update: ordering before midnight--last minute recommendations?

[DWW]

update: see post a few down

I've heard people get great OCing out of the 2500+ chips. However recently people have told me these chips are now locked with respect to multiplier. Is the same said for the FSB?

If not, can I just leave the multiplier where its at (11.0) and up the FSB from 166 to 200 on the ABit NF7-S to overclock to 2200 MHz?

I searched for "unlock" and "locked" and read the threads but couldn't find much with this regard.

 

[Hyperfocal]

FSB overclocking still works as well as ever.

 

[MDE]

Hyperfocal has it right, you can still raise the FSB speed to your heart's desire, only the multiplier is locked. On the NF7-S you can just go into Softmenu and change it from 2500+ to 3200+ and you should be set. If it's unstable, just bump the CPU voltage up a notch and try it again. Good luck!

 

[dnuggett]

There are numerous threads about this, but as mentioned before the FSB can be bumped. Finding an unlocked one may take a little work but they are definately out there still. I've seen anything from 3200+ speeds to 2.4-5.

 

[DWW]

Great! Thank you all.

The only remaining question I have is how high should I expect to get the FSB? I'm looking at NF7-S rev 2.0 board, Vantec Aeroflow and Kingston HyperX dual channel pc3200 kit (2x512) to go with it.

 

[chocoruacal]

expect 2/2.1ghz no sweat. not all Bartons will do 2.2ghz on stock voltage, so you'd be better off raising the FSB in increments...180, 190, 195, etc and raise voltage where needed. Make sure you have CPU interface enabled, speed/fsb spectrum disabled, VDD=1.7v, etc.

 

[DWW]

Thanks chocoruacal.

Do you recommend that board you have (that I too, have selected) ?
Which HSF do you use?

thanks.

 

[dnuggett]

Don't stop when you hit chocoruacal expectations. 2.2 is not uncommon... I hit it with 2700 on tight timings, and the RAM is a crap brand.

 

[Sid59]

Originally posted by: Hyperfocal
FSB overclocking still works as well as ever.

:beer: the threads the last few weeks have beeen amazingly similar.

 

[DWW]

I'm going to order before midnight to get in on the specials the store is having... so far I've settled on:

Abit NF7-S NForce2 Motherboard
AMD Athlon XP (Barton core) 2500+
Vantec Aeroflow Socket A TMD
Kingston HyperX PC3200 (DDR400) Dual Channel Kit 2X512MB

But would like to hear any last minute words. I want to OC to at least a 200 FSB. 210 would be great if the chip permits it.

 

[screw3d]

Originally posted by: DWW
I'm going to order before midnight to get in on the specials the store is having... so far I've settled on:

Abit NF7-S NForce2 Motherboard
AMD Athlon XP (Barton core) 2500+
Vantec Aeroflow Socket A TMD
Kingston HyperX PC3200 (DDR400) Dual Channel Kit 2X512MB

But would like to hear any last minute words. I want to OC to at least a 200 FSB. 210 would be great if the chip permits it.

Everything sounds good except for the heatsink. If you wanna overclock heavily, I'll suggest Thermalright heatsinks (SLK800-900, SK-7 etc).

 

[DWW]

I've heard people get reasonable temps out of the Aeroflow when OCing to 210ish though? Hrm the Aeroflow is uber cheap right now too :\

 

[DWW]

23 minutes left

that the only objection?

 

[DWW]

Ordered last night. Should be here in 4-6 days (looks like the HyperX RAM will take a day or two for them to get).