2400+ 2500+ 2600+ Mobile Bartons back @ newegg

[Serpentor]

Can anyone recommend for or against the Biostar M7NCD-Pro (nForce II ultra) mobo for setting up a XP-m overclocking rig? On a budget and it seems to be the only budget board on pricewatch that offers incremental FSB adjustments. The Chaintech 7NIL1 and ECS N2U400-A are also both in the $60 range, but from what I've researched so far, these are not the greatest oc'ing boards.

Also, edplayer mentioned that the Epox 8RDA+ can run in asynchronus mode for lower-speed RAM. Is there a way of checking other mobo's for this functionality? Thx in advance!

 

[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

 

[Replay]

NForcers HQ Forums may answer some questions, or just go to the Mnf website and read the posted specs.

7NIL1 uATX has 1 MHz bus adjustments to 250 but does not have vcore or multiplier adjustments. It does support dual channel ddr and async ram in steps between 50% and 200% of the fsb. This is useful for finding the maximum speed your ram can handle. Cut and paint on the chip bridges or use pin mods on the socket for vcore and multipliers. Mine was under $40 as a retail box NewEgg refurb. The M7NCD non pro is about the cheapest NForce board around and shows up for $30 or less as a refurb (2 DDR slots). Too often ECS=problems (PCChips). My older Aopen AK79d1394 NF2 SPP MCP+ only stable to about 195 MHz but has vcore/multi/fsb/async/Soundstorm.

Originally posted by: Serpentor
Can anyone recommend for or against the Biostar M7NCD-Pro (nForce II ultra) mobo for setting up a XP-m overclocking rig? On a budget and it seems to be the only budget board on pricewatch that offers incremental FSB adjustments. The Chaintech 7NIL1 and ECS N2U400-A are also both in the $60 range, but from what I've researched so far, these are not the greatest oc'ing boards.

Also, edplayer mentioned that the Epox 8RDA+ can run in asynchronus mode for lower-speed RAM. Is there a way of checking other mobo's for this functionality? Thx in advance!

 

[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.

emailed BIOSTAR, but they indicated they were not currently supporting the M chip - so much for an "overclockers" board. I ate $20 return fee to newegg and ordered the NF7-S and haven't looked back.

If you are not going over 2200MHZ you may be ok with this one........ my experience was bad.
Also you get Firewire and Soundstorm for the extra amount with the Abit board.

Forgot 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

 

[Subodim]

I bought an Athlon XP-M 2500+ from NewEgg a few weeks ago and tried it on two different motherboards.

The first one was a Gigabyte GA-7S748-L, which to put it simply didn't work with the Mobile Athlon. The BIOS couldn't recognize the CPU, so it defaulted to a 12x CPU multiplier and a 100MHz FSB speed, and there was no way to change them! I think it also defaulted to a 1.65V vcore, which was too high. The vcore can be increased in 5%-10% intervals (or something like that) but it can't be lowered. (I want to run the CPU at 1.45V or less.) Needless to say, a CPU running at 1200MHz (12x100MHz) and 1.65V just doesn't suit my needs. 🙂 I was disappointed, because I was really looking forward to using a motherboard with the SiS 748 chipset and some Patriot "Extreme" memory I got on sale. I couldn't find a lot of information about the motherboard before I bought it, but I read that it had "nice overclocking options", which just isn't true (but see below). Other comments: there's a capacitor next to the CPU socket that makes it nearly impossible to use a CPU cooler whose footprint is larger than the CPU socket (which ruled out the CPU cooler I wanted to use), and it's difficult to set the bus speeds because of the wacky way the BIOS makes you do it (you have to get them in sync). On the bright side, I installed a "normal" Athlon XP 2500+ and overclocked it to 2200MHz (11x200MHz, the same as an Athlon XP 3200+) just by changing the FSB to 200MHz without any further modifications. With an OCZ Gladiator 3 and Arctic Alumina, the temperatures stayed below 50 degrees C most of the time. The motherboard is "pretty" and it looks good in a computer that has a case window, and it performs very well for a single-channel system. The person I sold it to is very happy with it. 🙂

