Choosing a CPU for A7V333

[Adept]

Hello,

Please share your advice or opinions with me.

I have an A7V333 board and have yet to buy the CPU. My first choice of CPU is an Athalon XP2000 but money considerations are making the 1800 a more likely choice.

So not knowing as much as a lot of the people here seem to know. I ask you, should I get the 1800 and try to OC or stretch the budget and get a 2000, or not eat for a month and get a 2200 😉

My thanks in advance,
Dan

 

[Adept]

Someone please reply

I have read several reviews but just don't know how to interpret the results.

Dan 😕

 

[Arschloch]

I know Asus boards are generally overclocking-friendly, so...

If you're feeling really adventurous (and you're tight on cash), you might consider grabbing one of those Newegg 1600+ OEM's. It seems that for the past couple/few weeks, the 1600's from Newegg have all been AGOIA/AROIA stepping, which are very good for overclocking purposes. From what I understand, it seems like most people can hit 1900+ speeds (or better) at core voltage. Here's my setup:

Enlight 7237 case (the really old one with poor air flow, as I recently found out)
1600+ AGOIA-Y
Arkua 7285 HS/fan (quiet and relatively effective, but nothing special)
Abit KG7-RAID
256 MB Crucial PC2100 memory
So far, I've gotten the CPU to run fine at 2000+ speeds (~1669 true MHz) at default voltage (1.75V). I actually tried bumping it up to 1690.5 true MHz, and I got a registry error that made me reinstall Windows. I still don't know the limits of the chip though...

The chip itself can be had for $66 at Newegg. It's the best deal going on the web right now, if you ask me.

 

[Adept]

🙂 Thanks for the advise Arschloch!

Your suggestion makes me inclined to get the cheaper CPU and OC.

It will probably have to be the 1800+ though because I'm in Australia and the market choice is not great, more or less you can get an 1800, 1900 or 2000. That or buy intel and when a P4 1.7 starts at $320 I just have to choose AMD.

Totally unrelated, but I like your alias. I wonder if anyone else undertsands...

Got to first use this alias in about 1990 when my dad signed me up for a turn based BBS galactic war game, oh the memories 😎

Dan

 

[Arschloch]

Ah, I wasn't aware that you were located in Australia. Does Newegg not ship to Australia? I imagine that if they do, the shipping charges are probably prohibitive, eh?

I guess when it comes to the overclocking thing, the important question is, "Are you a tweaker?" Obviously, there are a lot of people here (such as myself) who enjoy squeezing out as much performance as possible -- like it's a sport. On the other hand, I know most people aren't like that, and would rather have the better performance out of the box.

You have a board that's good for overclocking. So, if you are a tweaker, if I were you I'd try to get a slower CPU and better HS/fan to play with. If not, shell out the extra dough for a 1900+ or 2000+. If you can find a way to get on that 1600+ from Newegg, though... by all means, go for it.

 

[Adept]

Yeah, think you have convinced me as I am a little bit of a tweaker and the thought of battling the jumper jigsaw on the a7v or doodling on the L1 bridges won't stop me (for long)

My current system is a..
PII 500
No name MB
256mb of PC100
Hercules Prophet 4000XT

and I can still squeeze over 15fps out of JK2 at 800x600.
Not great but still playable and you can see why it's time to upgrade now 😉

Dan

 

[Arschloch]

While I'm sure that unlocking the multiplier would definitely help you get even more O/C room, for these AGOIAs and AROIAs, it doesn't seem to be necessary. It seems to me that most people are just leaving the multiplier at 10.5 and juicing the FSB as far as possible, and it's working well enough.

I'm one of those people. Default is 10.5x133, and I've run it at 10.5x159 without a problem, at default voltage. So even if you're a little apprehensive about connecting the L1's (as I am), there's still a lot of overclocking headroom in these chips.

 

[Adept]

Hey Arschloch..

Want to hear my great luck story?? hope so because your going to hear it 😉

I managed to sell my old system to a friend for some extra cash, so I'm now the new owner of an XP 2000+ (AGOIA)
And what really made my day is with just a little more luck, Corsair (CAS2) instead of Kingmax (CAS2.5) is now in reach 😀 WOOO HOOO!

I have heaps of time to read up on OCing this system now and thanks to threads and advice on this board I think its going to be easier than the fun I have had in the past with various jumper driver boards and locked down Intel's.

Dan

BTW, thanks for replying to my post.