333 mhz FSB's 2500, 2600 + ASUS A7N8X-X question on OCin

Hey hey.. Im looking for an upgrade in CPU/processor..

So far I've settled on a montherboard - ASUS A7N8X-X

Processor 2500 or 2600 - Im looking more at the 2500 333 Barton

Now for the onslaught of questions..

Is the 2+ ghz 2600 and the smaller cache better than the 1.83 w/ more cache (L2) (Comparing 2600 vs 2500)

I was leaning towards the 2500 w/ the barton core.. they're cooler running - etc.. But i am an oc'in n00b :/

Hell i cant even tell you how to put thermal paste on em anymore.. i havent paid attn to my cpu since my old *** p2 333

So.. anyways.. I was looking at the A7N8X-X + DDR 2700 + AMD XP 2500 .. now can I OC that at all if its air cooled? .. or will i need to get a water cooler? Faster mem.. etc? Or is the 2500 a decent enough system to just leave alone..?

And does anyone have a link for OCing the 2500 on that board i can read (did 3 searched.. didnt come up w/ anything so i got impatient.. lol)


Oh and.. any other tips you'd have i'd appreciate them


Thanks much!

Thaell/Nick

If you have to buy everything, this is what I would get (don't know your budget):

CPU: either a Tbred B 1700+ DLT3C (prefer 0310 XPMW) or a Barton 2500+

Motherboard: ABIT NF7-S rev 2.0 over a A7N8X-dlx rev 2.0 for higher FSB (if done right, long story)
A7N8X-dlx has only advantage of 1 more ethernet port (one can add one for $10)

memory: TwinMOS PC3200 256 MBx2 or 512 MBx2 (good price and overclockability)
If you aim for FSB 240-250, may have to reconsider some other PC3500/3700 modules

HSF: SLK-800U with an adjustable high speed fan

I would also get an inexpensive RAID card for RAID 0 (~$20) to use with existing ATA parallel drives, unless you have two parallel to serial SATA converter. This $20 would give you a much faster system than 20% CPU overclocking.

For water cooling, you have to spend $150-200 for a high end DIY setup. Popular setup is White Water/cascade WB, heat core (DTEK), popular pump (Danner Mag 3/Eheim 1250), tubing, T-joint, ...

But since you said your are starting, I would suggest go with air first until you get the system fully optimized, then you can go with better cooling.

Further, the more expensive water cooling ($100-150 more than high performance air), would only get you at most 200-300 MHz (~ 10%) higher in CPU speed at similar noise level. In many cases, would be even less gain.

I found that the best price-performance for CPU cooling is still a copper HSF such as SK7 or SLK-800U. If noise is an issue, turn the fan down to ~3000 rpm, about same level as water cooling.
Overclocking limit and cooling cost for different types of overclocking(page 13)


Summary for overclocking CPU and FSB (page 3)

out of those 2 chips def go with the 2500+ even though the speed is lowe ryou can oc just as well if not better and the cache does help =d

****ing excellent write up man
...excellent!


Question though - my buddy just got an ASUS a7n8x-x and an asus 5600, and he's having sever problems..

So are those reliable boards/cards?? Or something wrong w/ the setup?

There's no real way to know, it could be a problematic piece of hardware, or it just isn't setup very well. The ASUS is a nice board but it will not let you go higher on the FSB than the Abit, while the ABIT AFAIK is also a bit faster