Which Athlon XP do you recommend??

[kd2777]

Which Athlon XP do you recommend No OC but good performance

I just bought a SFF Shuttle off eBay for under $200, always wanted one but wasn?t going to pay the cash for one, but at that price I got on the bandwagon. It is the sn45g model, the one with the nForce Ultra400 chipset and no video. The components I have are:

geForce 4200ti
250GB HDD
1GB Corsair pc-3200
Optical drive
Windows xp

I want this to be a nice setup. If I like the SFF I may take apart my main rig and put my 9800pro in it and make it my main system (for space reasons). That said what is the best Athlon xp out? I know the 3200 barton is the fastest, but I thought I remembered reading that it wasn?t any faster than the 3000. I am a fan of the 2500 mobile but from what I have heard the SFF are not good OCers so I would rather spend a few more dollars and get the better CPU. Any opinions would be great.

KD

 

[MDE]

I'd go for the Mobile 2500. Even if you aren't overclocking, run it at 9x200 so you get the full speed out of your RAM and motherboard instead of poking along at a 266MHz FSB. The Shuttles aren't bad overclockers, just not the greatest. If you do decide not to overclock, the Mobile chip will run cooler so the CPU fan spins slower. I've read that swapping the exhaust fans on the Shuttles is a good idea due to the noisy stock fan.

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Originally posted by: MDE
I'd go for the Mobile 2500. Even if you aren't overclocking, run it at 9x200 so you get the full speed out of your RAM and motherboard instead of poking along at a 266MHz FSB. The Shuttles aren't bad overclockers, just not the greatest. If you do decide not to overclock, the Mobile chip will run cooler so the CPU fan spins slower. I've read that swapping the exhaust fans on the Shuttles is a good idea due to the noisy stock fan.

seconded and do install your 9800 in it..

 

[kd2777]

Originally posted by: MDE
I'd go for the Mobile 2500. Even if you aren't overclocking, run it at 9x200 so you get the full speed out of your RAM and motherboard instead of poking along at a 266MHz FSB. The Shuttles aren't bad overclockers, just not the greatest. If you do decide not to overclock, the Mobile chip will run cooler so the CPU fan spins slower. I've read that swapping the exhaust fans on the Shuttles is a good idea due to the noisy stock fan.

Cool, so does this Shuttle have the multiplier ajustment in the BIOS? I read a review on one of the earlier models and it said that the mutiplier option wasn't available in the BIOS.

Thanks

KD

 

[paladiin]

According to Tweaktown's review it does in fact have adjustable multiplers, FSB, and voltage settings in the BIOS.

Add one more vote for the mobile CPU.

 

[Bovinicus]

Originally posted by: MDE
I'd go for the Mobile 2500. Even if you aren't overclocking, run it at 9x200 so you get the full speed out of your RAM and motherboard instead of poking along at a 266MHz FSB. The Shuttles aren't bad overclockers, just not the greatest. If you do decide not to overclock, the Mobile chip will run cooler so the CPU fan spins slower. I've read that swapping the exhaust fans on the Shuttles is a good idea due to the noisy stock fan.

Isn't this still overclocking? It's just the front side bus that is being overclocked instead of the actual clockspeed of the CPU...

 

[Gagabiji]

I voted moble 2500+, too.

 

[mstegall]

Im confused why is a 2500 better than the 3200. sorry i dont know much about computers and im looking into making this decision

 

[Matthias99]

The 2500+ costs a *lot* less, and can almost always be overclocked to the same speed (or at least a 400Mhz FSB with a lower multiplier, giving you a 2500+ with faster RAM).

 

[Blain]

 

[paladiin]

Not the regular Athlon XP 2500+, we're talking about the Mobile Barton 2500+. The difference is the Mobile version has an unlocked multiplier, and it runs at a lower voltage. Both of those make overclocking very easy, and these CPU's are reported to achieve 3200+ speeds without much efford (provided you have proper cooling, an overclocking-friendly motherboard, and so on).

So why go with the mobile barton, if you end up just overclocking it to 3200+ speeds anyway? In a word, cost. The mobile 2500+ is $90 on Newegg.com. The 3200+ Barton is $180.

-edited for end of the day spelling errors

 

[kd2777]

Sounds like the Mobile is the way to go, does anyone know how the temps are going to be? My concerns with the Mobile going in were; I wasn't going to be able to up the multiplier (achieve 3200 speed) and that the temp would be too much in that small space. I know that the Voltage is lower on them and that in turn leads to lower starting temps, but if I OC it will the temps stay in check.

In the original post I said no OCing, but if it can be done safely, I'm all about it.


Thanks for the feedback

KD

 

[coolred]

I would imagine that if you overclock it to 3200+ speeds, it will give off as much heat as the 3200+. I could be wrong though. The advanatge to the mobile is that it runs at 1.45 volts as opposed to the non mobiles 1.65(correct me if my numbers are wrong, they could be)a chip using less voltage gives off less heat. Again I have no experience overclocking this perticular chip, but I would think to run it at 3200+ you may have to up the voltage some, thus if you up it to 1.65@3200+, it should give off as much heat as that chip.


