Is this a good config for overclocking? And is this pc a good deal?

[Koenraad]

Thanks for having a look at my questions!

I am looking to buy a new pc to work with Photoshop, Office apps and play some games.
A local shop has offered me the config below. I was wondering if this is a good deal and if I could use it to overclock. From what I have already read on o/c sites I know I will have to install a heatsink and a better fan than the generic one.
The overclocking I want to do is overclock the FSB as suggested in this article: http://www.xbitlabs.com/cpu/athlonxp-166/
It seems like a good idea, but they did not say how they did it.

CPU: AMD-A2000XP AMD ATHLON XP 2000+ 183.63 EUR
Mobo: ASUS-A7V333USB2 ASUS A7V-333 USB2 AUDIO (DDR) 144.04 EUR
Ventilator: EKL-20704001036 EKL Master Socket AMD Duron XP 2200+ 11.22 EUR
Memory: BTO-MTEC-256DDR 256MB DDR M.TEC 333FSB 106.94 EUR
HD: MAX6L040J2 HD 40GB MAXTOR 7200rpm UATA133 93.78 EUR
Floppy: BTO-FLOPPY Floppy drive SAMSUNG 1,44 MB 12.67 EUR
Grafic card: CON-3DATIPRO CONNECT 3D ATI RAGE 128 PRO 32MB 38.57 EUR
Netwerkkaart: F5D5000NBULK BELKIN NIC PCI 10/100 15.21 EUR
CD-ROM: AOPEN-CD956E/R AOPEN CD-ROM 56x 29.90 EUR
Externe kast: AOPEN-KF48 AOPEN CASE KF48 300W 63.48 EUR
OS: MSWINXPH-OEM-U WINDOWS XP HOME UK OEM 127.05 EUR

Total=826.49 EUR

[Arkaine23]

Welcome to the foprums!!

The system in question...

XP1600+ would be better at reaching high FSB, unless you plan on unlocking the XP2000+. Unlocking is not so hard, but it is difficult to work up the courage to do surgery on an expensive CPU.

The motherboard will let you overclock the FSB quite nicely.

Power Supply??? You'll want 400w minimum, preferably Antec or Enermax for reliability.

Ram??? Ram is a major factor when OC'ing the Front Side Bus. The ram that comes in the system is rated for 333, aka 166 FSB, but not all ram is created equal. I have never heard of the brand they are selling. If it has Samsung chips, it'll probably do alright. For graphics stuff (mostly video-editing) you may want 512mb instead of 256mb.

Video card- Something better if you'll be working on videos. For 2d work ATI cards offer above average quality though and that one will probably be ok.

You'll definitely want a good heatsink and fan for overclocking an Athlon XP.

[Yodums]

Originally posted by Koenraad
Thanks for having a look at my questions!

I am looking to buy a new pc to work with Photoshop, Office apps and play some games.
A local shop has offered me the config below. I was wondering if this is a good deal and if I could use it to overclock. From what I have already read on o/c sites I know I will have to install a heatsink and a better fan than the generic one.
The overclocking I want to do is overclock the FSB as suggested in this article: http://www.xbitlabs.com/cpu/athlonxp-166/
It seems like a good idea, but they did not say how they did it.

CPU: AMD-A2000XP AMD ATHLON XP 2000+ 183.63 EUR
Mobo: ASUS-A7V333USB2 ASUS A7V-333 USB2 AUDIO (DDR) 144.04 EUR
Ventilator: EKL-20704001036 EKL Master Socket AMD Duron XP 2200+ 11.22 EUR
Memory: BTO-MTEC-256DDR 256MB DDR M.TEC 333FSB 106.94 EUR
HD: MAX6L040J2 HD 40GB MAXTOR 7200rpm UATA133 93.78 EUR
Floppy: BTO-FLOPPY Floppy drive SAMSUNG 1,44 MB 12.67 EUR
Grafic card: CON-3DATIPRO CONNECT 3D ATI RAGE 128 PRO 32MB 38.57 EUR
Netwerkkaart: F5D5000NBULK BELKIN NIC PCI 10/100 15.21 EUR
CD-ROM: AOPEN-CD956E/R AOPEN CD-ROM 56x 29.90 EUR
Externe kast: AOPEN-KF48 AOPEN CASE KF48 300W 63.48 EUR
OS: MSWINXPH-OEM-U WINDOWS XP HOME UK OEM 127.05 EUR

