Overclocking a Mobile Athlon XP

[mmebane]

Hey there,

I've been thinking of selling my A7N8X Deluxe/TBred-B 2100+ and getting an Abit NF7-S and a Mobile AXP, but I have a few questions.

1) Are the latest mobile Athlon XP's locked, or will I be able to O/C them fine?
2) For overclocking purposes, the CPU voltage should be upped to the same as the desktop equivalent, correct?
3) Would a 2400+ (stock 1.35V/35W) be any cooler O/Ced than a 2500+ (stock 1.45V/45W)?
4) Would my ThermalRight SLK-800A and ThermalTake SmartFan II suffice for cooling?

 

[someone16]

1.Mobiles are different from normal AXP's for that exact reason. They are actually UNlocked.
2. Yes, probably 1.7-1.8 V would be max voltage to use.
3. When O/C'd, no.
4. Most likely yes, if your voltage doesn't go too high (IMO max of 1.8V)

 

[Shimmishim]

good choice on a board...

if you plan on running high fsb's then get a dfi but if you plan for pure clock speed the nf7-s is the way to go

 

[BlackMamba]

The A7N8X Deluxe would probably suffice though, since I believe there is a firmware that lets even non-version 2.0's run at 200FSB. My 8RDA+ is only rated to 166, but it does 200+ fine...

 

[BlackMamba]

By the way, in terms of cooling, I'm using a Thermalright AX-7 (2+ years old), and with a Panaflo with no AC (90F where I'm living ambient), 2.3 is solid, and with a Zalman 3000RPM 2.4 is fine as well. You don't need amazing cooling to get good clocks from these chips (mine is a 2200+ Barton 35W).

 

[mmebane]

Originally posted by: Shimmishim
good choice on a board...

if you plan on running high fsb's then get a dfi but if you plan for pure clock speed the nf7-s is the way to go

It would be nice to get 210, but I really don't mind just 200. I've decided to get a gig of cheaper memory rather than 512MB of ultra-high-end stuff, so I don't expect large FSB overclocks.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=20-145-480&DEPA=0

 

[DaNorthface]

Originally posted by: mmebane

Originally posted by: Shimmishim
good choice on a board...

if you plan on running high fsb's then get a dfi but if you plan for pure clock speed the nf7-s is the way to go

It would be nice to get 210, but I really don't mind just 200. I've decided to get a gig of cheaper memory rather than 512MB of ultra-high-end stuff, so I don't expect large FSB overclocks.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=20-145-480&DEPA=0

the nf7-s will do at least 220 fsb..

 

[imported_smilingcrow]

Originally posted by: mmebane
Hey there,

I've been thinking of selling my A7N8X Deluxe/TBred-B 2100+ and getting an Abit NF7-S and a Mobile AXP, but I have a few questions.
3) Would a 2400+ (stock 1.35V/35W) be any cooler O/Ced than a 2500+ (stock 1.45V/45W)?

I imagine that the mileage will vary but most likely yes. The XP-Ms are basically hand picked as the cream of the crop, so they should be able to hit the same speed as an XP, but at a lower voltage. It's in the luck of the draw of course, but on average they should run cooler. Of course being such good chips you'll probably run them even faster which will bring the temps back up

I did a lot of research on these chips as I was going to build a system with one last month. I have no 1st hand experience so check out other threads for people with hands on experience.

 

[charloscarlies]

the nf7-s will do at least 220 fsb..

That's simply not true with the newer revisions. Most NF7's rev. 2 are LUCKY to do 220 fsb without any mods. 220 is the absolute max on my board...221/222 and I get blue-screened. At 220 everything's fine...it's quite odd but these boards just don't hit very high fsb's.

 

[mmebane]

One more question: I just noticed NewEgg has the M-2400+ for $77, while I thought it was 87. Since I'm kinda strapped for cash right now, an $11 difference between it and the M-2500+ would be a significant factor in my purchase. Would the M-2400+ be likely to overclock as fast as the M-2500+?

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: charloscarlies

the nf7-s will do at least 220 fsb..

That's simply not true with the newer revisions. Most NF7's rev. 2 are LUCKY to do 220 fsb without any mods. 220 is the absolute max on my board...221/222 and I get blue-screened. At 220 everything's fine...it's quite odd but these boards just don't hit very high fsb's.

 

[mmebane]

Huh?

Oh, and one more thing.

Should I run the processor for a while at normal speed before overclocking it?

 

[magratton]

Originally posted by: Zebo

Originally posted by: charloscarlies

the nf7-s will do at least 220 fsb..

That's simply not true with the newer revisions. Most NF7's rev. 2 are LUCKY to do 220 fsb without any mods. 220 is the absolute max on my board...221/222 and I get blue-screened. At 220 everything's fine...it's quite odd but these boards just don't hit very high fsb's.

Agreed here Zebo. Lately I have not had luck hitting higher than 213 FSB on the recent NF7-S's. Also agree with others postings that the $11 different will likely not create any +/-. Both are fine processors and should easily net you 200FSB (along with any NF7-S, newer V2's or older ones).

Originally posted by: mmebane
Huh?

Oh, and one more thing.

Should I run the processor for a while at normal speed before overclocking it?

As for this, my mileage with several of these has been that you can feel free to OC them right outta the box.

 

[maluckey]

If I turn on the A/C (ambient temps in computer room are 85 F), I can hit 220 Mhz FSB without a hitch with 2-2-2-11 and 2T RAM timings, dual channel, cpc enabled, and CPU interface enable at 3:3 ratio. I do this at 220 x 11 on the NF7s-v2.0 with the colored RAM slots, which is supposed to be a poor overclocker.

My 35W Mobile Barton rocks all the way to a stable 2.6 Ghz before the temps (and elevated Volts required) make me nervous (air cooled).

On a sour note...The NorthBridge voltage on the NF7-S v2.0 is a little low. Cooler temps supplied to the mobo (NB and SB) during intense 3D apps helps a little, but not a whole lot. VDD mods are easy, though they raise the temps...etc..

All in all, the NF7-S v2.0 is a good board right out of the box, and is well matched with the Barton XP-M chips.

 

[mmebane]

Do you mean the default 1.6 is too low, or the max 1.7 is too low?

 

[maluckey]

I mean tha the 1.7v is often a little low for super intense 3d action.

 

[Budman]

The DFI Infinity will get you 250mhz + easy ,so if you want high fsb it's the board to get.

 

[mmebane]

Well, the NF7-S is already ordered, so I don't have much of a choice now.

Maybe after Doom 3, I'll sell it and get a new mobo.

 

[mmebane]

Everything seems to be working fine. I have it running stable at 200x11, haven't tried higher yet. I've been too busy playing Doom 3.