3200+ Barton Core

NAiLs · Post by **NAiLs** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 1:41 pm

Would it be worth my money to upgrade to a 3200+ Barton core (400MHz FSB) from a 2600+ Thoroughbred core (333MHz FSB).

I currently have 1GB of PC2700 DDR RAM on an Asus A7N8X-E motherboard.

For starters, would the core even run at 400MHz FSB? I know the board supports it, but will it run that b/c my RAM is only 333MHz? Not sure how these interfear w/ eachother.

Secondly, is it worth it? Are these processors unlocked at all either? It's like $110 for this processor.

Thanks!

-Brian

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 2:29 pm

Brian, it totally depends on what you use your system for as to whether its worth it. If you did switch over to the new processor, you'd need to get some new RAM, that 333 will overclock, but nowhere near 400, so then your RAM would be a bottleneck. just save up some money and get everything you need at once. BTW, I talked to Chris Lee from Thermalright today, they are releasing a new socket A/ 462 heatsink which they say is much better than anything else out there.

Bio-Hazard · Post by **Bio-Hazard** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 4:18 pm

Depending on the quality of your PC 2700 ram is might run at PC3200 speeds. My Kingmax PC2700 has been running at PC3200 speeds for almost 2 years now at 2.5,3,3,11 timings, not the fastest in the world, but fastenough so that I don't need to put out the extra cash for new ram.
The new HS from Thermalright is the SI-97, and it really kicks butt. There's nothing out there like it from what I've been reading.
As for the upgrade to the new CPU, that's pretty much a personal chioce, I myself wouldn't, I'd go for one of the unlocked Athlon XP-M chips if you plan on staying with socket for a while longer.

Xerxes · Post by **Xerxes** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:12 pm

personally i wouldnt do it id save the money for an a64 or something else

NAiLs · Post by **NAiLs** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 10:30 pm

Well, if I get a water cooling system, I could overclock more. I KNOW my 2600+ is unlocked as I bought it in April/May 2003. I guess RAM wise, I've got 2x 512MB of Crucial PC2700. I've got my core up to it's max with this dual channel stuff. I can underclock the RAM (percentage wise) in comparison to the CPU so the dual channel doesn't have a fit. I guess my other problem is the BIOS is holding me back from using the multiplier to my advantage. I've been able to use the multiplier on my A7V8X-X board, but it stopped working on this board.

I use my computer for pretty much gaming only.

I guess you all got me thinking. Maybe I should just stick this $110 to a water cooling system and overclock the system higher than what I can now. Just totally limited by the dual channel and now a desk with no front or back. Anyone know of any new external cooling systems that do a great job besides the Corsair Hydrocool EX200? I also like the Thermaltake Aquarius III because it has WAY more eyecandy than the Corsair one, but they say it doesn't cool as well. The TT one also complements my case well!

Bio-Hazard · Post by **Bio-Hazard** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 10:38 pm

I've got the same exact board in my second system. What Bios are you running and what settings are you running for your CPU and ram? My Asua A7N8X-X is the board with the overclocked Kingmax ram. I'm running a XP 2500 Barton (unlcked) at 11x200 at 1.725v, the ram is set to 100% (sysc) at 2.8v. at 2.5,3,3,11 timings. The Asus boards OC's very well.

NAiLs · Post by **NAiLs** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 11:03 pm

Bio-Hazard wrote:I've got the same exact board in my second system. What Bios are you running and what settings are you running for your CPU and ram? My Asua A7N8X-X is the board with the overclocked Kingmax ram. I'm running a XP 2500 Barton (unlcked) at 11x200 at 1.725v, the ram is set to 100% (sysc) at 2.8v. at 2.5,3,3,11 timings. The Asus boards OC's very well.

You got me. I haven't looked at that screen in ages. My computer reboots 3 times a month at most!

Let's see here, from memory. 12.5x176 @ 1.65v, 100% on the RAM, don't remember the timings... should be stock.

Sandra tells me this about my BIOS:

SiSoftware Sandra

General Information
Manufacturer : Phoenix Technologies, LTD
Version : ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe ACPI BIOS Rev 1008
Date : 12/05/2003
Plug & Play Version : 1.00
SMBIOS/DMI Version : 2.20
(EE)PROM Size : 512kB (4Mbit)

General Capabilities
Can be Updated/Flashed : Yes
Can be Shadowed : Yes
Is Socketed : Yes
Supports Plug & Play : Yes
Supports ESCD : No
Supports Enhanced Disk Drive : Yes
NEC PC-98 Spec Compatible : No

Power Management Features
Supports APM : Yes
Supports ACPI : Yes
Supports Smart Battery : No

Boot Features
Supports Selective Booting : Yes
Supports CD/DVD Boot : Yes
Supports PCMCIA/CardBus Boot : No
Supports LS-120 Boot : Yes
Supports ZIP Boot : Yes
Supports i2o Boot : No
Supports FireWire/1394 Boot : No

Performance Tips
Notice 224 : SMBIOS/DMI information may be inaccurate.
Tip 207 : A SMBIOS/DMI 2.3 or later compliant BIOS is recommended. Check for a BIOS update.
Tip 212 : BIOS can be shadowed so check whether it is.
Tip 211 : BIOS is flash-able and socketed so it can be upgraded when needed.
Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.

