Giving AMD one more chance

[SinfulWeeper]

I have been hearing people's ravings about A64 lately and find the reading intreaging. However 100% of my home built AMD systems no matter what I used were totally crap computers in the past. Maybe it had something to do with those stupid Via chipsets... I will never know though as I gave my AMD rigs a quick dissasembly and a grusome death with hammers and spoons.

But as of late since NVidia put out the NF chipset people have been saying good things about AMD. So now I want to give them one last chance to see if a A64 upgrade might be worth the time as they are roughly the same price range of going Intels route. With the price of the motherboard I'll have coming and the price of AMD's XP CPU's, if they still suk, I wont be out much $$$.

What I'll have on the way is a A7N8X-D v2.0, and I was wondering what CPU to drop into it. I was thinking a mobile 2500+ Barton might be a good choice. It has the 512k of cache and is lower volted so it should OC like a champ correct? (In theory anyways)

Also I hate noise eminating from the computer, AMD's for some reason were always louder than Intels counterpart. Would taking off that NB heatsink/fan and putting on a fanless heatsink hurt it's performance? I have my P4 2.4 running @ 292FSB with a fanless heatsink. Or will the NF2 chipset start flaking out above 200?

From upgrading my 2.53 single channel CPU to going dual channel, I seen 0% increase in any of my applications. I hear Intels new LGA CPU's are even slower, so I think a switch is finally in order. Providing I am not plagued with AMD's past problems.

So what CPU folks? Is the choice I made good? Or go with a different one?

 

[Falloutboy]

go with the DFI infinity board if you want to overclock. it has alot more options than the asus board. the NF7-S v2 isn't a bad choice ethier but recently they've been using cheap components on them so they don't make it much past 210fsb usually

 

[SinfulWeeper]

Well the motherboard is basically on the way... too late.

 

[Falloutboy]

it will work but you'll be stuck around 200mhz for the FSB instead of the 240ish range you could get with good ram on the DFI

 

[SinfulWeeper]

In that case I will not take in major OC'ability a major concern ... just stability and the amount of work it can do @ the alotted clock speed. Though I was hoping that the A7N8X-D could at least hit 230-240 :|.

But what about the CPU ... thats the help I needed deciding.

 

[Falloutboy]

grab the 35watt 2400 it should be your best bet

 

[AnonymouseUser]

I have the Mobile 45w 2400+, Shuttle AN35N Ultra, KingMax 512MB PC3200, currently running @ 2.3GHz on 1.6v (haven't tried any lower yet). This cpu has hit 2.46GHz on 1.725v but apps crashed, so I am gonna replace the PSU soon and see if I can go higher. The new PSU should also help the temps a little: 40-50c @2.3 on a Zalman Al/Cu HSF.

As for your concerns based on your experience with AMD in the past, believe me, it is a thing of the past. I had the original A7V with it's KT133 chipset and it's unparalleled instability, but haven't had any problems since.

 

[PClark99]

After doing alot of research I just dropped some major coinage on an A64 setup.

I will be real interested to see how it compares the rig in my sig.

MSI NF3 Soc939 board
A64 3500+
Thermaltake Venus 12
2 x 512MB OCZ3700EB

 

[Avalon]

Probably won't be significantly different, except somewhat noticeably better in games.

 

[charloscarlies]

Originally posted by: SinfulWeeper
In that case I will not take in major OC'ability a major concern ... just stability and the amount of work it can do @ the alotted clock speed. Though I was hoping that the A7N8X-D could at least hit 230-240 :|.

But what about the CPU ... thats the help I needed deciding.

It is true that your specific board probably won't do much more than 200 fsb, BUT that's the beauty of the mobile Bartons. They are multiplier unlocked and overclock like champs.

I would buy the mobile 2400+ 35 watter...set the voltage to 1.65 (default for desktop chips)...and set the multi to 12x with a 200 fsb. You should get 2.2-2.4 ghz without much trouble.