Best T-Bird and Mobo to O/C?

[Stout]

I have been out of the 0/Cing "loop" since the T-Birds/Durons came out. O/C several(s) classic Athlons by hard modding them. Running a few 650MHz core at 800-875Mhz. Now looking to make the jump into "full speed L2 Cache"...

Is it smarter to get a 900MHz T-Bird and see how high I can get it to go? And maybe get 100-200MHz increase... Or will a 1GIG still give me a 100-200MHz increase above core? What kind of results have you guys been getting. Are all T-Bird still "unlockable". Also what's a GOOD SocketA HS/fan?

Which is the best SocketA mobo out there? Overclock friendly, ATA/100 compatible, etc? (to your opinion)

Greatly appreciate your FEEDBACK!

Stout

 

[Dark4ng3l]

the lower the base clockspeed the higher mhz increase you can expect because you are further from the max possible clock speed the core architecture can acheave. I sugest geting a 750 some of those hit 1.1ghz but they are rare you should expect at least 950-1 gig from those. 900's usualy make it over 1 gig. If someone with more experiance overclocking these chips can back me up I would apeciate it.

 

[paulip88]

I'd go with something around 850 or 900. Of course the higher you go the better chance you'll get to the top speed.

As for the mobo, since you want ATA100, I would say go for the Asus A7V. It has the ATA support as well as the OC features. You might also want to consider the MSI K7T Pro2, but that one isn't quite available yet. It may also have some issues like many boards have when they are first released, although I suppose this is not really a first gen board.

 

[paulip88]

Oh.... as for the fan. The Alpha PAL6035 works great. Of course I have heard from others that the GlobalWin and Taisol models are good too, but I can't say anything from personal experience.