Bad AXQFA...

[EgeWorks]

Finally managed to get my new AXQFA 0335 SPMW (barton 2500) into my box. Specs are as follows:

NF7-S v2
1204MB Corsair 3200LL
Swiftech McX462-V + 92mm Panaflow high speed
Raptors in RAID0
Zalman 400W PSU

Well at stock this is the nicest system I've owned. But the chip is a huge overclocking dud. It won't even do 1900 on stock voltage. The highest stable I could get was 10*208 at 1.8V. I'm not pushing any more juice, to keep temps under 50C.

Hopefully it is just this particular chip that sucks. Right now it's at 9.5*200 at 1.6V. At least its cool!!

I hope others get better results with this stepping than me.

[Mustanley]

Did you mean to type "AQXFA"?
You are right, that chip is a dud if won't even do 2100MHz on 1.8V.

[EgeWorks]

Oops. My bad. You're right it's a AQXFA. Time to get a new chip I think. It's strange that it should be so bad as it's very new. Any idea why they are like this?

[Akira283-IGN]

Every CPU is unique - some have lots of overclocking headroom, some have only a little. Overclocking is always luck-of-the-draw.

[Mustanley]

ebay it and try again. You can probably recoup most of the money for a new barton.

[login211]

i really want to buy another barton 2500+ but i'm going to wait till there's a proper functional guide about the steppings...

i guess it's posible that there never will be a guide... :/

[dryars]

Thats the problem with bartons tho.. there is no single "magical" stepping.

[EgeWorks]

ebay it and try again. You can probably recoup most of the money for a new barton

I have a friend who wants to buy it - non overclocker. So I'll be getting another one soon. I'm a recent Intel convert and I just love CPUs that don't send me bankrupt!