2400+ 2500+ 2600+ Mobile Bartons back @ newegg

[PCTweaker5]

I just have a few questions. My A7N8X Deluxe only goes up to 12.5 on the multiplier and I dont want to do any mods, will I be able to get 2.5GHz with DDR400 at 12.5 or do I need those extra multipliers? I am confused with this mobile thing running at 266FSB and dont know if its worth replacing my 2500+ Barton at 2.3GHz.

 

[Dantzig]

Originally posted by: PCTweaker5
I just have a few questions. My A7N8X Deluxe only goes up to 12.5 on the multiplier and I dont want to do any mods, will I be able to get 2.5GHz with DDR400 at 12.5 or do I need those extra multipliers? I am confused with this mobile thing running at 266FSB and dont know if its worth replacing my 2500+ Barton at 2.3GHz.

Yeah, 2.5GHz should be possible at 12.5x200 assuming your chip can hit that. These mobile chips are multiplier unlocked, so their factory FSB doesn't matter.

 

[mindless1]

Originally posted by: PCTweaker5
... dont know if its worth replacing my 2500+ Barton at 2.3GHz.

Nope, not worthwhile to replace it. Even if you hit 2.6GHz, which so far seems higher than the avg, it's barely more than 10% increase. On the other hand if you wanted another system, to reuse your currrent chip, it makes more sense.

 

[PCTweaker5]

Are you sure cuase I noticed quite a difference from 2.0GHz to 2.3GHz in games, like less stutters and stuff. OK thank you guys, Im going to sell my current CPU and get one of these suckers and hope it clocks well.

 

[samboy]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: samboy

Originally posted by: dailyfreestuff
im using the m7ncd pro with my 2400m and am running somewhere around 1.7v at 190x11 and its like 2.2ghz, i need more ram though. Its been a decent mobo for me, and cheap, was like 48 or 50 a/r on newegg last fall

I had trouble with the Biostar m7ncd Pro (Ultra actually). This is not a good overclockers board.
The machine would not POST if I directly overclocked to anything above 2300MHZ.

However, if I overclocked to a higher FSB first then rebooted and then changed the MHZ I could get up to 2500MHZ no problems. i.e. it took two reboots.

I was happy with this until I discovered that a cold boot would not post! (reboots would). I did pin mods to lock higher voltage and FSB and this did not resolve the problem.

This appears to be a power-supply issue, most likely. An underpowered PSU or issues with the mobo caps in the CPU's VRM circuits or AGP power can cause issues like this. Do you only have a generic 300W PSU in there? Try a name-brand 350W or better, or generic 400W. Btw, the board is an "M7NCD-Pro", the chipset is the NForce2 Ultra 400.

I've installed the non-pro version, and it seemed to be a really solid, decent, cheap, NF2-based board. The major disappointment to me was that the BIOS of the non-pro is crippled, no Vcore/Vagp adjustments at all. Totally bogus, since I know that the board supports those features.

Originally posted by: samboyForgot to add that you will NOT get 13x multipliers and above with this board. You can do a PIN mod to get the upper multipliers, but then you loose the lower ones. NF7-S gives you all multipliers

It seems that there is a large number of NF2-based boards that only support the 4-bit multiplier, and need pin-mods to switch between the ranges. That's unfortunate. The M7NCD board I set up had an XP2000+ in it, so 12.5x multi was within default range. I OCed using FSB adjustments. Hit 200Mhz FSB just fine, and a bit beyond.

I have an Enlight case with a 360w power supply. As far as I can tell, these are middle ground in terms of quality. Not the cheap generic kind, but not Antec quality either.

The same power supply works fine with the NF7-S board. I did notice that the Abit board did make use of one more power connector, so it could be that the Biostar board did put more strain on one of the rails? Either case for me, the NF7-S worked and the Biostar did not for the higher clock speeds. Also, note that Biostar has both a "M7NCD-Pro" and a "M7NCD-Ultra" (the one I had) board that both use the "nFORCE2 400 Ultra/MCP chipset" - confusing I know!

As another poster mentioned, the Shuttle AN35 is probably the best choice on a budget.

