Help buying a used Socket A CPU

[LurkingInNC]

Hoping for some advice on buying a used CPU for the system I built several years ago.

I have a socket A MSI KT3 Ultra2 motherboard which supports up to an XP3000+ Barton CPU and PC 2700 DDR memory. I've got 1.5gig of PC 3200 memory installed (I know, it's only running at 2700) and a GeFORCE 6200 AGP 8x 128MB DDR video card. I'm using one of the 19" Hanns-G LCD monitors that I got for $99 AR. I currently have an Athlon 1600+ that I overclock to just under 1600 actual using MSI's FuzzyLogic software. It runs fairly cool even overclocked (mid 40's, never saw it over 50 degrees).

I'm certainly not a power user; occasional games (nothing too intensive) and no high powered graphics stuff to speak of. If I upgrade my CPU I'm pretty comfortable that I"ll be happy with my system for another couple of years. Unfortunately I'm out of work & funds are tight. I'd like to buy a used socket A CPU for maybe $30 or $35 delivered (may be able to shell out as much as $40 if necessary).

Here is where I need help.

1) How in the world does one buy a used CPU with a reasonable degree of confidence? What questions should I be asking, and what should I be looking for/at if I get one?

2) Where to look for a used CPU in this price range? Would anyone even consider someplace like eBay? Are there other sites besides AT's FST forum I should check out?

3) I've read that Barton core cpu's are preferable, but not sure why. If it's for overclocking, does that reason go away given that I'm fairly limited by my MB once I get into the upper end socket A's anyways? Which CPU's should I be looking for given my system and budget limitations?

4) I've got an SVC/Galaxy GC118 cooler/fan with Arctic Silver III on my 1600+. It was rated pretty highly when I bought it years ago; will this fit (and be appropriate for) later model socket A cpu's?

5) In addition to my used 1600+ I've got an unopened OEM Duron 1100 cpu. Do either of these have any value at all (i.e., either worth the trouble of even trying to sell)?

Thanks to anyone who supplies feedback I realize I'm asking about old technology that probably isn't very exciting to people possessing the knowledge that might help me.

 

[Cogman]

1) How in the world does one buy a used CPU with a reasonable degree of confidence? What questions should I be asking, and what should I be looking for/at if I get one?

Unfortunately, there is really no way to be totally confident in the purchase of your CPU. It really all comes down to who you buy it from. Questions you should ask yourself are "Is it faster then what I have, Is it worth what they are asking for, and Do I really need to upgrade?" As long as they don't send you a burnt out cpu, it will literally last for years without any performance degradation. (it might not be able to overclock as far if they had overclocked it for a long time.)

2) Where to look for a used CPU in this price range? Would anyone even consider someplace like eBay? Are there other sites besides AT's FST forum I should check out?

eBay would not be too bad of an Idea as long as you are buying from someone that has a good reputation. Other then that, I dont know where else you would look.

3) I've read that Barton core cpu's are preferable, but not sure why. If it's for overclocking, does that reason go away given that I'm fairly limited by my MB once I get into the upper end socket A's anyways? Which CPU's should I be looking for given my system and budget limitations?

They run faster, they overclock better, and I think their default clock speeds are higher. They are just the next (and last generaton Socket A if I remember correctly) generation from anything else. Im not sure if your mother board will hold you back a lot in overclocking, Make sure you get the latest bios for it as that should give you a more assured compatibility. I would get the highest model number that falls into your given budget range.

4) I've got an SVC/Galaxy GC118 cooler/fan with Arctic Silver III on my 1600+. It was rated pretty highly when I bought it years ago; will this fit (and be appropriate for) later model socket A cpu's?

Yes, should do fine. You might want to look up the wikipedia chart of socket A cpus. It has all of the Thermal outputs listed. As long as you are under 100W, most fans should work fine

5) In addition to my used 1600+ I've got an unopened OEM Duron 1100 cpu. Do either of these have any value at all (i.e., either worth the trouble of even trying to sell)?

