Mobile Bartons

[deadseasquirrel]

Anyone with one of these able to do an experiment for me? I'm on the fence right now mainly because my Tbred B 1700+ is working nicely at 2241mhz with a 43C load. But, I am on a KT333 board with no pci/agp lock, so I run it at a high multi. 13.5x166.

How high of a multi can these mobile bartons take? Unless it could take 15x or 16x, I don't think I would be interested (which would be 2490 and 2656mhz, respectively).

deadseasquirrel

 

[nick1985]

FSB > Mhz

 

[myocardia]

I think you should spend your $100 on an Abit NF7-S, so you can run your 1700 B at 210fsb. That's going to give you more performance right now, then you could start saving your money for a mobile Barton.

 

[deadseasquirrel]

Originally posted by: nick1985
FSB > Mhz

meh. i know, but ^ mhz + v FSB > HDD corruption. i've tried to push this board above 166fsb and either it, my devices, or my pc2700 ram doesn't like it. probably all of the above. which leads to ....

Originally posted by: myocardia
I think you should spend your $100 on an Abit NF7-S, so you can run your 1700 B at 210fsb. That's going to give you more performance right now, then you could start saving your money for a mobile Barton.

yeah, but then i would need some ram that could do 210 and i dont think my pc2700 can.

just trying to find a cheap upgrade. if i sell my 1700+ for $45, and the mobile 2400+ is $77 at Newegg, that's a pretty cheap upgrade if it can run @ 15x166. i think the performance would be better than a 1700+ @ 10.5x210.

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: deadseasquirrel

Originally posted by: nick1985
FSB > Mhz

meh. i know, but ^ mhz + v FSB > HDD corruption. i've tried to push this board above 166fsb and either it, my devices, or my pc2700 ram doesn't like it. probably all of the above. which leads to ....

Originally posted by: myocardia
I think you should spend your $100 on an Abit NF7-S, so you can run your 1700 B at 210fsb. That's going to give you more performance right now, then you could start saving your money for a mobile Barton.

yeah, but then i would need some ram that could do 210 and i dont think my pc2700 can.

just trying to find a cheap upgrade. if i sell my 1700+ for $45, and the mobile 2400+ is $77 at Newegg, that's a pretty cheap upgrade if it can run @ 15x166. i think the performance would be better than a 1700+ @ 10.5x210.

What you just said makes perfect sense. I'd say to go for it. I'm pretty sure you can adjust the multiplier all the way up to 18 or so depending on the motherboard.

 

[Gudos]

mobile Barton is the right way to go for now. I got mine now @208X13 +2808 MHz on water, beats any processor out there !!!!!

 

[bunnyfubbles]

I'm not sure you're going to see much of anything in the change unless you get a new motherboard and ram. Your 1700+ @ 2.2GHz is pretty fast in its own right, I doubt you'd see or "feel" much of a performance boost with a mobile barton as much as you would from a new motherboard with faster ram. Unless you need an immediate sub $100 upgrade right now and some performance boost, going with a new CPU (IMHO at least) is not the way to go right now. If it were me I'd wait it out.

 

[dqniel]

In all honesty, I think it would be an insult to mobile Bartons to put one in a KT333 board with pc2700 ram...hehe. Get at least a new board to test out the limits on that ram, and then think about getting a mobile.

*edit* And btw, "FSB > mhz"....if you can achieve it.

 

[Jeff7181]

My mobile barton is completely unlocked... normal desktop bartons on mine are only unlocked up to 12.5... mobile ones can go higher... how high is more dependant on your motherboard than anything else.

 

[The Sauce]

How much more performance will a few hundred more CPU MHz get you in a system completely bottlenecked by that meager FSB? Probably not much. I'd be upgrading to a NF7-S and a new stick of RAM if I were you.

 

[maluckey]

I smell BS so bad that I can barely breathe!! Run the mobile Barton at higher multi and enjoy!!

I have a KX7-333 and have tried a mobile Barton 2400. It worked great. It wasn't mine so I had to give it back. It ran cooler, and was faster than the OC'ed XP-2100+ that was in there. I managed to hit 180 x 14 = =/- 2.52 GHZ (Prime 95, and UT 2003 stable) on air cooling. That was an easy OC.

