Overclocking Athlon 2600 problem

[Jamus]

I bought an athlon xp 2600+ with a 333mhz bus for my nforce mobo. I didn't realize until it was too late that the bus speed was not backwards comaptible with my 266mhz bus on my mobo. My computer only recognizes the processor as an athlon xp 2000+. I searched all over the internet and found out from other people that made the same mistake that there was nothing I could do.

I was wondering, since the CPU is only running at 1670 mhz instead of the 2.1 or whatever, does that mean its underclocked? If so, could i overclock it up to 2.1 without having to worry about any overclocking problems or negative effects on my system? Or does the CPU basically count as a xp 2000+ and if i do overclock it I'll have to take cooling and everything else into account?

If I do overclock it, what is the best way? To use an overclocking program, or change the multipliers and things in the bios?

 

[myocardia]

You didn't even tell us what one of your components in your system is, how are we to know if there is anything that can be done to help you or not? You should probably have bought an XP2400. They have pretty decent performance, even at stock speed, which is 2.0ghz. Here's a link to them for $73 for the retail version, which comes with a heatsink and fan, plus a 3 year warranty: link.

 

[Jamus]

Sorry, I have:
K7N420 Pro nforce mobo
athlon xp 2600+ (thinks its a 2000+)
geforce 3 ti500
512 2100 DDR

Thats all thats important

Also, I was looking in my bios and unfortunately it doesn't have very many options, the only thing I could do is change the cpu/mem/agp speed at once by a little. Are there any good overclocking programs out there?

 

[myocardia]

Well, I did a little searching of my own, and couldn't find any way around the fact that it isn't meant to have a Barton installed in it, myself. Looks like you're going to need to get yourself an XP2400, especially since you only have PC2100 ram. Or, you could spend a few hundred more, and get yourself an nForce2 mobo, and some PC3200 ram. I might be interested in buying that 2600 from you, if the price is right, enabling you to get a 2400, if you are interested in that.

 

[TGHI]

Originally posted by: Jamus
I bought an athlon xp 2600+ with a 333mhz bus for my nforce mobo. I didn't realize until it was too late that the bus speed was not backwards comaptible with my 266mhz bus on my mobo. My computer only recognizes the processor as an athlon xp 2000+. I searched all over the internet and found out from other people that made the same mistake that there was nothing I could do....

...the CPU is only running at 1670 mhz instead of the 2.1 or whatever,

Well, naturally it's not running at the 1.9Ghz that a 2600 Barton should be running at. The 2600 is 11.5 * 166, while your board is only running it at 133, so: 11.5 * 133 = 1529Mhz or, an Athlon 2000.


TGHI

 

[Jamus]

Originally posted by: myocardia
especially since you only have PC2100 ram. Or, you could spend a few hundred more, and get yourself an nForce2 mobo, and some PC3200 ram.

I'm thinking of getting a new nforce2, maybe an nf7-s or an an7.
How much would my pc2100 ram drag down the preformance? Would i notice a huge difference if i got new 3200 ram?

 

[myocardia]

If you buy an NF7-S, you won't get anywhere near a 200mhz fsb with PC2100 memory. Although, you could probably get it up to 333fsb with the memory you have, so it would run at stock speed, until you could afford some PC3200. That's actually just what I would recommend, since it's a much, much better motherboard.