Cooling an overclocked BARTON 2500+

Hi everyone!

I have a 2100+ on an ASUS K7N8X Deluxe.

My first question is: what is the difference between a nForce2 and a nForce 2 400 (or Ultra 400) ?
My motherboard has the normal nForce2 I think. So can I put the Barton 2500+ on it and overclock it a lot?

If yes, I will buy it right now, but to overclock it to more than 2.1 Ghz, which cooler I should take? Can you propose more than one cooler, to give me a choice? I really want it as silent as posisble because my computer is too noisy and turns me crazy.

Thank you for help!

Go with the Nforce 400 Ultra. You would be limited to the fsb oc with the other one.

I already have the ASUS A7N8X deluxe with normal nForce 2 (not 400).
In the bios I can increase the FSB up to 200 Mhz and more if I do it manually. So do I need to have a nForce2 400?

You say it can get to 2.4Ghz with better cooling, what cooler do you think of? It interests me to raise it at such a speed.
Yes when you spend 10 hours a day with your computer in a little room believe me the noise gets annoying...

My budget will be ok for any air cooler

the nforce 2 is certified to 166mhz fsb, dual channel
the nforce 2 400 is certified to 200mhz fsb, Single Channel only - there is no dual channel with these boards.
the nforce 2 ultra 400 is certified to 200mhz, dual channel.

In the bios I can increase the FSB up to 200 Mhz and more if I do it manually. So do I need to have a nForce2 400?

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You would be lucky if you can run at those speeds with the original a7n8x deluxe. . I can select up to 300mhz fsb on my board, but 227mhz is all i can manage.

You say it can get to 2.4Ghz with better cooling, what cooler do you think of? It interests me to raise it at such a speed.
Yes when you spend 10 hours a day with your computer in a little room believe me the noise gets annoying...

Click to expand...

something along the lines of the thermalright SLK-800 or SLK-900 and a smartfanII. You would be lucky to get 2.4ghz out of a barton though - most top out around 2.3ghz at the moment.

i manage 2.4ghz from my 1700+ t/bred with an slk-800 and a 2200rpm akasa fan which is extreamly quite. Any more than that requires more voltage which in turn generates more heat. I could do it, but i like my pc nice and quite

Welcome to the forums!

Hmm, ok, thx for the explanations, i will have to change of MB though.
Or maybe I will first try with this MB, maybe I can reach some 190 Mhz without damage, it is great still.
For the cooler, I will take the Zalman 7000.

Thx!

i wasnt aware that the 7000 fitted socket 'A' boards. i know that Zalman said they were going to release a 7000 that fitted them. You might want to double check that. If not, then the best sinks for amd cpus are still the slk-800 and slk-900.


Also, dont push your boards fsb too high - the a7n8x's suffered from bios corruption when you push the fsb too high.

Ok, I take note.
Thx

I have a water cooling system: It is not all its cracked up to be.

It is much higher maintenance than air cooling, and finds it gives me almost no better temps than my 7000CU or SLK-900, and netted me NOT 1 MHZ HIGHER O/c. The only application I see water cooling fit for is video card cooling.

any idea where i can find slk-900u vs 7000a performance, i mean if i can get slk-900 + 92mm tornado performance in the 7000a i will choose that defintely.

well, if i could get the 7000a versus the slk-900u w/ good fan thats easily 50$ for the 7000a versus $65 for the 900 + fan and the ~30 for the fan controller, so does anyone think itd be realistic to hit 2.4 ghz with the 7000a (i wish there was a higher mode on the fan that as like 30dba )

2.4 with a barton 2500 i might add and im too lazy to edit since the thing is right here.

is i can get ~225x10.5 id be more then happy with 2.36 and then i wont have to deal with a fan controller all my case fans will be only like 32 dba and i can actually save alot of money which could go towrds awsome ram

1. You don't NEED an ultra400 board. MOST nforce 2 boards could do 200mhz fsb, just not all. My a7n8x dlx rev1.04 gets 210fsb stable and does 205 Dual channel ddr stable.

2. I used to feel as amd me does. But crank up the voltage. At 1.90volts even good air cooling (with reasonable noise level... ~40dBA or less by most manufacturers measurements in my opinion) will start hitting temps I find too high. On my maze 3 (far from the best block available... maybe 3-7degrees higher depending on who you ask) with a SILENT fan on my radiator (silent with case closed, a whisper if it's open), I can go up to 2.10v and my temps still dont break 50*C at full load and that is in a hot room ~ 80-90*F. This is on a nf7-s which reads temps the highest of any amd board I've owned (Asus boards always read way way too low for me and my epox board was a joke. socket and case temp were both lower than room temp)

3. Oh and 2.1ghz should be possible on the stock cooler easily. Still, I'd recommend a sk-7 and a panaflo 39CFM 32dBA fan (These guys are quiet and move lots of air) or an adjustable 80mm fan. You can grab both of these for maybe 25$ after shipping. So it's pretty cheap, and will give you much better temps than stock. Most people just set it to 2.2ghz at stock voltage and with stock cooler (according to newegg reviews). Make sure you run prime to test stability though. And turn on autoshutdown. I try and keep it as low as the board allows, but if you are going stock cooling, that might not be feasible... so put it as low as you can without it shutting down on you.