The second motherboard (which I'm using now) is a Shuttle AN35(N)-Ultra, which I highly recommend for overclocking. The BIOS doesn't recognize the Mobile Athlon if you deviate from the standard FSB and multiplier settings, but the CPU runs just fine at any setting (within its limits). Here's the nice part: the BIOS lets you adjust the CPU voltage from 1.25V to over 1.85V in 0.025V increments and lets you select any CPU multiplier from 8x to something like 20x. (The default multiplier for the Mobile Athlon is 12x and that's how it will run when you first install the CPU, but you can change it.) With really good air cooling, my CPU can run at 2500MHz at 1.75V, but I haven't tested the stability at that speed and I suspect it isn't stable enough for everyday use. Increasing the voltage does not enable it to run any faster. 2400MHz is probably the upper limit for reliable operation. I'm using 512MB (2x256MB) Corsair "Value Select" PC3200 dual-channel DDR-SDRAM with "Optimal" settings in the BIOS. The Shuttle AN35(N)-Ultra could probably be called a "Budget" or "Value" motherboard, and it's a bit skimpy on features (no RAID, no FireWire, no built-in PC speaker, only has the MCP SouthBridge, etc.), but the performance is great, and I don't really need those features anyway.

Some of you might think I'm crazy, but I don't want to run my CPU as fast as it can go all the time. (I don't drive my car as fast as it can go all the time, either.) 🙂 My goal is to have a cool, quiet computer that has decent performance. A Mobile Athlon (with an unlocked multiplier) is perfect for me. When I'm just surfing the internet or doing other simple stuff, I run my computer at 1600MHz (8x200MHz) at 1.325V (yes, that's about 10% under spec). My Antec 300W "Smart" power supply is virtually silent; the fan runs at about 1300-1500rpm nearly all the time, and any noise it produces is drowned out by my Hitachi 160GB hard drive. (I guess I need a Seagate hard drive if I want my system to be any quieter.) 🙂 I'm using the heatsink from a ThermalTake Volcano 9 CPU cooler with Arctic Silver 5 (I finally got some, and yes, it's great), but I replaced the fan with an AeroCool Aluminum LED fan that runs at 2000rpm, which is pretty quiet (<20dB). I don't have any other fans in my computer; my Radeon 9000 has a heatsink but no fan. The light air flow that comes out of the back of my power supply is warm, but it's better than the roaring space heater I used to have. 🙂

When I want to play a CPU-intensive game or crunch a lot of numbers, I crank it up to 2200MHz (11x200MHz) at 1.6V, which is "Prime95 stable". I don't have exact temperature readings under load, but the temperature stays below 60 degrees C at all times. (Keep in mind that I'm not using the most efficient CPU cooler due to my concern about noise, so my temperature readings shouldn't be compared to most of yours.) I adjusted the BIOS to shut down the computer if the CPU temperature ever reaches 60 degrees C, and it has never shut down on me, so I think I'm well within the "safe range". (If I remember my figures correctly, Mobile Athlons can be run at up to 100 degrees C.)

The overclocking potential of my CPU appears to level off pretty fast at 2400-2500MHz. It can make it to those speeds, but the stability is questionable, and I don't think it will go any higher than that. People who have CPUs that can reach 2600-2700MHz with air cooling are very lucky. 🙂

 

[Subodim]

Originally posted by: Serpentor
Can anyone recommend for or against the Biostar M7NCD-Pro (nForce II ultra) mobo for setting up a XP-m overclocking rig? On a budget and it seems to be the only budget board on pricewatch that offers incremental FSB adjustments. The Chaintech 7NIL1 and ECS N2U400-A are also both in the $60 range, but from what I've researched so far, these are not the greatest oc'ing boards.