On a side note does anyone actually have good info on the temp differances, a site would be nice, but I think there is a formula you can use to figure it as well. I am thinking of getting an Antec aria, but want a quiet system, so I would prefer the cooler mobile chip, but just wondering how much cooler it would run. I know it depends on the setup, but if you put a mobile and non mobile int he same setup, it should yeild the numbers I am after.

 

[Celeryman]

The mobile chip should be able to do 2.2 very easily. You should not have to raise the voltage very much, it might run at stock voltage stable. If it doesn't just push the voltage .10 and you will still be putting out less heat than a regular barton at that speed.

 

[Bovinicus]

Originally posted by: kd2777
In the original post I said no OCing, but if it can be done safely, I'm all about it.

There are never any guarantees. However, overclocking is fairly safe if done properly. If you get better than stock cooling (Case and CPU), minimize voltage increase, and overclock gradually, then the chance of damaging hardware is practically zero. Although I am not currently overclocking because my video card is the bottleneck in my system, I have overclocked extensively in the past.

I take the following precautions to make overclocking "completely" safe:

- Don't raise the voltage
- Get an aftermarket heatsink & thermal paste
- Improve case ventalation via better fans, PSU, rounded IDE cables, etc.
- Gradually increasing clockspeed over the period of several weeks. By this I mean increase the FSB and/or clock speed in very small increments. Raise the FSB by 2-3MHz every few days. When you are confident your system is stable at the current frequency, then raise it another 2-3 MHz. If you are doing pure multiplier overclocking, then raise the multiplier by .5 every few days and ensure stability.

 

[Kenazo]

Originally posted by: Bovinicus

Originally posted by: kd2777
In the original post I said no OCing, but if it can be done safely, I'm all about it.

There are never any guarantees. However, overclocking is fairly safe if done properly.

I haven't found a 2500 yet that won't hit 3200 speeds. (Both retail and the -m's) Of course some might need a little voltage bump.

 

[Bovinicus]

Originally posted by: Kenazo

Originally posted by: Bovinicus

Originally posted by: kd2777
In the original post I said no OCing, but if it can be done safely, I'm all about it.

There are never any guarantees. However, overclocking is fairly safe if done properly.

I haven't found a 2500 yet that won't hit 3200 speeds. (Both retail and the -m's) Of course some might need a little voltage bump.

By safe I meant in terms of damaging hardware. It is not very common, but it is definitely possible.

 

[kd2777]

Went with the 2500 Mobile. Should be here Tuesday from the Egg. Will post results.

Thanks

KD

 

[pcernovice]

Thanks for the interesting replies so far.

I am in a similar position, I have an sn45g shuttle and plan to put in a processor that
1. Would run cooler (less noise) and
2. That would have overclocking capability.

Two further questions:-

1. I understand there is a problem with some of the shuttles in regard to raising voltage? this results in a dead mobo. Does anybody have any further advice in regard to this

and

2. Am I better going for the xp2400 mobile rather than the xp2500. Looking at the specs below the xp2400 seems better (i.e. capacity is higher) and its cheaper too!

Item Code : CPA-4X240W45
Item : AMD Mobile Athlon XP 2400+ CPU -45 Watt-
Brand/Model : AMD
Capacity : 2.00Ghz
Front Side Bus : 266Mhz
L2 Cache : 256Kb
Socket Compatability : Socket A/462
Core Type : Thoroughbred


Item Code : CPA-4X250W45
Item : AMD Mobile Athlon XP 2500+ CPU -45 Watt-
Brand/Model : AMD
Capacity : 1.83Ghz
Front Side Bus : 266Mhz
L2 Cache : 256Kb
Socket Compatability : Socket A/462
Core Type : Thoroughbred
Type : OEM

Thanks for any help.

 

[pcernovice]

OK i've ordered my AMD xp2500 mobile and plan to fit it into my shuttle SN45g.

Once fitted into the mount and attached the cooler (with some super artic 5) I will be ready to start the machine...my question (sorry if this sounds stupid but I am new to this):-

Having previously had an AMD xp2000 in the unit will I need to adjust the bios first or should I just let the machine "fire up" and find its own settings?

Any other tips on overclocking this chip would be most welcome.

Thanks

 

[Avalon]

Mobile 2500+ is probably the best choice. However, if you truly wanted to stay away from overclocking, the 400FSB 3000+ would have fit the bill.

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: kd2777
In the original post I said no OCing, but if it can be done safely, I'm all about it.

I think you and I are in the same boat... have a little money to spend, and wouldn't mind OC'ing as long as it's safe. I went for a XP 2500 mobile and an abit AN7, and OC'ing it is just too easy. I have it running at 11x200 without problems. And if it did cause problems such as a major lockup, all you do is reset the bios manually, and you're back to safety