Best proc. upgrade for KT 400 chipset?

[MrPabulum]

Hey all,

I have an Asus A7V8X-X with an Athlon Xp1900+ Palomino, 512 Samsung PC2700 and a Radeon 9700 Pro. The machine is performing well, and since I play all of my games with 4xAA and 8xAF (spoiled, i know), I thought that a proc upgrade (XP2500+ Barton perhaps) would allow me to increase resolutions a bit (BF1942, UT2003). I also thought adding 256 of PC2700 memory would help a bit. Any thoughts?

 

[Vette73]

Yea the Barton 2500+ is a great chip. Get that and overclock it if your board supports changing the multiplier.

Most have gotton up to 3000+ and some have gotton 3200+ levels with it.

 

[MrPabulum]

I've heard that too, and so the Barton 2500+ is quite appealing. On the other hand, the mobo I have is Asus's X version, (pretty much a workhorse mobo). I know you can change the multiplier on it, but the heatsink on the Northbridge is a bit smaller than on the regular A7V8X. With a Thermalright SK-7 and Thermaltake Smart Fan2 (75cfm), i was hoping to get the Barton to run at 12 x 166-168. Anyone with experience with this sort of setup?

 

[pspada]

I've got a KT400 chipset m/b, and I am running my 2500+ at 12x166 with no changes other than to the multiplier. Stock hsf, too.

 

[HappyCracker]

I have 13x166 stock everything on a KT400. I think they're underrated myself

 

[MrPabulum]

Man..I'm beginning to think that the Barton 2500+ might really be the best upgrade. Would an additional 256-512mb of RAM be useful? Or is 512 enough?

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: MrPabulum
Man..I'm beginning to think that the Barton 2500+ might really be the best upgrade. Would an additional 256-512mb of RAM be useful? Or is 512 enough?

512 is plenty for day to day task and games. If you are doing MAJOR video editing then you would need more. But if that were the case you would have a Dual CPU rig etc...

So stikc to 512, thats what I have.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

$ for $ the 2500+ are the best buy out there especially if you are into any math intensive programs(like seti...see my sig line) the 2100+ t-bredB is a good buy as well but you have less of ceiling on oc'ing.

 

[MrPabulum]

I suppose as long as I don't push the FSB past 166-168, and keep the multiplier hovering between 12-13, my Samsung PC2700 will do the job fine eh? Hopefully, with those oc settings, I get to still run the memory at aggressive timings, ie., 2-2-6? Here's hoping so! :beer:

 

[Insidious]

See My Rig below. I have been totally staisfied with the 2500+ Barton for this board. (That is not to say I am 100% happy with this mobo!)

I have PC2700 RAM also, and found my best 'sweet spot' at 12.5 x 166 with CL=2 and mobo RAM timings = ULTRA.

-Sid

 

[MrPabulum]

These responses sound good. I'm gonna wait just a tad longer to see if the prices of Barton 2500s will drop anymore, and then I'll prolly buy. Thanks for the advice!

 

[pspada]

Yup, the Barton 2500+ is the deal, and a steal!

However, when it comes to memory, I would suggest first that you not consider anything less than quality PC3200, or you will regret it at some point in the future. I personally have 1.5gigs, and I think you can never have enough. There is a significant performance advantage to having more, particularly if you run many programs at once. This can result in disk caching which slows a system considerably, whereas if there is enough RAM, it occurs much less.

 

[MrPabulum]

Hmm..well, I don't know if it's really necessary for me to upgrade to an Nforce2 board. I know it's faster than a KT400, but not enough to warrant an entirely new purchase. Besides, I don't plan to exceed an FSB of 166, 168 tops. The Samsung PC2700 should be able to handle that. But I might just add another stick of Samsung PC2700!