As far as upgrading...............

An overclocked KX7-333 at 180 Mhz FSB at either 5:2:1 ratio, or maybe at 4:2:1 (though getting to 180 mhz FSB at 4:2:1 needs quality everything, and patience), offers you far higher PCI, and AGP speeds to make up for the small lack of RAM sppeed. I doubt that you see much difference (if any) running this board versus an NF-7s in real world apps. The Via's lower latency makes up for a lot in the real world.

FWIW, in UT 2003 benchmarks, I hit 78.1 FPS in botmatch on my KR7a-133 (KT 266a) and Ti-4200. I hit 80.2 botmatch benchmark in the KX7-333 with the Mobile Barton and a Ti-4400. A quick check on the Unreal Tournament website shows the latter score to be smack dab in the middle of NF7 territory (and that's with a dinosaur video card!). Save your money for the next generation instead of following the flavor of the week. You can still crank serious perfrmance out of the KX7-333, though you certainly need some better RAM. Try the BH-5, or BH-6 chipped HyperX. It will let you hit as high as you want to go on the KX7-333. I have gone over 200 Mhz FSB (stable) on HyperX PC3200 with this board. The temps were high (air cooled), so I found a happy medium in the 180 Mhz range FSB.

 

[dqniel]

Originally posted by: maluckey
I smell BS so bad that I can barely breathe!! Run the mobile Barton at higher multi and enjoy!!

I have a KX7-333 and have tried a mobile Barton 2400. It worked great. It wasn't mine so I had to give it back. It ran cooler, and was faster than the OC'ed XP-2100+ that was in there. I managed to hit 180 x 14 = =/- 2.52 GHZ (Prime 95, and UT 2003 stable) on air cooling. That was an easy OC.

As far as upgrading...............

An overclocked KX7-333 at 180 Mhz FSB at either 5:2:1 ratio, or maybe at 4:2:1 (though getting to 180 mhz FSB at 4:2:1 needs quality everything, and patience), offers you far higher PCI, and AGP speeds to make up for the small lack of RAM sppeed. I doubt that you see much difference (if any) running this board versus an NF-7s in real world apps. The Via's lower latency makes up for a lot in the real world.

FWIW, in UT 2003 benchmarks, I hit 78.1 FPS in botmatch on my KR7a-133 (KT 266a) and Ti-4200. I hit 80.2 botmatch benchmark in the KX7-333 with the Mobile Barton and a Ti-4400. A quick check on the Unreal Tournament website shows the latter score to be smack dab in the middle of NF7 territory (and that's with a dinosaur video card!). Save your money for the next generation instead of following the flavor of the week. You can still crank serious perfrmance out of the KX7-333, though you certainly need some better RAM. Try the BH-5, or BH-6 chipped HyperX. It will let you hit as high as you want to go on the KX7-333. I have gone over 200 Mhz FSB (stable) on HyperX PC3200 with this board. The temps were high (air cooled), so I found a happy medium in the 180 Mhz range FSB.

Get a DFI ultra infinite or nf7-s 2.0 with fast ram and that smell of BS will turn to "oh, higher fsb really DOES destroy getting high mhz by multi."

 

[gplracer]

It really would not make a huge difference but your chances of getting a real high fsb are better with the DFI Infinity. Most of the current NF7-S boards top out around 210-215fsb.

 

[maluckey]

Let's see....85-90 bucks versus 330 bucks (more or less) for a difference that is almost unnoticeable in action (unless you live by benchmark scores) when in five or so months, 64 bit computing becomes mainstream and makes everything else look snail-like. Save the bucks, spend it when you can't do what you want with what you have.

The difference in NF7-s, or Ultra is better spent elswhere. It's all obsolete in six months anyways. There are no more Athlon XP models scheduled to be created. If you've got money to burn, send me your old stuff, buy the flavor of the week, and drive on.

It's all my biased opinion anyways, so do what you want knowing that your board (KX&-333) will run at 200 Mhz FSB all day, all night long.

 

[Wuzup101]

@ maluckey - ditto!

 

[Zebo]

As high as mobo supports. I set multi between 14-17 and FSB to 133 when testing just chip stabilty. When testing memory/chipset I set multi to 6 and and moved FSB between 200-228. That's what so wonderful about unlocked processors that you can isolate tests to achieve maximums on each component then jack it all up when done for a comprehensive test.

