Machine Tweaking Advice

[DarkTXKnight]

Alright I don't have a fancy box, but Id like to make sure that I set this machine up as tweaked as he can reasonably be without doing something drastic.

I have a Soyo KT600 Dragon ver 1.1 MB with an Athlon XP2200+ CPU and 1 GB of ram consisting of the higher end Corsair PC2700 (512) and a Corsair value series PC3200 (512). The video card is a BFG GF5600 Ultra and the hard drive is a Maxtor 8 MB 7200 RPM 120.

This machine runs pretty well at UT2004, MOHAA and Q3 Urban Terror, but I was just wondering what else I cold do to it since I haven't really fine tuned anything yet. I have been very tempted to drop a faster processor in this guy and move the 2200 somewhere else but not sure what I shold get. One again Im asking for REALISTIC tweaking , I dont need to make this into some 3Ghz monster with a mini refrigeration unti (grin)

Thanks Guys!!!

 

[DarkTXKnight]

bump! come on I know someone knows

 

[DarkTXKnight]

anybody??

 

[Fern]

Why not OC the cpu? What is the stock FSB and multi for the 2200?. Is the multi on it unlocked? Does your mobo have a pci/agp lock?

Might look into rivatuner to squeeze a lttle more out of that vid card too.

As far as a faster cpu, look at the mobile xp. I see ur mobo supports FSB 200/400, but you'd have to OC that pc 2700 ram. If ur ram could handle FSB 200 (with a looser timings and/or more juice) you could reach 3200+ speeds for less than $100 (cost of a mobile xp cpu).

If ur ram can't handle FSB 200, just leave it at 166 and up the cpu multi (the mobiles are, of course, unlocked).

 

[DarkTXKnight]

what kind of speed improvement would i see in a 2700??

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: DarkTXKnight
what kind of speed improvement would i see in a 2700??

From 2200 to 2700? I think you might notice a bit more "zip" in boot times and opening apps. But nothing really big.

 

[DarkTXKnight]

Fern, Thanks for the advice, I might just do that. If what youre saying is correct then it may be that I take out the PC2700 RAM altogether, maybe even buy another PC3200 Chip then I would just worry about how far to push the processor correct? No the CPU is not unlocked, is this where the wire method comes into play??

 

[Fern]

From what I can find out, your cpu has a FSB of 133/266.

PC2700 ram runs at 166/333. If your cpu does indeed run at 133/266, no need yet to replace that ram. Just try to raise the FSB in your BIOS from 133 to something higher. Try 140 or 143 and see if it's Prime95 (free program, find it with google) stable. If not stable, may need to raise voltage to cpu (vcore)

Your cpu appears to be limiting factor here, by OCing it (which can only be done by raising the FSB, since the multiplier is locked) you'll get a performance increase. Your ram supports higher speeds than your cpu is currently operating at, so I see no need to replace ram unless you get a new cpu.

Plus, I think you said the pc2700 was the higher-end corsair. It will prolly do better than FSB 166/333 anyway.

Re: wire trick. There seem to be several around (have looked into but not done any). I understand there is one for overcoming the uber-locked amd XP chips. IIRC, it fools the chip into thinking it's a mobile, so the multi becomes unlocked. The trouble as I understand it is, your mobo needs to have the features to deal with mobile cpu's and mine doesn't. You'll prolly have to visit a forum for your mobo and see if it's possible with ur mobo.

Anyway, prolly no need for that yet. First, the important thing it to get your FSB as high as stabley possible. Try to confirm that your board has a "lock" for the AGP & PCI slots. Those s/b kept at 66/33 mhz respectively.

 

[imported_Flux]

Socket A VIA KT600 chipset.
No AGP/PCI lock, just memory dividers.

While overclocking, keep in mind that you will be overclocking you AGP/PCI bus, therefore, you will have better luck getting something like 166/333 FSB working than say 160/320 and probably better than 150/300 as well.
You get a little wiggle room above each supported FSB, but directly below the AGP/PCI bus is very overclocked.
Depending on which add in cards you have and how well your EIDE controller handles it, you may get away with some significant AGP/PCI bus overclocking, but this is ussually not the case.
There are VIA work arounds, but I've never tried any as each involves motherboard modding.

The mobile athlon alternative should work better for you. (Assuming it can run a mobile)
It can hit 200FSB easy.
Your board has a divisor that allows for normal 66/33 AGP/PCI speeds.
Beyond that, you can change the multiplier to get more speed.

 

[DarkTXKnight]

So If Im reading you right the best thing to do would b buy a reasonably priced mobile athlon and move my 2200 to some other box, then either ditch the pc2700 and buy another stick of pc3200 or overclock the 2700 right??