of pc knowledge

[Austin]

Thank you.

That nForce2 is outstanding value. Basically it is lacking in things like nVidia's audio, Dual Channel DDR, Firewire (IIRC) and SATA but for such money you can't complain. The £47 DabsV/Biostar nForce2 up form that one offers Dual Channel DDR so is around 5% faster when using 2 sticks of RAM, it may have other stuff too. Essentially these nForce2 should be just as fast as any other Single and Dual Channel (respectively) nForce2. With the likes of Asus and Abit you tend to get a few little tweaks and additions, it's up to you if they're worth paying more for.

[Skii]

w0000t

Just upped my FSB a little - now running stable at
1.99Ghz Mind you I don't trust my cooling with this cr@ppy old case

[silent]

i want a new board now. this looks good. should i go this or the nforce nf7-2 v.2

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=51280

[Austin]

MSI KT6 Delta-FISR KT600 DDR400 X8 AGP / Gigabit LAN / USB2 / IEEE1394 / S-ATA RAID / 6CH Sound / FSB400 £68.25 inc VAT.

Review MSI KT6 Delta-FIS2R (presumably just has Promise RAID controller added):
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mai...-kt6delta.html

KT600 is pretty close to nForce2 but the onboard stuff varies quite dramaticly with them, esp the sound where the nForce2 with nVidia's APU/Soundstorm are head and shoulders above the rest. The mobo seems to have a better layout than the NF7-S and I believe it uses the new southbridge (8237) with a true SATA implimentation rather than the cludged integrated PCI SATA that most mobos use, plus you get 4 connectors too. Of course the likes of the NF7-S have better compatibility, speed (when Dual Channel used), better o/c'ing tools (esp locked PCI/AGP), super sound (as mentioned) and don't cost much more than the MSI KT600. I'd be inclined to save more cash and go for an nForce2 BioStar/DabsV (from Dabs obv) Single Channel £37 and Dual Channel £47 (IIRC neither have nV APU nor SATA) otherwise if you want more perf and the best sound the Abit NF7-S or Asus A7N8X Deluxe are easily the top offerings.