Also, edplayer mentioned that the Epox 8RDA+ can run in asynchronus mode for lower-speed RAM. Is there a way of checking other mobo's for this functionality?

If you don't want to wade through all of my lengthy comments above, 🙂 here's some information that might be useful to you. I highly recommend the Shuttle AN35(N)-Ultra. You can buy it from NewEgg for $69.00 shipped or maybe even cheaper somewhere else. You can use either single-channel or dual-channel DDR-SDRAM. It is GREAT for overclocking. All settings can be made in the CMOS setup program. The vcore can be adjusted anywhere from 1.25V to over 1.85V in 0.025V increments. The FSB can be adjusted anywhere from 100MHz to 250MHz in 1MHz increments. The memory speed and timings can also be adjusted manually, or you can use the various presets ("Optimal", Aggressive", "Turbo", etc.). The memory bus and FSB operate independently of each other, so they don't have to be the same speed. The CPU multiplier can be adjusted anywhere from 8x to over 20x in 0.5x increments. If you push your system too far, the motherboard automatically boots up in a "safe mode" to let you change your settings back to where they will work. (You don't have to open your case and clear the CMOS.)

Did I leave anything out? 🙂

 

[Serpentor]

Subodim,

Many thanks for the reply and detailed review of the Shuttle board. 🙂 It definitely looks like a winner. For some reason, Pricewatch doesn't list it under nforce2 boards, so I almost went the Biostar/Chaintech/ECS route.. This board seems like quite the bargain for only $5 more than most of those generic boards.

Couple of quick questions, I take it that by having FSB and memory bus operating independently (asychronous mode?) that I'm ok with PC2100 running at 145mhz and the FSB upwards of 200mhz? If not, that's not a big deal, I'll be upgrading to PC3200 soon enough.

Second, would a fan for the northbridge be a good idea? thx!

 

[87pathfinder]

I've been reading this thread for a while, and finally got an XP-M 2400+ from Newegg.
Markings are AXMH2400FQQ4C IQYHA0348TPMW.

I tried it tonight in my Shuttle toaster box, a SN45G (nForce2 ultra 400). Here are some results:
OK: 10 x 200 = 2000 MHz , vcore = 1.75
OK: 12.5 x 166 = 2083 MHz = XP 2800+ Barton (333) , vcore = 1.60
OK: 11 x 200 = 2200 MHz = XP 3200+ Barton (400) , vcore = 1.80
OK: 14 x 166 = 2333 MHz = XP 3200+ Barton (333) , vcore = 1.75
OK: 12 x 200 = 2400 MHz , vcore = 1.80
FAIL: 15 x 166 = 2500 MHz , vcore = 1.80
FAIL: 12.5 x 200 = 2500 MHz , vcore = 1.80

Heat is a major issue. At load at 400 FSB the temp is 53 to 55 Celsius while running the fan at full. Overclocking will definitely be more successful in an ATX case than a SFF box, but I use this computer for LAN parties so I want the portability.

The 'sweet spot' for me so far is 14 x 166 = 2333 MHz = XP 3200+ Barton (333) , vcore = 1.75. Here the temps are 43 to 45C.

Subodim: I also have a Shuttle AN35(N)-Ultra, and it's a great board. I might drop this CPU in it to see if I can go farther, but it has an unlocked Thorton XP 2000+ (1.800GHz) running at 13.5 x 166 = 2.250 GHz, so it's close enough.

Serpentor: Better to go synchronous. Get your PC3200 ASAP -- spot prices are rising fast!
A northbridge fan can help, but don't expect it to help a lot. If it really needed it, it likely would have come with one, bargain board or not. If there's a heatsink now, be careful taking it off, or whoops, now we'll need a new board.

 

[Subodim]

You're welcome, Serpentor.

