2500+ check, pc3200LL XMS check, PSu Check, case check...mobo?

[Overkiller]

Ok guys,

i'm about to jump on in....

barton 2500+ (from newegg.com...after week 13!!)
1 GB corsair XMS 3200LL
Case
PSU

lalla


what bobo?

Asus A7n8x or Epox 8RDA+

i've heard only great things about the asus and only great things about the epox...

Which produces better benchmarks? (u know what i mean), and which one is more reliable..

thanks guys!

[EDIT]using AC3 or ceramique...but i need a rocking fan that isn't too loud but will keep the dam thing cool , i.e. <45C for a ~2.2ghz overclock

 

[Corporate Thug]

i think the epox is a good choice cuz of the price, slk800 and smart fan II also a nice combo for cooling

 

[Insane3D]

Also consider the Abit NF7-S Rev 2.0.

 

[Corporate Thug]

a little more pricey, but i love my rev2 NF7-s

 

[wicktron]

Another vote for the NF7-S 2.0

 

[pspada]

Bah humbug to the extra cost. Besides the current 8RDA+ even comes with the 400FSB chipset!

 

[Overkiller]

2 for epox, 3 for abit, 0 for asus

Thx for the fan tips! i was looking at the slk800 and smart fan II ...keep it going guys!

 

[SinfulWeeper]

I've always been an Abit fanboy myself .
Recently I have been toying with Albatron and am impressed. But it still does not come close to an Abit.

All this is on a Intel platform though
Rest assured though, if I make a switch for another cruncher, I am going for Abit

For the fan... get an SLK-900 and slap on a decent 92mm fan. I like Vantec Stealth's myself. They are quiet, and move more air than a Panaflo. But people for some reason just do not like them ...

 

[mooteh]

I'm also thinking about jumping in on the upgrade bandwagon.
was thinking about similar decisions as the original thread starter:

Barton 2500+ (planning on overclocking it to 400FSB to run in sync with DDR400 ram)

1Gb (2x512) of PC3200 ram (I just donno which.. all the talk about timing and stuff is confusing the heck out of me. please offer
suggestions)

PSU (figure i would need a new one because my 350watt couldn't even handle my 9500Pro and some fans. would appreciate some suggestions on this as well)

and some sort of CPU cooling fan and other fans etc. and maybe a new hard drive...

and as for the motherboard I've heard nothing but good things about the ASUS and EPOX as well.. but I'm also very interested the new DFI NFII Ultra. Hoping to see reviews on this board soon.

 

[Corporate Thug]

mooteh, my advice to you:

1. good choice on the barton 2500+
2. for ram go with XMS, most people here will swear by it and it's very competitively priced @ under $100 for the 512 pc3200
3. PSU: antec true power of you have the $
4. slk 800 and smart fan II is a nice combo for cooling
5. the DFI board is simply not worth it @ 159.99 (newegg). both the NF7-s @ $123 and 8rda+@$85 are a better buy, preform better, and oc better

 

[Overkiller]

5 for abit 4 for Epox

everything else is almost set in stone

just need this mobo ,

which is the better oc'er/stable?

everyone is quoting the EP-8RDA+ for $85

but the Epox Motherboard for AMD Processors 8RDA3+ Retail (newegg.com) $ 119

is out and this supports 400 mhz fsb, pc 3200+, etc....why would i get the older version when this is out?

 

[Shimmishim]

Originally posted by: Overkiller
5 for abit 4 for Epox

everything else is almost set in stone

just need this mobo ,

which is the better oc'er/stable?

everyone is quoting the EP-8RDA+ for $85

but the Epox Motherboard for AMD Processors 8RDA3+ Retail (newegg.com) $ 119

is out and this supports 400 mhz fsb, pc 3200+, etc....why would i get the older version when this is out?

becuz the newer 3 version has features like sata raid and junk... if you don't need it, why pay for it?

i dunno if the 3 also has an adjustable vdd voltage which is essential for getting high fsb (over 220 mhz)...

there are rumors that a rev 2.0 (the current one most people have are 1.1 with the c1/a1 nb/sb) 8rda+ exists...



i've had both... or have one now i should say... i toasted my 8rda+ trying to do the vdd mod...

so far so good with the abit nf7-s... had to do some tweaking in order to get more out of it than the 8rda+....


so if you want all the goodies, go with the nf7-s or 8rda3+ ... if ya don't want the goodies... go with the 8rda+

 

[pspada]

I finally broke down and ordered the 8RDA+ from newegg today. If I'm really luckly it'll be the rev 2 board, but even the 1.1 with the 400 Ultra chipset will do. I'll update ya when I get it.

 

[warriorfan23]

hey im thinking of basically the same thing as a couple of u guys...from what ive heard im gonna get:

2500+ barton

abit nf7-s 2.0

1gb ram XMS 2x512 pc3200

slk900 and a 92mm fan

hopefully i can get some good overclock with this setup

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: warriorfan23
hey im thinking of basically the same thing as a couple of u guys...from what ive heard im gonna get:

2500+ barton

abit nf7-s 2.0

1gb ram XMS 2x512 pc3200

slk900 and a 92mm fan

hopefully i can get some good overclock with this setup

nice setup

 

[mooteh]

I donno if I want to spend so much just on a heatsink. and after doing some research it sounds like the SLK900 or even the 800 is rather overkill... maybe the retail HSF that comes with the Barton 2500+ will do? (as far as overclocking it to 400FSB is concerned) another thing that I'm concerned with is the noise level, something really quiet would be nice.
And call me a computer ricer but the motherboards mentioned above such as the ASUS, EPOX, and ABIT all look pretty ugly to me and the extras that they come with aren't very spectacular. I was planning on getting a window for my case so I wanted the inside of the case to look pretty as well as to be able to perform. With that given, I was looking at the DFI NFII Ultra (i know it's pricey but it seems to come with plenty of accessories and looks cool, and I'm sure the performance can't be all that bad compared to other Nforce2 boards) the MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR (yeah people complain about it not be a super overclocker but 200FSB is good enuff for me as my main goal is running the system in sync with DDR400 ram) and the Giga-byte 7NNXP (I was really interested in this one as well because I was mislead thinking that it could do dual channel mode with all 4dimm slots if I ever decided to upgrade the overall performance but that does not seem to be the case from where I read. once you stick in more than 2 memory modules then you nullify the dual channel mode)

 

[JohnPaul]

Well, I am kind of partial to the Asus because I own one. It's an awesome board, but make sure you get the 2.0 if you decide on it, as that's the one you want. Trust me.