Total=826.49 EUR

What other types of ram do you have? Technically, I don't think that's very good, at least to the brands we use around here. Your mobo looks good. What is the ventillator is that like a case fan or heatsink? Your HDD Looks good. Your video card is out of date. If you want to be playing any recent games, you'll need to upgrade to a GeForce 3 Ti200/Radeon 8500LE and higher. Your power supply is weak. Look into a brand called Antec. Look for either the 400watt or 430watt version. Antec would be the only brand I'd go with right now. I'll tell you ahead of time, you're going to be running into issues if you use that 300watt powersupply. I personally like Win2K better than Win XP, probably because I don't have much ram. You can reinstall it in your own machine without consulting Microsoft about it unlike Win XP reactivating etc. It becomes a PITA when you overclock you may corrupt files so you may have to format and reinstall it.

Yodums

[David]

Originally posted by Koenraad
Thanks for having a look at my questions!

I am looking to buy a new pc to work with Photoshop, Office apps and play some games.
A local shop has offered me the config below. I was wondering if this is a good deal and if I could use it to overclock. From what I have already read on o/c sites I know I will have to install a heatsink and a better fan than the generic one.
The overclocking I want to do is overclock the FSB as suggested in this article: http://www.xbitlabs.com/cpu/athlonxp-166/
It seems like a good idea, but they did not say how they did it.

CPU: AMD-A2000XP AMD ATHLON XP 2000+ 183.63 EUR


Looks OK. Its reaching the Palomino core's limit however, so may not overclock as well as a 1600+ or 1800+.


Mobo: ASUS-A7V333USB2 ASUS A7V-333 USB2 AUDIO (DDR) 144.04 EUR


VIA KT333 chipset on that board, and Asus is a good brand. Looks like a good board.


Ventilator: EKL-20704001036 EKL Master Socket AMD Duron XP 2200+ 11.22 EUR


Should be OK. Can't say that I know that brand though.


Memory: BTO-MTEC-256DDR 256MB DDR M.TEC 333FSB 106.94 EUR


I have a stick of MTec RAM in my PC, but I'm not sure how good it is for Overclocking. 333MHz should give you plenty of room for overclocking though.


HD: MAX6L040J2 HD 40GB MAXTOR 7200rpm UATA133 93.78 EUR


Good Brand, fast drive, plenty of space. looks good.


Floppy: BTO-FLOPPY Floppy drive SAMSUNG 1,44 MB 12.67 EUR


Standard Floppy drive, looks OK


Grafic card: CON-3DATIPRO CONNECT 3D ATI RAGE 128 PRO 32MB 38.57 EUR


Looks a bit old and weak to me. I would suggest going for a GeForce 2/3/4 or Ati Radeon card if you are going to be gaming.


Netwerkkaart: F5D5000NBULK BELKIN NIC PCI 10/100 15.21 EUR


Looks like an OK card, Belkin are a reasonably well known brand.


CD-ROM: AOPEN-CD956E/R AOPEN CD-ROM 56x 29.90 EUR


You might want to pay an extra 10 or 20 euros and get a CDRW drive. Its worth it.


Externe kast: AOPEN-KF48 AOPEN CASE KF48 300W 63.48 EUR

Looks OK, but a 300W PSU might not be enough. I would suggest getting a 350W or 400W PSU. Enermax or Antec if possible.


OS: MSWINXPH-OEM-U WINDOWS XP HOME UK OEM 127.05 EUR


I'm not a Microsoft fan, but XP is OK


Total=826.49 EUR

About £550, an OK deal.

David

[Koenraad]

Originally posted by Arkaine23
Welcome to the foprums!!

XP1600+ would be better at reaching high FSB, unless you plan on unlocking the XP2000+. Unlocking is not so hard, but it is difficult to work up the courage to do surgery on an expensive CPU.

.

So i can reach higher FSB with a XP1600 whithout unlocking the CPU? does this means less risks? but will it be as fast as the XP2000?