I think it would be okay to use PC2100 memory in your system. I can run my PC3200 at a variety of different speeds, so I assume that you could run your PC2100 RAM at a variety of speeds as well.

You can change your memory bus speed by percentage increments (rather than simple 1MHz increments). It's kind of complicated, and I don't have the numbers in front of me. I'm going to pull some percentages out of the air to use as examples, but they're not meant to be taken literally, okay? By default, your RAM speed is the same as FSB speed. For example, if your CPU is running with a 166MHz processor bus speed, the RAM speed is also set to 166MHz if you leave the CMOS setting on "Auto". If you change it to "Expert" mode, you can change the RAM speed. Suppose you start with a processor bus speed of 200MHz. The default memory bus speed is 200MHz. In "Expert" mode, you can set the memory bus to run at 50%, 75%, 100%, 125%, or 150%. In other words, you could set the memory to run at 100MHz, 150MHz, 200MHz, 250MHz, or 300MHz. Again, those are not the exact percentages, but that's kind of the way it works. Depending on whether you select "Expert" mode (which lets you make all of the adjustments yourself) or one of the preset modes ("Optimal", "Aggressive", or "Turbo"), you can either change the timings yourself or they will be changed for you automatically whenever you change the memory bus speed. Some of the latencies look pretty high to me, but there's a lot of room for experimentation. I usually just stick with standard speeds like 200MHz and standard timings myself, but if you want to overclock your memory, you do have that option. I don't know if you could run your PC2100 at exactly 145MHz, but you could probably choose a speed pretty close to that.

Putting a fan on the NorthBridge wouldn't hurt, but it doesn't seem to get very hot to me--just warm to the touch. Unfortunately, the CPU socket is perpendicular to the NorthBridge, so the fins on my CPU cooler are parallel to it (if you follow me), so the NorthBridge doesn't get much air flow directly from the CPU cooler. On the positive side, the heatsink on the NorthBridge is fairly large for a chipset heatsink. I haven't pulled mine off yet, but if you wanted to, you could remove the heatsink (it attaches to the motherboard with two spring-loaded pins) and use your own thermal compound (Arctic Silver 5 comes to mind) to make you feel more confident about your cooling solution. Or, you could replace the heatsink with a really good chipset cooler. But if you're really pinching pennies, it's probably not worth the expense. On the other hand, if you run your memory at 400MHz (as I recall, I think that's an option) and your processor at a 250MHz bus speed (I know for sure that's an option), then maybe you do need more cooling. 🙂

87pathfinder, I just read your post. I'm glad that you concur with me about the Shuttle AN35(N)-Ultra, and I'm glad that you have two CPUs that overclock well. I'm just wondering, have you considered putting your unlocked Athlon XP 2000+ in your Shuttle "toaster box"? You didn't say how hot it gets. What I'm thinking is that you could max out your Mobile Athlon in your desktop computer and get better performance than you could with your Athlon XP 2000+, and maybe you could optimize the heat/performance ratio of your portable Shuttle system if you put the Athlon XP 2000+ in it. It's just a thought. Also, do you think that using a 166MHz bus speed instead of a 200MHz bus speed has any advantages, heat-related or otherwise? I haven't tested that myself, and I'm curious what you have found out.

 

[Subodim]

Originally posted by: 87pathfinder
Serpentor: Better to go synchronous. Get your PC3200 ASAP -- spot prices are rising fast!
A northbridge fan can help, but don't expect it to help a lot. If it really needed it, it likely would have come with one, bargain board or not. If there's a heatsink now, be careful taking it off, or whoops, now we'll need a new board.

I'm not an expert, but I concur. Synchronous buses = the best way to go, and damage to your chipset = bad. 🙂

About those memory spot prices: the latest "buzz" is that memory manufacturers are having trouble meeting demand, so memory prices will probably rise in the near future. Usually we expect the price of computer components to go down through time, but RAM is always different, isn't it? I've seen a lot of great sale prices on memory lately, so yes, maybe everyone should get it while it's hot. 🙂

 

[curtisfong]

Yeap, only Leadtek, Abit and DFI offer full unlocked Mults'

Shuttle has 5 bit cpu id as well. Their nf2 board is very good for the price.

