Question about memory for overclocking a Barton XP 2500+?

[bmillerd]

Okay, so I've tried my best to do my homework. I gather from the posts here (and common sense) that expensive RAM is not the way to go with A64s. It's just not worth the gain in performance.

So here is my problem:

I plan to overclock this setup quite a bit but I also don't have a ton of money to spend on memory. Will a memory divider on an Athlon XP based system hurt performance more than on an A64 platform? I see a ton of info on good memory and good results on A64 systems but can't seem to find a whole lot on XP overclocks. Also, is the command rate as important (or even comparable) between XP and 64 processors?

Basically, I'm asking the age-old question > Given my setup, which ram would be the best deal for me?

 

[CheesePoofs]

The dividers do hurt performance more on an Athlon XP than an Athlon 64, but with an Athlon XP, most of the FSB's of their chips are below 200mhz.
So you can get some basic value pc3200 ram and up the FSB to 200mhz, then play around with the multi and never have to touch the mem divider.

 

[bmillerd]

heh, I hadn't even thought of that. I totally forgot about the fact that 200 FSB is already a 34 mhz jump for my barton. Is it even worth upgrading from my Kingston Value DDR333?

 

[CheesePoofs]

Probably not ... if your chip is unlocked, you can overclock it as much as you want by just changing the multi.

 

[bmillerd]

Hmm I'll have to do some research, I'm not very familiar with the multiplier on the Barton cores. Ctrl+F1 gets me extended bios on my board but it's not showing a multiplier (nor is it showing a command rate for that matter which is odd). I'll look into it. Thanks for your help.

 

[CheesePoofs]

I have the same board as you, but its not the the second version. The multi is in the menu in the bios in the top right, i think its called something and voltage controls.

 

[neoreturns]

Post what chips you got on your KVR333. I bought some when they were including Hynix D43 on it (hot deal posted here) and thats the same stuff used on PC4000. I have it running at 225 mhz 2.5-3-3-7

And it was only $120 for 1gb after rebates at CC

 

[bmillerd]

I'm on a different computer at themoment but I'm sure I didn't get the same as you heh, mine has trouble running at anything except for stock =/ I'm running a divider now.

 

[bfonnes]

I'd probably get at least PC3200 memory if you are planning on overclocking. I have PC2700 Kingston modules, and the highest FSB I have ever been able to get is like 179.

BFonnes