 

[nugaluga]

I'ma at 200*11@1.6v = 2.2

A7n8x deluxe
ThermalRight 947u w/ 92mm panaflo

i'm gonna bump it up a little tonight

I couldn't push the frontside bus more than 200?
even though i'm running ddr4000 kingston hyperx

anyone have any ideas?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: samboy

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
This appears to be a power-supply issue, most likely. An underpowered PSU or issues with the mobo caps in the CPU's VRM circuits or AGP power can cause issues like this. Do you only have a generic 300W PSU in there? Try a name-brand 350W or better, or generic 400W. Btw, the board is an "M7NCD-Pro", the chipset is the NForce2 Ultra 400.

I've installed the non-pro version, and it seemed to be a really solid, decent, cheap, NF2-based board. The major disappointment to me was that the BIOS of the non-pro is crippled, no Vcore/Vagp adjustments at all. Totally bogus, since I know that the board supports those features.

I have an Enlight case with a 360w power supply. As far as I can tell, these are middle ground in terms of quality. Not the cheap generic kind, but not Antec quality either.

The same power supply works fine with the NF7-S board. I did notice that the Abit board did make use of one more power connector, so it could be that the Biostar board did put more strain on one of the rails? Either case for me, the NF7-S worked and the Biostar did not for the higher clock speeds. Also, note that Biostar has both a "M7NCD-Pro" and a "M7NCD-Ultra" (the one I had) board that both use the "nFORCE2 400 Ultra/MCP chipset" - confusing I know!

As another poster mentioned, the Shuttle AN35 is probably the best choice on a budget.

I stand corrected. When I built the system I mentioned, back in Dec., I don't think that the M7NCD-Ultra model existed, as the BIOS update page only mentioned the regular and "Pro" model. I see from checking their web site that it added a Via SATA raid chip.

I'm still surprised at the cold-boot problem, as the most common cause is an underpowered power-supply. Do you have a lot of additional accessories in the system? Cold-boot requires a much higher current out of the supply than a warm-boot. If the supply is already loaded well when running, it may not have the extra margin for power-on loading. This is one of the reason why "good quality" power-supplies are often underspecced by a good margin.

The only other likely cause that I could see, is faulty mobo engineering, issues with the CPU and boards power-on circuitry, power/clock-stabilization, etc. I know that there have been some minor updates by AMD to these guidelines, as newer AMD CPUs were introduced, but the M7NCD board series is new enough that these shouldn't have been an issue, I don't think. Did you have the newest BIOS flashed, and did you have a fresh CMOS battery installed?

The 360W Enlight PSU seems reasonable enough spec, offhand.

 

[samboy]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: samboy

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
This appears to be a power-supply issue, most likely. An underpowered PSU or issues with the mobo caps in the CPU's VRM circuits or AGP power can cause issues like this. Do you only have a generic 300W PSU in there? Try a name-brand 350W or better, or generic 400W. Btw, the board is an "M7NCD-Pro", the chipset is the NForce2 Ultra 400.

I've installed the non-pro version, and it seemed to be a really solid, decent, cheap, NF2-based board. The major disappointment to me was that the BIOS of the non-pro is crippled, no Vcore/Vagp adjustments at all. Totally bogus, since I know that the board supports those features.

I have an Enlight case with a 360w power supply. As far as I can tell, these are middle ground in terms of quality. Not the cheap generic kind, but not Antec quality either.

The same power supply works fine with the NF7-S board. I did notice that the Abit board did make use of one more power connector, so it could be that the Biostar board did put more strain on one of the rails? Either case for me, the NF7-S worked and the Biostar did not for the higher clock speeds. Also, note that Biostar has both a "M7NCD-Pro" and a "M7NCD-Ultra" (the one I had) board that both use the "nFORCE2 400 Ultra/MCP chipset" - confusing I know!

As another poster mentioned, the Shuttle AN35 is probably the best choice on a budget.

I stand corrected. When I built the system I mentioned, back in Dec., I don't think that the M7NCD-Ultra model existed, as the BIOS update page only mentioned the regular and "Pro" model. I see from checking their web site that it added a Via SATA raid chip.