 

[gwag]

does everone know that that you can change your mutilplier (up to the multiplier its set at)on the fly with CPUID i forget where I saw the mod and it only works with via chipsets?

 

[Serpentor]

Thanks for all the advice! Regarding the RAM upgrade, is it better to go two sticks at a time (2x256 or 2x512) rather than just one stick? (1x512) Also, would 512 be ok for Half-Life 2 / Doom3?

I'd like to go 1x512 PC3200 right now and upgrade to 1GB as necessary later on.

(edit) nevermind, I'm out of it, just read that I'll need 2 sticks for dual channel, silly me. 🙂 Just the 512 vs 1 GB issue..

Subodim: With the CPU socket perpendicular to the NorthBridge on the AN35, would it support a large cooler like the Thermalright SLK-948U ? thx!

 

[INGlewood78]

Originally posted by: Serpentor
Thanks for all the advice! Regarding the RAM upgrade, is it better to go two sticks at a time (2x256 or 2x512) rather than just one stick? (1x512) Also, would 512 be ok for Half-Life 2 / Doom3?

I'd like to go 1x512 PC3200 right now and upgrade to 1GB as necessary later on.

(edit) nevermind, I'm out of it, just read that I'll need 2 sticks for dual channel, silly me. 🙂 Just the 512 vs 1 GB issue..

Subodim: With the CPU socket perpendicular to the NorthBridge on the AN35, would it support a large cooler like the Thermalright SLK-948U ? thx!

Although ram is getting expensive...I'd go for 1gb...games like far cry and UT2004 run a lot better with 1gb.

 

[87pathfinder]

Originally posted by: Subodim


87pathfinder, I just read your post. I'm glad that you concur with me about the Shuttle AN35(N)-Ultra, and I'm glad that you have two CPUs that overclock well. I'm just wondering, have you considered putting your unlocked Athlon XP 2000+ in your Shuttle "toaster box"? You didn't say how hot it gets. What I'm thinking is that you could max out your Mobile Athlon in your desktop computer and get better performance than you could with your Athlon XP 2000+, and maybe you could optimize the heat/performance ratio of your portable Shuttle system if you put the Athlon XP 2000+ in it. It's just a thought. Also, do you think that using a 166MHz bus speed instead of a 200MHz bus speed has any advantages, heat-related or otherwise? I haven't tested that myself, and I'm curious what you have found out.

Subodim -- Yes, I had thought about flip-flopping the CPUs, so I might try it. Thanks!

As to 166 vs 200, to get to the higher FSB (as well as a higher multiplier) usually requires bumps in the vcore, which translates into more heat. The heat must be dissipated. The better your system can cool, the higher the vcore you can go and the higher the potential overclock, but absolutely positively don't go over 2.00 if you want to keep your CPU alive for more than a month or two.

So, 166 has a few advantages:
1. Less vcore = less heat
2. Less heat = easier to cool (and cheaper to cool: high end cooling solutions not needed)
3. Less heat = less noise, as fans don't have to be run at full speed all the time
4. PC2700 DDR is cheap compared to PC3200 ($20+ less per 512MB on eBay)

 

[Subodim]

Originally posted by: 87pathfinder
As to 166 vs 200, to get to the higher FSB (as well as a higher multiplier) usually requires bumps in the vcore, which translates into more heat...