[Koenraad]

Originally posted by Yodums


I personally like Win2K better than Win XP, probably because I don't have much ram. You can reinstall it in your own machine without consulting Microsoft about it unlike Win XP reactivating etc. It becomes a PITA when you overclock you may corrupt files so you may have to format and reinstall it.

Yodums


maybe this is very ignorant of me, but do you mean i have to ask Microsoft's permission to reinstall win XP on my system?!?!?

[David]

Originally posted by Koenraad


So i can reach higher FSB with a XP1600 whithout unlocking the CPU? does this means less risks? but will it be as fast as the XP2000?

An XP1600+ CPU may overclock as far as XP2000+ speeds. The 1600 runs at 1.4Ghz. The XP2000+ runs at 1.67GHz.

However, overclocking by FSB increases overall system performance (including RAM and graphics), so an Xp1600+ @ 1.67GHz overclocked via FSB will be faster than an XP2000+ system.

[David]

Originally posted by Koenraad



maybe this is very ignorant of me, but do you mean i have to ask Microsoft's permission to reinstall win XP on my system?!?!?

Basically, yes. You need to phone M$ or go to their website within 30 days of installing XP to get a specific code for your copy of XP or it will stop working.

David

[Arkaine23]

Imagine for a minute that all XP cpu's are exactly the same, because they are when they roll out of assembly and into test beds. The they are tested and rated and have minor surgery to lock in specific default multiplyers.

XP 1600+ 10.5 multiplyer
XP 2000+ 12.5 multiplyer

Clock speed is derived from multiplyer x Front Side Bus, and the typical capability of most XP's (any model) is between 1600 and 1800 Mhz (1900+ to 2200+ in PR nomenclature). The newest cpu's have the most potential due to the fact that the manufacturing process is constantly perfected. So if possible, we look at the core of an XP chip for its stepping code which tells us when it was made and what batch it was a part of. This way we can have a good chance of picking a low-end model that has high potential. Known good codes are agoia and aroia.

Without looking at this code, the chances are still fairly high that you will get a good overclocking cpu. The reason a 1600+ has a better chance of getting to 166 FSB is that its multiplyer is lower. If you tried to get a 2000+ to run 166 FSB on its 12.5 multiplyer, the chip would be running at 2075 Mhz!!! This is beyond the capablitiy of the chip and will not happen aside from the use of supercooling techniques. Whereas the 1600+ would be running at 1743 MHZ at 166 FSB on its stock multiplyer. This is within the range of good XP's and there's a decent chance of achieving this overclock.

Unlocking guaruntees the ability to reach high FSB (assuming the other components are good), becasue you can set the multiplyer down while raising the FSB and thus keep the chip within its own particular speed limit, yet still gain the benefits of a faster Front Side Bus. If unlocking dopesn't sound like something you'd be willing to try, you could always pay more and buy an Athlon MP. These are XP's with unlocked multiplyers that are generally sold for SMP, symmetrical multiprocessing. They do work exactly like XP's in single CPU computers.

[Koenraad]

Originally posted by Arkaine23
If unlocking dopesn't sound like something you'd be willing to try, you could always pay more and buy an Athlon MP. These are XP's with unlocked multiplyers that are generally sold for SMP, symmetrical multiprocessing. They do work exactly like XP's in single CPU computers.


i guess these Athlon MP's are harder to get hold off? How much more would they cost me?
If i got this right an Athlon 2000 MP would alow me to change the multiplyer without unlocking it and still be able to o/c the FSB because i can lower the multiplyer freely.

[David]

Originally posted by Koenraad



i guess these Athlon MP's are harder to get hold off? How much more would they cost me?
If i got this right an Athlon 2000 MP would alow me to change the multiplyer without unlocking it and still be able to o/c the FSB because i can lower the multiplyer freely.

The only drawback is price: MPs cost more.

Yes, you could increase FSB and lower multiplier.

David

[Koenraad]

thanks for all the advice. If my system specs showup you can see that I took note of it


this is the config I went for:)

[Koenraad]

Originally posted by Koenraad
thanks for all the advice. If my system specs showup you can see that I took note of it


this is the config I went for:)



Sorry,


hope it works now:p