I'm still surprised at the cold-boot problem, as the most common cause is an underpowered power-supply. Do you have a lot of additional accessories in the system? Cold-boot requires a much higher current out of the supply than a warm-boot. If the supply is already loaded well when running, it may not have the extra margin for power-on loading. This is one of the reason why "good quality" power-supplies are often underspecced by a good margin.

The only other likely cause that I could see, is faulty mobo engineering, issues with the CPU and boards power-on circuitry, power/clock-stabilization, etc. I know that there have been some minor updates by AMD to these guidelines, as newer AMD CPUs were introduced, but the M7NCD board series is new enough that these shouldn't have been an issue, I don't think. Did you have the newest BIOS flashed, and did you have a fresh CMOS battery installed?

The 360W Enlight PSU seems reasonable enough spec, offhand.

I didn't install a fresh CMOS battery - just the one that came from newegg with the board. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to test things out any further since I returned the board (The cold boot issue was the final straw for me). I did ensure that the latest BIOS was flashed - it was already up to date.

It is possible that the board was faulty in some way. My previous experience was with overclocking a 1.1GHZ celeron and this needed extra "default" voltage to cold boot properly, since the voltage was adjusted by the BIOS just after cold boot. This did not help.

I was curious that the Abit board took the extra P4 power connector that the Biostar board seemed to lack, so this may well be the factor. I do have 2x120GB 7200rpm drives, DVD-ROM, CD-RW drive and a Expert TV capture card...... not too far from the norm in terms of power requirements.

 

[mindless1]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
The 360W Enlight PSU seems reasonable enough spec, offhand.

Looking at the parts in the context of an overall quality hierarchy, an Enlight 360W PSU is higher quality than a Biostar nForce board. The Enlight is roughly the equivalent of an Antec SL350 or (is same internally as) Thermaltake 360W, sans the 2nd fan. It should be able to power either system fine providing you don't toss a Radeon 9800 and a half-dozen hard drives, etc, into the system. Even so I suppose any power supply is subject to eventual failure or manufacturing defect, etc.

 

[RideFree]

Installed IQYHA2600AXMG in A7N8X-E with SLK-900(A) & anemic 36CFM TMD Fan.
Runs 111F at 2400 1.575v. Stock Voltage.
No doubt it will do 200x12.5=2500 as soon as I find my AS-5 & use a slightly more robust fan.
However, I believe 2.2GHz corresponds to exactly the same as a 3200+ Barton.

 

[asm0deus]

I recently got my Mobile 2400+ running on my K7S5A pro. It's running at a default 1800MHz speed (2200+). Of course I want to run it ~2000 - 2400 MHz.

So here's my question, it's up and running stable, should I try the HoneyX BIOS or just use a software FSB (cpucool) utility?

For some reason i'm afraid the BIOS update will make things unstable, if I can accomplish the same speed with software then that seems like a better route. I hate how the K7S5a pro is multi-locked, the whole reason I got the 2400M is because it comes unlocked, so I plan on getting a new mobo soon, but for now, I think it's possible to get this chip going over 2GHz.

 

[edplayer]

I used to have a K7S5A (nonpro) and the software based FSB changers always worked well (I used speedfan). For those boards, most people could get to 140~145MHz FSB without any hardware mods (some have gotten to the 166MHz range but almost always with hardware mods).

Don't know how much better the Pro is (at overclocking). Check out amdmb.com forums for lots of good info. They have a dedicated ECS forum and the mod of it really knows his stuff (he seems to answer all pms also .)

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: samboy
I didn't install a fresh CMOS battery - just the one that came from newegg with the board. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to test things out any further since I returned the board (The cold boot issue was the final straw for me). I did ensure that the latest BIOS was flashed - it was already up to date.

It is possible that the board was faulty in some way.

I only mentioned that because: a) I've seen "new" motherboards, from the factory, with weak/failing batteries before (sometimes they sit in a hot warehouse for some time, and the mobo companies may have a huge stock of batteries sitting around before they even go into boards, further wearing them down, and b) sometimes boot problems can be caused by failing/bad/missing batteries, on some systems.

But it could well have been that the board was bad.