Bio-Hazard · Post by **Bio-Hazard** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 11:46 pm

Try re-flashing to the newest bios:
http://www.asus.com/support/download/it ... uage=en-us
The newest is ver. 1012. Sort of sounds like your bios is bad for one reason or another. You should beable to set your multis with a fresh bios.

NAiLs · Post by **NAiLs** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 3:02 am

I can try to do that in the future. I also gotta figure out what's up with my ATA Controller Card.

Gives the drive that runs on it write delay errors.

Capper, any idea when that heatsink is going to be available?

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 3:26 am

I emailed chris from thermalright to get an answer for you, but my guess is within the next 10-14 days. Thermalright usually releases their products to reviewers with a 10 deadline,so the reviews hit about thesame time as the release.
As to your quandry. I honestly wouldn't "piece by piece" you situation, what will end up happening is you'll replace some of those replacement parts, costing you more money in the end.
Save up the money, get yourself a 3000+ or higher, a good 939 mobo, and a set of the PQI RAM that Nate has been using. I'm hearing that DFI should be releasing a socket 939 board using the NVidia chipset any day now (if it isn't already out). Waiting a month or two before your upgrade won't be too bad, by then alot of these kinks in the 939 should be sorted out.

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 11:45 am

I think upgrading to a 3200+ is a bad idea. The chip is $171, and you would need to buy new ram to use it. for that price you would be better off buying a 2400+ xp-m for $77 and overclocking it to 3200+ speeds at 333 fsb ~2.2ghz. Doing that saves you $100 and lets you use the ram you have.

If you are looking for a good deal though with much better game play then i think you want to look at the 3000+ skt939, if thats to rich for you then try the 3100+ sempron its only $100 and a CHAINTECH SK8T800 for $61 (the board looks ok but there is no temp sensor so play it safe and use good cooling or an external temp guage)

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 1:57 pm

I was actually reading a good article yesterday about how the Sempron really isn't a good performer, compared to the 2500-2600+ mobile and the Intel comparable. If you just want to upgrade youe CPU, I'd recommend the 2500+, the only issue is Newegg has realized how popular it is and what its being used for and have been raising the price. Another point of doing this is that it is never a bad thing to have a backup CPU around...just in case, and it still only runs abo0ut $77. You could do that, and save up for a socket 939 system. I think with the release of the new 4000+ and the FX-55, the prices for the CPUs already on the market wilol start to drop. Also, looking at the comparision, the 4000+ just seems to be the current FX-53 with a different name and lower price.

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 2:34 pm

the 3100+ sempron is a skt 754 so it has the built in memory controler, its a sempron becaues its single channel only with 256k cache and A64 is dissabled. at stock the 3100+ performs about the same as the 2800+ in games, overclocked it can beat out a 3.4ghz intel and sometimes the 3400+ A64 for $30 less than the 2800+. The other thing to concider is that the 3100+ is a 90nm part while the 3400 a64, 3200 xp, 2500 xp, are all 130nm. That means that the 3100+ will theoreticly overclock better.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/di ... oc_10.html

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 2:45 pm

If i can find the article, i'll link it, but the two reviews i read were not favorable toward the Sempron line

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 2:50 pm

it the sktA sempron no one likes, and I'm with them there, but the skt745 sempron has the built in memory controler and that more than makes up for the lack of cache, under the hood its just a hammer with out 64bit processing.

Bio-Hazard · Post by **Bio-Hazard** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 4:37 pm

Here's the latest I found on the Sempron 3100 (socket 754):

As for the gain you receive by overclocking the Sempron 3100+, we enjoyed a performance growth of about 25% by clocking our sample at 2.52GHz (40% frequency boost). Thanks to that, the overclocked Sempron 3100+ could outperform the Pentium 4 3.4GHz as well as the Athlon 64 3400+ by about 5% in average.

Full article can be found here:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/di ... 00-oc.html

Bio-Hazard · Post by **Bio-Hazard** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 5:12 pm

Here's another good article on socket 754 and 939:

http://www.overclockers.com/articles1120/

Xerxes · Post by **Xerxes** » Wed Oct 20, 2004 6:59 pm

he doesnt have to get new ram even with the performance hit of not running sync itd still be alot faster than what he has now plus
if his dims are double sided a 754 board will default to ddr333 and unless you want to use a64 tweaker alot of the 754 boards wont let him try to overclock his ram to run sync due to the spd being ddr333 also.

NAiLs · Post by **NAiLs** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 9:18 pm

Capper, I never asked, or maybe I'm missing it, what is the model # on this heatsink from Thermalright?

Is it the SI-97?

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 12:39 am

Brian, it is the SI-97. Sorry i didn't post that earlier, totally slipped my mind