need help ocing 1800+

[Mik3y]

hey, i have 2 1800+'s at home. one is a normal thorton, and the other is a thoroughbred. i'd like to make a cheap upgrade on my system by overclocking. i know my motherboard cant support overclocks, so i'll need to get a good one. how's a normal abit nf7? i'd like to get an overclock of at least to 2.2ghz. also, i would need new ram too. at least 512mb ddr pc3200. will a basic 512mb mushkin for $90 cut it for the overclock? or do i need memory that is tighter in timings?

 

[myocardia]

An NF7 is a very good board for overclocking, it just won't go to as high of an fsb as the NF7-S. And first thing you need to do before you order ram is find out whether the T-bred is a T-bred A or a B. If it's an A, it's not going to overclock very far at all (200 mhz seems to be the norm for T-bred A's). If it's a T-bred B, then get yourself some decent PC3200, and see how high you can take it. 1800 B's are known to go as high as 2.4ghz, with an occasional 2.5ghz. Of course, nothing's guaranteed in overclocking. Now if it's a T-bred A, then you are gonna have to overclock the Thorton, which has a locked multiplier, but that's not a huge deal, since it's got an 11.5x multi. If you can get it up to a 200 mhz fsb, that will give you 2.3ghz, which isn't bad at all for a chip that's supposed to run at 1.53ghz. Now, you do realize, don't you, that buying the motherboard and ram isn't all you're going to need? You will have to have at least a good heatsink, this one comes to mind for someone who doesn't want to spend alot of money, but wants way more cooling than the stock heatsink can provide: Speeze FalconRock. It seems to be good for up to around 2.3ghz, and only costs $11.99. Along with the heatsink, you are going to need a more powerful psu (power supply), because a 300 watt no-name psu will not/b] handle an overclocked Athlon. The best one for the money right now is the Antec TruePower 430: link. And if you're really on a budget, this Allied should let you get up to around 2.3ghz: link, but for way less money.

 

[Soulkeeper]

i hope those two chips are unlocked
good luck !!

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Soulkeeper
i hope those two chips are unlocked
good luck !!

A Thorton can't be unlocked. They are a Barton with half of the L2 cache disabled, and they didn't start making them until they had already started hard-locking the Barton's.