Suggestions for an Athon MP

[imported_chrono325]

Hello all!
This is my first post to Anandtech forums, I have been a longtime lurker.
Anyway, I am interested in building a dual processor computer based on a pair of Athlon MP's. I read an article about unlocking regular Athlon XP's to be MP's (sounded risky, but saving ~$150 was too good to pass up!) Just looking around briefly, I realized that I know far less about Athlons than I do about P4s. I have seen ones listed at FSB speeds of 266, 333, and 400. I am looking to make a fairly powerful gaming/server/encoding/gereal linux box, while spending as little money as possible (always a good goal). So I would need an AGP port on the Mobo and unregistered ram (it doesnt need to be that stable, plus registered ram costs more).
So my questions are:
1) what processor model should I use (i have heard that the 2500+ is a good choice, but what FSB speed?)
2) what motherboard, given that I need AGP and unregistered ram.
Thanks guys!

 

[Mingon]

Dont get normal athlon xp's get mobiles as they are easier to mod. I have an asus a7m266-d at the moment and have also used an msi k7d. The asus seems pretty tweakable but acts funny when set at high vcore. I am currently at 17*141 (2.4ghz) and performance is lively

 

[imported_chrono325]

Do regular AGP cards work in AGP pro ports? The board says it has AGP pro, but all those cards are the professional (=pricey) ones for modeling etc. Also, why moblie? you are paying more for an identical chip, just with a change in a jumper setting.

 

[Mingon]

Regular cards work fine, I have a 5600 in mine. The mobile chip only requires the 3rd lvl 5 bridge to be cut whereas the XP requires the 4th to be filled. Sometimes the filling of the pits is a pain and doesnt always work. Also the MP motherboards are limited to 133fsb so to get the best out of AMD chips you need to change the multiplier, 2500+'s are now locked but mobile are not.