Ordered S939 Opty 165 & I wanna OC it

[Cerpin Taxt]

I'm running an ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe mobo with a A64 3500+ Winnie. My PSU is a 480W Antec "TruePower 2.0"

I just ordered an Opteron 165 (yay!) and I want to be sure that I manage the install and OC properly.

My first question is: Will I have to re-install XP Pro to complete the upgrade? I seem to recall reading a thread describing simple steps to install the CPU without re-installing the OS, but after some searching I came up with nothing (search tool is teh suck).

Second, I want to be sure that I've got enough PSU if I'm gonna OC this thing. I've read that people can get upwards of 2.6Ghz on stock Vcore, and I don't really plan on pushing much higher than that, if at all. My GPU is an nVidia 6800GT, FYI, and I'd like to upgrade that in the near future to a 7900GT. Will my 480W Antec take me there, including the OC?

Thanks in advance.

 

[bchivers]

I also have a knew 165 coming and I found this over at DFI-Street but not sure who wrote.

The BIOS that you have supports dual core processors, however if you are ok with BIOS flashing you can try the 0704-2bta or the 0406. Both of those BIOS revisions work well with X2 processors. But be aware that the beta BIOS can void your warranty if you can't flash back for some reason.

A fresh Windows install isn't absolutely necessary (but recommended). I ran my X2 with the same Windows installation that supported my 3700 Sandie for about three months before I decided to do a fresh install.

The procedure if you want to use the existing Windows installation is pretty straight forward.

1. Download the AMD Dual Core Processor Driver and AMD Dual Core Optimizer
2. Power down
3. Clear CMOS, reboot, enter BIOS and reset to optimized defaults.
4. Boot to Windows and remove the existing processor via Windows Device Manager.
5. Shut down, swap processors.
6. Reset CMOS, reboot, enter BIOS and reset to optimized defaults.
7. Boot to Windows and install both the dual core driver and dual core optimizer.

 

[Rike]

I upgraded my father-in-law's computer about two months ago using this guide. It went very smoothly once I got a BIOS that supported dual core AND worked (it is an Asus A8V mobo which has been very buggy). (Edit: Flash the new Bios before you install the new proc to make sure it works!) The OS kept going like nothing had ever happened. I just installed a very drivers, did a few restarts and he was running again.

I don't know what in the rest of your rig, but your PSU should be just fine as the extra core doesn't add very much to your overall system draw. Check the rig in my sig and you'll see a system much like your current one. I've run that system OC'ed constantly for about two years without any problems. I even recently added a 7900GT w/ a volt mod and OC'ed it. My PSU never blinked.

Good luck with your upgrade.