Originally posted by: samboyI was curious that the Abit board took the extra P4 power connector that the Biostar board seemed to lack, so this may well be the factor. I do have 2x120GB 7200rpm drives, DVD-ROM, CD-RW drive and a Expert TV capture card...... not too far from the norm in terms of power requirements.

Nothing too out of the ordinary in terms of power load. If you had 4 HDs or 4 opticals and a pile of case fans and stuff, then I might wonder. Most AMD boards don't use the P4 power connector. The Abit might be one of the exceptions to the rule.

 

[mlt001]

I believe there is also software for K7S5A that can change the multiplier. OCWorkBench is another site that has a dedicated ECS forum.

 

[Brikhauss]

I have a 2400+ Mobile that is clocked now at 2300Ghz running at 40C idle and at 1.725V its a AQYFA 0343. It is completely stable in UT2004 for hours. It actually ran at 1.675V but crashed in games so I upped it until it ran stable which is 1.725V. I had a 2500+ clocked at 2.0Ghz stable at 1.65V but this is totally faster and both run at the same temp 40C even though the mobile is 300mhz faster!. Machine is more responsive and games are smoother. Ran 2200Ghz at 1.65V stable in UT2004 too so maybe in summer I might kick it back a little. Wish I got an I - stepping but those are probably out of the market besides ebay by now. I only spend $60 refurb from newegg forget the $140 they are getting for the I - stepping on Ebay screw that.

 

[PCTweaker5]

I decided Im going to get a mobile 2600+ as those seem to be able to reach 2.5GHz and up much easier. I will be dissapointed if I can only reach 2.3GHz as that is the speed that my 2500+ runs at right now and wont be worth me selling it and my Pandora Tomorrow but I feel that 2.5GHz will be mine.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: PCTweaker5
I decided Im going to get a mobile 2600+ as those seem to be able to reach 2.5GHz and up much easier. I will be dissapointed if I can only reach 2.3GHz as that is the speed that my 2500+ runs at right now and wont be worth me selling it and my Pandora Tomorrow but I feel that 2.5GHz will be mine.

Man, I just sold a mobile 2600 that does 2.5 for 90 shipped.

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Originally posted by: rcraig

Originally posted by: FriedRiceBob
geez.
my Epox 8K5A2+ doesnt seem to like it.
or maybe WinXP doesnt like it? blue screens with "HARDWARE ERROR. CONTACT HARDWARE VENDOR"
how mean.
it seems to boot fine, but wont install windows, or boot an existing installation, even at only 800mhz.

in a few minutes here i'll try it on my parents 8K5A2. but if its an incompatability with this board, i guess that wont help. but the board is supposed to be compatable.

im gettin an Nforce 2 board anyhow. but i only have 7 days to check the chip before i'm SOL...so here goes.

UPDATE: hrmph. well this chip is doing 2.25ghz in their system without breaking a sweat.
i guess my mobo is just fubar'd. owell, it runs the 1600+ just fine...so it can be a backup/crash box.

OR MAYBE NOT: thought things were fine on my parents 8K5A2...then it gave the same blue screen error. at no point had this chip even hit 45C. tried it at default voltage/speed and errors still.

Same results with my 8K5A2+. I guess it's time for a new nForce2 MB. But which one? Decisions, decisions. I guess I'll have to go back and reread this entire thread.

RCRaig

an35n ultra or an abit nf7s

 

[rcraig]

Originally posted by: ScrapSilicon
an35n ultra or an abit nf7s

Ok, it's down to the NF7, NF7-S, or the AN7. I like the extra 2 USB and 1 frewire ports on the AN7 and won't use the SATA on it or the NF7-S. I have an Adigy2 I am happy with, so onboard sound isn't that important. Everyone recommends the NF7-S but the NF7 is $26 cheaper and I could always get a Firewire card. Is the only difference in the NF7-S and the NF7 the add-ons? If so, the NF7 would work just as well as the NF7-S. Which should I get?

RCraig

 

[Northland]

You may want to consider the Epox 8rda3+ board. Not the cheapest board in town but my experience is that they are rock solid and great overclockers. Sorry about throwing in another possibility . . .

