Help!- Need info on best combo for board and Proc for OCing a Athlon2500 XP mobile.

[TeejayV]

Hello there! I am planning on buying an Athlon 2500 Mobile, since i heard it Overclock's better than a 2500 XP barton. I have a couple questions though. (of course you know i want to get it OC'ed to something like a 3200 or 3000, since i can't afford one of those chips right now).

1) Is the mobile xp a barton chip with 512K L2 cache? I know the 2500 XP is, but i'm am unsure about the mobile athlon 2500).

2) What would be the best motherboard to get to OC this chip on air only? I don't wanna bother with water cooling and/or other stuff really.

3) Will Overclocking this chip at a safe temperature decrease the lifetime of the chip still? Or does overclocking in general decrease the life of a chip and board.

4) How strong a power supply should i buy for this board/chip combo?

Those are the questions on my mind as of now. If I can think of any more later ( i will not be purchasing this board and chip and powersupply for awhile or so), than i will make sure that i ask them also.

I wish to thank those who answer in advance.

 

[Shimmishim]

1. Yes, it is 512kb L2
2. For a board... it's a toss up between the abit nf7-s (not nf7-sg2 or whatever it's called) and the dfi ultra infinity... both boards are under 100 and are probably the best overclocking boards... abit gets you a higher clockspeed than the dfi

3. Overclocking will decrease the lifetime even at a safe temperature... but most people around here don't seem to keep processors for longer than a year so you should be more than fine by overclocking.

4. I'd say 400 watts should do it. I'd recommend the fortron 400w or the antec truepower 380w or 430w

 

[TeejayV]

thank you for the quick reply shimmishim. i Think i will go with the Abit mobo though, i haven't really heard of the DFI infinity before. The antec 430 will probably be my PSU of choice as well.

 

[oldman420]

it is a mobile and if it were me i would get a 45 watt 2600+ its a few bucks more but a better chip imine does 2.2 ghz 200 x 11 1.3 vcore 38 c idle 41c load.
i am using the nf-s board and hav''nt been able to get the fsb higer than 200 but thats ok
i have an infinity board on order and for all its worth it got killer reviews said to be extremely stable
have fun and enjoy the new hw teejay

 

[PizzaDude]

1. 512kb L2

2. A lot of people have used the Abit NF7-S. I use a Shuttle AN35N-Ultra w/ no problems at all. It's an awesome, awesome board. It's cheaper than the NF7 too. But if you got the money, go for the NF7.

3. I think it depends on how high you clock it. If you're really pushing it, then probably yeah. But think about it, the mobiles come unlocked and when I first plopped my 45w 2400+ into the Shuttle it read as 1 ghz. That's 800mhz less than what it was supposed to be clocked at from the factory.(was supposed to be 1.8ghz.

4. I bet 300w would even be enough. I have an Antec 350w.

 

[magratton]

Shimm, on your answer to #3 above, I agree overclocking can lower life expectancy if you are going for a max OC and really pumping the voltage through the chip. But with the mobiles (esp the 2500 45W that he was looking at) running it at 1.65v should do nothing to shorten the life expectancy of the chip, correct? I just want to make sure that a) I have my info right, and b) we appropriately set his expectations. I believe most would agree that up to 1.75v will not really reduce life expectancy by much, 1.8 and higher can really start pulling the life of the chip down.

1.65v actual is really all you will need to run the Athlon XP 2500 Mobile at 3200 speeds. In fact, at that voltage you can actually run higher than 3200 (~3400). Settings of 200 FSB x 12 multi or 210x11.5 are easily reached with the setup you are looking to buy.

Cooling is also something to take a look at. Do you best to cool the processor, but you don't need water or anything else other than a decent cooler to do what you are looking to do with this processor.

Lastly, I agree, the Antec True430 is a very nice PSU.

 

[oldman420]

1.5 vcore should be plenty to get to 2.2 ghz on that cpu
i run mine regular at 1.35 vcore. thats whats so cool "no pun intended" about xp mobiles

 

[TeejayV]

thanks everyone for giving me your opinions and your help on this issue. I am really looking forward to buying this mobile chip this week.

Basically, what your saying is that this chip comes set @ 1.0GHZ? then i have to OC it from there?

once again, thanks in advance. (Magratton, i replied to your PM, thanks, i am willing to do it!)

 

[oldman420]

your board will default to 1oo x 6 and you can ramp it up from there.itl say unknown cpu type at whatever speed you are running