 

[TractrMan]

Originally posted by: mooteh
maybe the retail HSF that comes with the Barton 2500+ will do? (as far as overclocking it to 400FSB is concerned)

I have an Xp 2100+ Running at 11x200 on the Stock HSF and its never hit 50c after even playing games for hours on end, so unless it plays up and causes crashing i wouldnt worry about it.

Also im running it on an Asus A7N8X Deluxe Rev 2

 

[infinite012]

Originally posted by: JohnPaul
Well, I am kind of partial to the Asus because I own one. It's an awesome board, but make sure you get the 2.0 if you decide on it, as that's the one you want. Trust me.

I personally would go with the Asus board also because I own one, but I have to disagree with JohnPaul on this one. If you're unlucky enough and receive a 1.06 revision board or lower, there is still a chance of getting up to 200MHz FSB. It's just guaranteed with the 2.0 . My AXP 1700+ Tbred B runs happily at 11x200 on the 1.04 revision A7N8X Deluxe with A2 stepping SB and A3 stepping NB *AND* (get this) Corsair TwinX PC2700 DDR RAM running 100% of the FSB in DC.

333MHz DDR RAM running at 400MHz DDR...Latencies: 2-3-3-6 (same as/better than the Corsair TwinX PC3200)

 

[MachoDonut]

Originally posted by: infinite012

Originally posted by: JohnPaul
Well, I am kind of partial to the Asus because I own one. It's an awesome board, but make sure you get the 2.0 if you decide on it, as that's the one you want. Trust me.

I personally would go with the Asus board also because I own one, but I have to disagree with JohnPaul on this one. If you're unlucky enough and receive a 1.06 revision board or lower, there is still a chance of getting up to 200MHz FSB. It's just guaranteed with the 2.0 . My AXP 1700+ Tbred B runs happily at 11x200 on the 1.04 revision A7N8X Deluxe with A2 stepping SB and A3 stepping NB *AND* (get this) Corsair TwinX PC2700 DDR RAM running 100% of the FSB in DC.

333MHz DDR RAM running at 400MHz DDR...Latencies: 2-3-3-6 (same as/better than the Corsair TwinX PC3200)

Corsair TwinX runs at 2-2-2-6.

 

[infinite012]

Originally posted by: MachoDonut

Originally posted by: infinite012

Originally posted by: JohnPaul
Well, I am kind of partial to the Asus because I own one. It's an awesome board, but make sure you get the 2.0 if you decide on it, as that's the one you want. Trust me.

I personally would go with the Asus board also because I own one, but I have to disagree with JohnPaul on this one. If you're unlucky enough and receive a 1.06 revision board or lower, there is still a chance of getting up to 200MHz FSB. It's just guaranteed with the 2.0 . My AXP 1700+ Tbred B runs happily at 11x200 on the 1.04 revision A7N8X Deluxe with A2 stepping SB and A3 stepping NB *AND* (get this) Corsair TwinX PC2700 DDR RAM running 100% of the FSB in DC.

333MHz DDR RAM running at 400MHz DDR...Latencies: 2-3-3-6 (same as/better than the Corsair TwinX PC3200)

Corsair TwinX runs at 2-2-2-6.

On the website it states that the Corsair TwinX PC3200LL runs at 2-3-2-6-T1...so I guess I'm not that far away...

Link

look for TWINX512-3200LL

 

[AnimEva]

what does each number mean for the ram timing?

e.g

2-2-2-6


I know this is a noob question, but i would like to know about this, thanks

 

[mooteh]

Originally posted by: AnimEva
what does each number mean for the ram timing?

e.g

2-2-2-6


I know this is a noob question, but i would like to know about this, thanks

yeah i would like to know how important the timing on ram is as well. is there that much of a difference let's say between a PC3200 ram at 2-3-3-6 and PC3200 ram at 2-2-2-6? Since I've never tested them I wouldn't know, but all I know is that the difference in price seems some what extraordinary.

 

[txxxx]

Abit myself - I owned an KR7A-133 , I swear that board is indestructable...

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: mooteh

Originally posted by: AnimEva
what does each number mean for the ram timing?

e.g

2-2-2-6


I know this is a noob question, but i would like to know about this, thanks

yeah i would like to know how important the timing on ram is as well. is there that much of a difference let's say between a PC3200 ram at 2-3-3-6 and PC3200 ram at 2-2-2-6? Since I've never tested them I wouldn't know, but all I know is that the difference in price seems some what extraordinary.

No, There isn't a huge difference and the real world performance difference is virtually non existant in most tasks/usage. The primary benefit of the LL ram to my mind is the abiliy to hit higher speeds more often by relaxing the timings where as the higher latency sticks tend to top out sooner without horrible timings that will be noticably slower than say the 2-2-2-6. Here's an article that starts to explore the differences and though not nearly enough benchmarking or real programs are included to be definitive does serve to point to faster clockspeeds over faster timings any day of the week in situations where it's one or the other link