4. PC2700 DDR is cheap compared to PC3200 ($20+ less per 512MB on eBay)

I didn't realize that a processor with a 200MHz FSB would run hotter at the same speed than a processor with a 166MHz FSB. In other words, I figured that a processor would dissipate the same amount of heat at the same speed regardless of the FSB speed. I'll have to try it for myself. 🙂

As for the cost of RAM issue, you can use PC2700 DDR-SDRAM at 166MHz even if your processor is running with a 200MHz FSB. Of course, that raises the issue we just discussed--namely, whether it is better to keep your CPU and RAM synchronous or whether it's okay (or even possible) to run them asynchonously. I figure if PC2700 memory is all you have or all you can afford, asynchronicity is probably a trade-off most overclockers are willing to make. 🙂

 

[Subodim]

Originally posted by: Serpentor
...would 512 be ok for Half-Life 2 / Doom3?

I'd like to go [512] PC3200 right now and upgrade to 1GB as necessary later on...

Subodim: With the CPU socket perpendicular to the NorthBridge on the AN35, would it support a large cooler like the Thermalright SLK-948U ? thx!

Well, the AN35 will support a large cooler, but it won't support the SLK-948U, which is designed for Athlon 64/FX and Pentium 4 processors. 🙂 Picture an 80mm cooling fan. The base of the heatsink could be 80mm from the front of the CPU socket to the back, and the fins could be about 100mm wide without running into anything on the motherboard. To me, that's a pretty massive heatsink. If you have trouble visualizing what I'm talking about, maybe you should look at a photo of the AN35 before you buy it (or buy the CPU cooler). If you're concerned about money but still thinking about buying an expensive CPU cooler that makes 55dB of noise, I think you need help. 🙂 (just kidding) But seriously, I'd recommend an inexpensive but effective cooler like the OCZ Gladiator 3 with the heavy duty fan, which you can buy at NewEgg for $19. It's small (60mm x 60mm), but the way it is constructed compensates for that. The heatsink is made with "skivved" copper fins, as opposed to soldered copper fins (like the SLK-948U), and the difference is amazing. Of course, if you can find an 80mm x 96mm skivved copper heatsink within your budget, I'd go for that. 🙂

As for the memory issue, it really depends on how you intend to use your computer. If Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 are anything like their predecessors, then none of the hardware available today is powerful enough to meet their demands. Maybe two years from now you can afford a system that will play them smoothly. 🙂 Seriously, I think you're really talking about "cutting edge" here, and obviously, the more memory the better.

 

[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.

 

[edplayer]

Originally posted by: 87pathfinder
As to 166 vs 200, to get to the higher FSB (as well as a higher multiplier) usually requires bumps in the vcore, which ...

that doesn't sound right 87pathfinder

If you mean running a higher FSB while also raising the TOTAL MHz, it would make sense.

I think most people are able to raise the FSB (while keeping the cpu MHz at the same speed or close to it) without raising the vcore.

If you want to adjust the FSB really high, you might have to raise the voltage of the chipset (vdd) if your motherboard allows it.

I have a mobile 2400+ and I was running it at several different settings. It current is at 1760MHz using 220MHz FSB with 1.40V going to the cpu.

 

[mindless1]

Originally posted by: Subodim

Originally posted by: Serpentor
...would 512 be ok for Half-Life 2 / Doom3?

I'd like to go [512] PC3200 right now and upgrade to 1GB as necessary later on...

Subodim: With the CPU socket perpendicular to the NorthBridge on the AN35, would it support a large cooler like the Thermalright SLK-948U ? thx!

Well, the AN35 will support a large cooler, but it won't support the SLK-948U, which is designed for Athlon 64/FX and Pentium 4 processors. 🙂 Picture an 80mm cooling fan. The base of the heatsink could be 80mm from the front of the CPU socket to the back, and the fins could be about 100mm wide without running into anything on the motherboard. To me, that's a pretty massive heatsink. If you have trouble visualizing what I'm talking about, maybe you should look at a photo of the AN35 before you buy it (or buy the CPU cooler). If you're concerned about money but still thinking about buying an expensive CPU cooler that makes 55dB of noise, I think you need help. 🙂 (just kidding) But seriously, I'd recommend an inexpensive but effective cooler like the OCZ Gladiator 3 with the heavy duty fan, which you can buy at NewEgg for $19. It's small (60mm x 60mm), but the way it is constructed compensates for that. The heatsink is made with "skivved" copper fins, as opposed to soldered copper fins (like the SLK-948U), and the difference is amazing. Of course, if you can find an 80mm x 96mm skivved copper heatsink within your budget, I'd go for that. 🙂