 

[deadseasquirrel]

Yeah, it seemed the thread deviated a little from my main objective (imagine that happening :Q ). While, I realize that I would get much better performance with an nForce2 board and some good RAM, I don't plan on making that many changes. This is my main rig right now but will be handed down to my son in < 6 months when I build my next one.

So I don't want to throw too much money into it, but wouldn't mind getting the speed of it as fast as I can with the components I have already. I know the performance increase going from 13.5x166 to 16x166 may not be as great as if I could move to 12x200, but I do believe there will be a noticeable increase. I mean there definitely was when I went from a Pally 10.5x166 to this Tbred @ 13.5x166.

Don't get me wrong though-- I'm always trying to justify swapping out everything (selling the Epox 8k5a2 for $40, the 512 pc2700 for $50, the 1700+ for $45 and buying a good nF2ultra with pc3200 and a mobile barton). If I could get the difference to get down to $50 or so, I might do it. But with a substantial build in < 6 months (A64, raptor, etc), I don't think I could justify it.

 

[maluckey]

Check out this thread about the Abit KX7-333 versus all other Kt-333.

Extreme Systems Forums.

As you can see, the KX7-333 can easily run over 200 Mhz FSB.

 

[dqniel]

Originally posted by: maluckey
Check out this thread about the Abit KX7-333 versus all other Kt-333.

Extreme Systems Forums.

As you can see, the KX7-333 can easily run over 200 Mhz FSB.

Best 333 board, yes, but you're going a little far by saying it can run over 200mhz easily. Mickey Mouse is one of the best overclockers in the world. I also wasn't saying that you should actually go out and spend cash on those things at the moment; I was just saying that there is definitely a difference between overclocking with multiplier and with fsb, and not just in benchmarking.

Originally posted by: gplracer
It really would not make a huge difference but your chances of getting a real high fsb are better with the DFI Infinity. Most of the current NF7-S boards top out around 210-215fsb.

I'd say most of them top out at between 230-240, and many go higher. If you see them topping out at 210-215 it's cause their cooling or ram is holding them back. You are right about the ultra infinite getting higher fsb much easier though, but at the cost of agp performance from what I've seen. Abit's nf7-s tends to run at better performance mhz for mhz when dealing with fsb than the ultra infinite.

 

[maluckey]

Let's see, any KR71-133 can run at 166 Mhz any day of the week. Any KX7-333 san run at 185 Mhz any day of the week. I have run both at at over 200 Mhz FSB. At these speeds, the difference between the NForce and the Via chipset is "invisible". I doubt that in most games, or anything other than video encoding or benchmarking would you feel or see any difference. Framerates in most all games are well over 60 FPS on my KR7a-133, and higher still with the KX7-333. The visual difference between 75 FPS and 90 FPS is not noticeable to the human eye. I live for gaming, and I run these boards because the NForce guys are not getting any better experience than I. Sure there are some really great systems out there that blow me away in framerates and benches, but can they see the difference? No. When I can see the difference in FPS, I guess that a change is due.

I also don't understand what you are trying to say here:

I was just saying that there is definitely a difference between overclocking with multiplier and with fsb

Are you trying to say that you can only overclock via multiplier in a Via chipset??? That is the least method of overclocking ANY system. As I mentioned. Most any KX7-333 will hit insane speeds compared to stock, without even having any special knowledge. I can run mine at 213 without issues. The far faster AGP and PCI bus speed, and reduced latency of the RAM, along with increased speed offered by the reduced Fast Command Decode settings available on these boards, more than hold their own.

Like I said, you can always spend more money, but can you really see or feel the difference?? In six months, when games are more intense, DDR II, PCI Express and 64 bit computing come on line, most everyone will want to upgrade. To upgrade now, from a dinosuar, to a platform on the verge of extinction makes no sense. You can argue speed all day long, but most agree that unless you plan on keeping you board for awhile, that waiting until you really need it makes the most sense. With no more Athlon XP's slated for production, AGP cards now extinct, and DDR RAM hearing it's death knell, unless it's necessary, save yourself the hassle of owning a dinosaur the day you buy it.