Yet another XP 1800+ to ????? question..

[sammykun]

I just saw the post by timbob66, but since I haven't posted here in a looooooooooong time, I figure I would start my own thread. I'm actually surprised I remembered my login info

I've been debating whether or not to get a CPU upgrade...a last hurrah for my current box. Here's my current setup:

Athlon XP 1800+
Asus A7V333
1gig Crucial PC2700 DDR

I was looking to just max out whatever my mobo is capable of (which would be an Athlon XP 3000, the Barton 333fsb one), just to squeeze out whatever I can out of the board and not have to buy a whole new setup. At this point, I just really want to make use of that PC2700 ram, which isn't running at it's full capacity because of the CPU (correct me if I'm wrong about this).

I have been waiting eagerly for a price drop in the 3000, but in the meantime looking at reviews/posts on the XP 2500 and 2800 processors. I haven't really tried overclocking anything before, nor do I know the overclocking capabilities of my motherboard. However, I do want to get a good upgrade AND possibly save money at the same time. I'm feeling rather confused on how to balance the budget/performance thing sometimes

So....I don't think I have a real solid question. I guess this post runs along the same line as the other "2500 or 2800 or 3000???" sort of posts. Any suggestions? Muchos thanks in advance.

----------------

I just thought of another idea...well...just a random thought, more like.

If someone knew of a good mobo/processor combo within these lines for around $200 that they'd recommend, that would be great. I don't want to rule out the possibility of replacing my motherboard if it's not that good in the first place. I was willing to shell out the $205 for the 3000+ from Newegg at one point, but if I could get a good solid combo (like a good motherboard with the 2500 that would OC well), I'd consider it.

Thanks again!

 

[Jeff7181]

XP2500 + NF7 or A7N8X Deluxe or 8RDA+ will be under $200 and will give you the (small) benefit of dual channel RAM as well as the performance gains just by switching to an nForce2 chipset.

The main question to ask yourself is... "Does my computer do what I want it to do?" If the answer is yes, don't upgrade yet... prices on this stuff will only drop as time passes, so you won't miss out on an opportunity.

 

[myocardia]

Dang, man, it's an Asus! They've always been OCing boards. Overclock it now, with your 1800, and see what an extra 200 mhz will do for you. If that doesn't seem like enough (that's about all that a Palomino core will give you), then buy a faster chip. But try it out first. You need to learn to overclock anyway, if you plan on doing it in the future, and what better time than with your chip that's more than likely already out of warranty??

 

[Assimilator1]

Also be careful with the KT333 mbrds ,early versions did not support 166FSB!:disgust:
For the A7V333 its supposed to be PCB rev 2.0 that only supports 166FSB (has the 1/5 th PCI divider).
For earlier revisions it isn't supported but it might work anyway ,some did have the 1/5 divider ,I believe it depends upon which rev northbridge chip you have.

Personally I wouldn't bother going for the XP3000 ,it isn't worth the large price jump over the XP2800 & the small performance increase ,its only 84MHz faster ,which I would think is very likely to get by overclocking the 2800

As for your mbrds overclocking options it has quite a few ,as long as your mbrd has the 1/5th divider you could potentially go upto 180MHz fairly safely ,your RAM will top out about there anyway,(I've got the same RAM as you).
If it doesn't have the 1/5th divider then you'd be limited to about 150-155MHz FSB ,depending how high an overclocked PCI bus your PCI devices can take.In which case you'd be better off sticking with an XP2600(Tbred) with a 266FSB.

This is all assuming you don't want to spend more $$'s on a new mbrd

 

[sammykun]

you. guys. rock.

Thanks for the advice, everyone...! Hmm..now to figure out how to overclock this 1800 o' mine. Guess it's time to troll the forums some more

 

[Assimilator1]

Just bump up the FSB in 5MHz steps ,do a quick 10min test using Prime95 then knock up the FSB another 5MHz.When it you get an 'error test halted' in P95 then either bump the cpu vcore 1 step or back off the FSB a few MHz.
When you've got it to pass the 10mins test then test it properly for at least 2hrs ,preferabley more.

Inccidently if you have an early XP Pal then don't expect much ,around 1.6+GHz ,latter ones can hit 1.8GHz if your lucky.

I just remembered something else about those mbrds ,the vdimm voltage is too high by default ,you can set it to a sensible level using an documented jumper setting,can't remember what it is though! ,you'll have to do a search on that

[edit]nm I found it in an email I sent to a mate of mine , link here
Btw for vdimm voltage jumper settings look at the pdf manual for the A7V 266-E ,same settings ,god knows why they didn't put it in the A7V333 manual!