As for the memory issue, it really depends on how you intend to use your computer. If Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 are anything like their predecessors, then none of the hardware available today is powerful enough to meet their demands. Maybe two years from now you can afford a system that will play them smoothly. 🙂 Seriously, I think you're really talking about "cutting edge" here, and obviously, the more memory the better.

AN35 won't support SLK-948, true enough, but he might've meant SLK-947, which should fit since the base isn't so large (compare picture to be sure) or at worst need a tine or two on the northbridge 'sink bent... and it's a far cry better than an OCZ Dominator 3. Skivved fins aren't all that "amazing", they're ok but no substitute for a larger surface area... a 60x60 'sink is just too small, poor for overclocking much. Heatsink benchmarks bear out that skivved designs aren't necessarily better, that the highest performers aren't skivved. The second reason not to choose such a tiny 60x60 sink is the manditory higher RPM of the fan to attain same airflow = more noise.

As for the memory issue, nonsense. It will be playable unless all the eye candy is turned up, but as with many newer games there's benefit to more than 512MB of memory. Typically this is seen in longer loading times when paging happens, moreso than during gameplay. A Barton @ 2.5Ghz with 1GB of PC3200 memory isn't going to need replaced to play HL2 or Doom 3, it'll simply need a similarly beefy video card.

 

[AdmiralTiger]

edplayer???? 1760? you're barely underclocking that CPU! Sheesh, I hope you really know what you're doing.

 

[87pathfinder]

Originally posted by: edplayer

Originally posted by: 87pathfinder
As to 166 vs 200, to get to the higher FSB (as well as a higher multiplier) usually requires bumps in the vcore, which ...

that doesn't sound right 87pathfinder

If you mean running a higher FSB while also raising the TOTAL MHz, it would make sense.

I think most people are able to raise the FSB (while keeping the cpu MHz at the same speed or close to it) without raising the vcore.

If you want to adjust the FSB really high, you might have to raise the voltage of the chipset (vdd) if your motherboard allows it.

I have a mobile 2400+ and I was running it at several different settings. It current is at 1760MHz using 220MHz FSB with 1.40V going to the cpu.

Edplayer,

Thanks for your reply!

Maybe the rules are different when the CPU is underclocked, as you have yours, but my experience has been that you need to raise the vcore in order to raise the FSB (while keeping the TOTAL MHz at the same speed or close to it: lower the multiplier as you raise the FSB).

The higher FSB means the CPU spends less time waiting for memory and so can do a little more work. To get the CPU to be stable while it works harder has meant a higher vcore.

I agree about vdd. A significant FSB increase will cause the northbridge and southbridge to work harder, also, so they need a higher vdd if the mobo's settings allow it.

 

[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

 

[acityDweller]

stability depends on capacity of the motherboard at higher frequencies and voltages, the quality of ram (more sensative in dual channel mode) and the configuration tweaking...

I wish i hadn't bought my xp3000 🙁

 

[edplayer]

Originally posted by: AdmiralTiger
edplayer???? 1760? you're barely underclocking that CPU! Sheesh, I hope you really know what you're doing.

it does 2420MHz w/ 1.825V, 2200MHz w/ 1.60V and 1980MHz w/ 1.50V

it might do 2200 and 1980 with lower voltages but I didn't try (it is not stable at 2420 using 1.80V)

I mostly use my computer for Internet so I don't need it to run very fast all the time. A reboot and BIOS trip gets me what I want.