mobo rated 400 fsb vs 333 fsb

[frankierx]

I have a epox 8rda+ currently with my barton 2500+ rated only to 333 fsb. I can not pass prime95 with this setup. I am thinking of buying this EPoX "EP-8RDA3I" nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU from newegg with rated 400 fsb to see if the fsb rating is the limiting factor preventing me from passing prime95. A friend says i shouldn't oc because the time that involves tweeking. However I can't stop to think that I can pass prime95 if I can just try this 400 fsb rated mobo.

Also, do I need to reinstall the os when I switch the mobo? Do you think i can run win xp cdrom repair procedure at boot up? What about the uninstall and reinstall mobo drivers processes? At what stage in the installation would I run the uninstall and reinstall mobo drivers?

 

[frankierx]

bump

 

[RussianSensation]

1. update to the latest BIOS
2. increase memory voltage to 2.8 and make sure memory is running at PC2700
3. increase the cpu voltage slightly from (from 1.65 stock, i dont remember exactly)
4. download winmemtest86 to run the memory test on a floopy so you can isolate that memory is a problem OR not.
5. increase chipset voltage if option provided in the BIOS
6. test prime 95 again
7. If prime95 fails again, download Motherboard Monitor 5.3.7.0 or a later version and check 3.3, 5, and 12 v rail voltages making sure that they do not deviate more than 5-10% from the rated values. If your 3.3 or 12 vrails drop below 3.15 and 11.50 you have an insufficient power supply, which could cause system instability. Now run Prime95 (to load the system) and leave the MBM5 for a couple hours to see voltage variation.

if none of this works, you could have a hardware problem (assuming from what I am understanding that your system fails Prime 95 at stock settings). But before you go ahead and spend more money, see if your computer is stable. If you don't have any crashes, dont' worry about Prime 95. For example, Geil PC3500 ram ALWAYS failed memtest86 on step 5, due to the flaw in all of those memory chips, but it didnt mean that your system wasn't stable.

If you are going to reinvest money into socket A, get a cheap socket A motherboard like 7NJL1 SktA nForce2 Ultra 400 DDR400 8xAGP LAN USB2.0 ATX [Retail

There is no need to reinvest into a good socket A motherboard since it's a dead end socket.

Note: FSB would only be the limiting factor if you overclocked both the cpu and the motherboard beyond their 166(333mhz) FSB specs.

 

[frankierx]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation

Note: FSB would only be the limiting factor if you overclocked both the cpu and the motherboard beyond their 166(333mhz) FSB specs.

Yes, i am oc beyond the mobo 166 fsb spec. that is why i need the 200 fsb mobo to oc my 2500+ to 200x11 .

btw, how much is that cheap socket a mobo you listed there? the link doesnt work.

and my current system did pass prime95 at stock settings.

 

[RussianSensation]

Chaintech 7NJL3 Socket A AMD DDR Motherboard (400FSB) (MB) - $40

7NJL1 socket A Nforce 2 Ultra 400 - $50

I am not sure what the differences between the 2 motherboards are, so you can read up reviews on them, but both will hit 200FSB.

Also newegg carries Shuttle and Biostar brands for cheap.

I wouldnt spend any more than this on an ancient platform.

The gain from 2500+ to XP3200+ is not even that important considering XP platform is lagging no matter what. This might not even be worth your trouble to spend $50 even for the extra speed rating. But that's up to you. It could of course also mean that your cpu is not stable at 200FSB, which would actually make things even worse because then you would have thrown out $50 out the window.

Here is from a Review:


"
EPoX 8RDA+ is a strange board as it has problems running at FSB above 200Mhz even though you have got a very good piece of RAM. The limiting factor lies in the VDD (voltage to chipset) where instability would occur when FSB is above 200Mhz. By default VDD should be running at 1.5V however, it appears to be too low for high FSB overclocking.

By performing the VDD mod on this board allows me to further improve its overclockability by much and as a result i am able to run push the TBred 2400+ from 133Mhz all the way to 225Mhz FSB at 2-2-2-5 timings at Dual Channel mode. Note that the multiplier is auto unlocked on this board. The memory performance is simply amazing at this FSB. "

Overclocking results # 2 - PCSTATS
Overclocking results # 3 - Hardcoreware

Your motherboard stability can be limited by low VDD voltage (ie. 1.50 or below, try to raise that if you can) and chipset cooling.