Northland

Originally posted by: rcraig

Originally posted by: ScrapSilicon an35n ultra or an abit nf7s

Ok, it's down to the NF7, NF7-S, or the AN7. I like the extra 2 USB and 1 frewire ports on the AN7 and won't use the SATA on it or the NF7-S. I have an Adigy2 I am happy with, so onboard sound isn't that important. Everyone recommends the NF7-S but the NF7 is $26 cheaper and I could always get a Firewire card. Is the only difference in the NF7-S and the NF7 the add-ons? If so, the NF7 would work just as well as the NF7-S. Which should I get? RCraig

 

[Z80]

I have both the AN35N and the NF7-S and even though I've always been a big Abit fan, the AN35N just runs my mobile XP 2400 faster and more reliably. Of course my NF7-S is a version 1.0 and the newer versions get great reviews.

 

[nugaluga]

i got the mobile barton 2500
I was getting 2.0ghz @1.65
i primed it for a couple of hours or so
... when i tried putting up to 3200 @1.7
it didn't work...
my temps never got above 45degrees
Now at 1900mhz
1800mhz
1700mhz prime produces errors...
now, the highest speed it runs stable at is 1600mghz 200 fsb and default voltage..
any ideas?

my stepping is iq (somethin somethin)

 

[Slickone]

I have an Epox 8KHA+ KT266A, that will take up to a 2600+, but I'm not sure if that includes Bartons or only Tbreds. Does anyone know? If so, it should work shouldn't it? I'd like to step up from my Palamino XP1600+ to a 2400+.

Also someone already asked but there wasn't a definate answer given, only a guess. But supposedly only the Nforce2 boards see the Tbreds and Bartons as factory unlocked. So if using another mobo, do you physically have to unlock the multipliers first?
My mobo only has a 1/4 divider (and RAM is only Crucial DDR266 (PC2100) CAS 2) so I'll need to be able change multipliers. I know I should upgrade the rest, but not right now...
Though if I have to hardwire the multiplier, I might just wait until I can go Nforce2.

 

[AdmiralTiger]

I forgot to do this a while ago.. so I'm going to do this now (and at the same time boost the google search list a bit higher... LOL - I'm lame, ain't I?

Anyway, I got my mobile Barton 2400+ last month to put on my ABIT NF7 which effectively replaced my heat-scorching XP Palomino core (.18 micron) 2000+, and I've overclocked it to 2.2 GHz (11x200) with vCore at 1.675 - and it has been semi-P95 Stable - meaning that I ran it for 8 hours 20 minutes and it didn't miscalculate at all. It has been rock-solid stable - played UT2K4 for several hours, including FFXI - and it hasn't hiccuped at all, but right now my bottleneck is my overclocked RAM (Corsair VS PC2700 - 2 stick of 256 MB - have it in Dual-Channel and also did a 1-1 for the FSB / Mem Clock, which gives me a speed of 400 MHz - and it's also been stable, which was a bit surprising at least for me. The other bottleneck I'm suffering with is the video card, and it's the 9600 Pro, but it's been performing nicely for me, and cheaply too!

So, let me summarize this up better for some people who really want to read the numbers and not the "blah" section.

ABIT NF7 Rev 2.0 with Beta King D-22 R2-4247 Firmware ("modded") :evil:
Mob. Barton 2400+

2.2 GHz @ 11x200
vcore: 1.675

Corsair VS PC2700 @ PC3200 Speed (1x1 with FSB)
vdimm: 2.7 (kinda low, ya think?)

The reason why I haven't gotten it up to 2.4 GHz is because summer is a-coming and there's no air conditioning in this house, so I'm not going to play with it until I get one... so it won't be a while until I'll be able to get it at 2.4 GHz (most likely 12x200 since I want the mem / fsb to be sync) and probably would have to up my vcore to 1.7 - i hope not any higher than that. :frown:

Anyway, there you go.

 

[ParatoOptimal]

How concerned should I be about heat?

Do I need heatsinks for the mobo chipset?
Is one fan in the bottom-front of the case and the PS in the top-back enough?

I'm near a heat source in the winter. There's no other way.

I run the AC, which is right next to the heat source that I keep off in the summer. I haven't noticed any probs with my P3-500. I want to dump it for an NF7-S and either a 2400+ or 2600+ with the same case, PS and fan setup.

Thanks