Not really, I believe the lowest priced CPU amd offers is about $40, you might be able to get $10 or $20 bucks out of it, but selling and shipping would hurt and not be pleasent.

In your condition, I don't think you are going to see TOO much speed improvements over what you have to upgrade now. I would stick with what you have for now and wait for better times and more money. If you arn't doing anything really intensive, that computer you have should be just fine.

(my mom still uses a 700MHZ celeron, 64 MB of ram, Intel Inigrated graphics. I want to slit my wrists everytime I have to consider dealing with that thing, it is soooo slow but it really does not bother her all that much)

 

[cubeless]

u want a 2500 mobile if u can find it... i have one right now that was running @ 2.5ghz, but now is running @1.9 in a k7s5a (133mhz bus board)... it has a 13.5 multi and would be excellent at 166fsb or a bit above...

i would have to think about $40 for it, though... but i'm getting ready to retire a couple of my older systems...

but the reality is that u wouldn't really see that huge a jump in performance on things that that pc is capable of doing...

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: cubeless
u want a 2500 mobile if u can find it... i have one right now that was running @ 2.5ghz, but now is running @1.9 in a k7s5a (133mhz bus board)... it has a 13.5 multi and would be excellent at 166fsb or a bit above...

That's a Barton, and won't work in his board. Even if it did, it would function as a 500 Mhz Barton, which definitely wouldn't be an upgrade.

 

[cubeless]

oh... is that due to the msi board chipset? i've stuck the cpu in a couple mobos, and have had to use the proggy to change the mult after booting it up (my xp333 saw it as a 6x mult), but the k7s5a sees it as a 13.5x at boot...

op said that the board supports up to xp3000 barton...

 

[myocardia]

Oops, my bad. I would have sworn that the OP said that he couldn't use Bartons. But, I distinctly remember people with Via chipsets having all kinds of problems with the XP-M's. If the OP doesn't mind booting at somewhere between 500 & 800 Mhz (different boards "saw" them having different multipliers and stock FSB's, IIRC), then using software to change the multiplier and or FSB should work.

Also, here's a site that will show him how to pin mod any Athlon XP, so he can force any board to run it at any multiplier or FSB he wants: interactive pin-mod site. Anyway, only the nForce 2 motherboards handled the XP-M's correctly, without modifying anything. But, with a little bit of conductive paint, they can be used (without software) in any motherboard.

 

[sjwaste]

Keep in mind the VIA Socket A chipsets don't overclock that well, or at least that's what I'm told. The KT333 and 400 didn't have locked PCI and AGP bus clocks, so they go up proportionate to the FSB. I couldn't overclock my Barton 2500 at all with my MSI KT3-V, and very little with my KT3 Ultra. However, I got a used ECS N2U400 off of Ebay and it now runs at 190FSB stable. That board doesn't have any voltage adjustments, otherwise I'm confident I could take it farther. Still, Abit NF7's command quite a premium on Ebay after shipping, so I didn't want to pay for that.

Truthfully I'll just probably get a cheap 939 and dual core Athlon to put it it (its an HTPC), since I have 1.5 GB of DDR in it that I don't want to toss in favor of DDR2.

 

[LurkingInNC]

According to the MSI site my board will support the following Athlon XP models (I left out some of the lower speeds):

Thoroughbred (0.13u) 133/266MHz FSB: 2400+, 2600+
Thoroughbred (0.13u) 166/333MHz FSB: 2600+, 2700+
Barton (0.13u) 166/333MHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache: 2500+, 2800+, 3000+

As far as simple OC'ing: using the MSI software's 'Turbo' button increases the speed for my 1600+ from around 1400 actual to a very stable 1594 actual (I could try it past 1594 using the software's FSB adjustment button, but haven't played with it at all)....

Can't find my manual right now so not sure if the KT3 Ultra2 has locked PCI and AGP bus clocks. I'll have to check tomorrow. Thanks for the input so far; any more insight is welcomed!