new to OCing MN31N vs AN35N-Ultra

I was about to build a new box with a MN31N & Barton 2500+ when I started to read more about overclocking. I like the MN because of the onboard audio, video (I'm not a 3D gamer), LAN, USB...

How's that board for OC'ing? When I started reading here, people were talking about the AN35N-Ultra and I'm wondering which would be better for what I want to do.

My goal would be to use a retail chip (and heatsink/fan) and push it to 3200+ speeds - no special coolers, no water, no voodoo - reliable, stable and cheap. Even if I don't get much extra speed, it'll be OK; I'm doing this for the education as much as for anything else.

Any opinions on a newbie OC'ing this chip, and which mobo to use would be great.

Oh, I was going to use 2 x 256MB sticks of Crutial RAM - any certain speed I should get?

Thanks,
Tackett

Well Tackett if you want to OC then you need to get the AN35N, if you want onboard graphics then you want the MN31N. If you want both then you need to look elsewhere as Shuttle doesn't offer an OCable nForce2 IGP board that I know of. I would suggest you look at the Epox 8RGA+ and Abit's NF7-M which are both full-sized ATX boards with IGP NBs and support OCing. Last I knew they were both available at NewEgg for around $105.00 delivered. I would personally go with the Epox as it has support for dual VGA monitors from the IGP like my MN31N has, its a really nice feature. Next up would be some of the Leadtek, Albatron and Biostar boards that have the IGP NB. I have both the Shuttle boards and like them a lot but they both serve different functions and you need a combination of the 2. Good Luck in your search!
Regards, Balrog

Thanks for a quick reply Balrog.

How about the AN35N and a video card? What's a decent vid card for 2D?

Thanks again
tackett

I'm not a real video card expert but I'd say any $50 GF4mx graphics card would work for you, some of the newer ones have sped up cores and BGA memory, the $65 Radeon 8500s are a good deal these days as well but getting harder to find. I personally use an inexpensive ti4200 card with a modded P2 HSF to cool it, I OC it using Riva Tuner for some pretty good performance for cheap. For $85-$95 I'd recommend this option. I personally think the Radeon All-In-Wonder 9000 Pro is a pretty sweet option for about $140 - good gaming, BGA memory OCs very well, TV on your monitor, Digital VCR, Timeshifting, it pretty much does it all.
Regards, Balrog

After re-reading your original post Tackett I'm thinking the MN31N might be what you want. Its got the on-board graphics, excellent sound, USB2 and LAN work very well, even has Firewire and SPDIF support though I haven't used them. It does allow for small OCs as you can control the memory settings and FSB. Without BIOS options for multipliers and voltages you won't OC very far, but you'll see an improvement and get some idea what its all about. You can also OC the IGP to improve your video performance, I was able to get mine to run 3DMark at about 5500, which is quite respectable for onboard graphics. I run a retail Barton 2500+ and 2 X 256mb Crucial PC2700, I can run these at 180FSB in sync @6-2-2-2.5 timings, you might do better you might do worse, a lot of this is luck. I play a lot of games with this rig @ 1024 X 768 X 32 bit color and it looks fine. To tell you the truth, I've got so many people stopping by to game I've been thinking about building a 4th system like this to accomadate the demand.
Regards, Balrog

I would go with the AN35Ultra because with the NForce2 AGP/PCI lock you could use a 1$ pci vga card and get a tight overclock.

funnyperson1 said:

I would go with the AN35Ultra because with the NForce2 AGP/PCI lock you could use a 1$ pci vga card and get a tight overclock.

Click to expand...

After thinking about ot for a bit, I think I will go for the AN35Ultra; I really like to work on machines (I'm a carpenter, woodworker, hotrodder & welder) so it seems more my style. Worst case, I have to buy a video card (I have a few year old ATI I'll start out with).

Thanks for all the replies from both of you; I really appriciate the help.

One more bone-head question...
I'm going to get 512MB of RAM - I've heard people say to get 2 x 256 and others say get 1 x 512. Which way, and why?

Hmmm. I guess it's two questions...
What speed? If the Barton has a 333mHz FSB, then I get PC 2700 DDR, right?
CRUCIAL MICRON 512MB 64x64 PC 2700 DDR - is what my order says. Am I doing the right thing?

Thanks again,
Tackett

You need a pair of RAM sticks to get the 128 bit memory bandwidth on the nforce chipset.

Hey Tackett, If you want a Barton, then get a $85.00 2500+, if you're going to OC then buy a $45.00 T-Bred 1700+ either DUT3C or DLT3C if you can find one cheap. I run my 1700+ DUT3C paired with 2 X 256mb Crucial PC2700 @185FSB X 11.5 multiplier for Barton 3200 type speed. Yeah definitely get 2 X 256mb of something so you can run dual-channel in slots 2 & 3, you can always put them in slots 1 & 2 which will give you single channel mode. Choices are a good thing!
Regards, Balrog ( Carpenter, Woodworker, 4X4er, Machinist )

Hey, I actually own both of these boards. I've had the an35n since it came out but just built my mn31n last week. I actually tested it out to see which would do better but they OC very similarly. You can do the wire-in-socket method for multipliers and voltage of the cpu, so no overclock difference there. The problem is just that you cant get as high a fsb on the mn31n even though it comes overvolted stock. I reached 182 fsb but with graphics on and not good ram (kingston value). Running the AN in single channel and the MN in dual makes up for a lot of fsb difference i think. I bet I could get almost identical overclock performance without getting too extreme on the MN without integrated graphics and better ram. In your predicament though, the AN is cheaper since you already have graphics card. I bought AN for $74 on googlegear and MN for $55 refurb newegg. For ease of use and compatibilty the AN gets the prize but I like my MN better. It looks so cool with all the empty sockets.

careful with old AGP cards!

tackett said:

After thinking about ot for a bit, I think I will go for the AN35Ultra; I really like to work on machines (I'm a carpenter, woodworker, hotrodder & welder) so it seems more my style. Worst case, I have to buy a video card (I have a few year old ATI I'll start out with).

Thanks for all the replies from both of you; I really appriciate the help.

One more bone-head question...
I'm going to get 512MB of RAM - I've heard people say to get 2 x 256 and others say get 1 x 512. Which way, and why?

Hmmm. I guess it's two questions...
What speed? If the Barton has a 333mHz FSB, then I get PC 2700 DDR, right?
CRUCIAL MICRON 512MB 64x64 PC 2700 DDR - is what my order says. Am I doing the right thing?

Thanks again,
Tackett

Click to expand...

First, be VERY careful about using old agp cards in new boards!!! If it is an older agp 2x or 1x card you can fry the card AND the motherboard using it in an agp 8x slot. The old agp 1.0 standard used a higher voltage (3.3V?) than the new agp 2.0 standard (1.5V) so beware. Any pci video card is ok though...

get 2x256 for max performance. This will allow the nforce2 to run in dual channel mode for a theorectical 2x increase in memory bandwidth (actuall performance is no where near that, but still improved)

2500+ has 333mhz fsb, but if you want to overclock you'll want memory that can run at the FSB speed you will overclock to. I'm typing on an AN35ultra board with Geil pc3200 ram (400mhz). Right now the 2500+ system is running rock stable at 200mhz DDR fsb (400mhz), 2.2 ghz, or 3200+ speed.

AN35 is a great board for the price...unless you can get a refurb'd A7N8X dlx for the same price like I did for my main machine