Would 2500+ Barton help me?

I currently have an AMD T-bred 2400+ @ 16x140 = 2240mhz, on an Asus A7N8X-dlx with 1 gig mixed pc2100 and pc2700. (plus an ATI 9700 PRO).

I was thinking of upgrading to the Barton 2500+ and oc'ing to the 11x200 jazz. This would net slightly less mhz than what I have now, but fully realizing that the fsb is much higher as well the cache. I would also buy two slices of Corsair XMS 512 pc3200 (to help with the OC).

I like flight sims and some FPS's. So would I benefit much, or would I be wasting money?

Any comments would be appreciated.

Yea my comment iz good..


Barton is da good choice.


Benefit iz good...

Agreed... upgrade I have had both cpu's. My 2500 runs 3200 with 1.65 volts! I just changed the fsb in the bios from 166 to 200.... that is it! It has run great for over 6 months with NO PROBLEMS!

hmmm....

anyone else second that notion?

my bro OCThis sed he seconds it..

FSB oc'ing to 200 is more "secure" with the higher rated FSB chips such az Tea Bread XP2600+/2700+/2800+ with 333fsb ddr rated, or any of the Barton chips..

Some 133fsb rated chips FSB oc well with some nforce2 chips with LUCK, otherwise you won't get as high FSB as you could with the barton.


So go with Barto OKAY???

"Some 133fsb rated chips FSB oc well with some nforce2 chips with LUCK, otherwise you won't get as high FSB as you could with the barton."

thats not true. Its SOME NF2 motherboards overclock better when using 333fsb chips. I could hit over 500fsb if the motherboard and ram could take it as it cant im only running at whats in my sig

but i say get the barton 2800+ if u can for the higher locked multiplier then u can properly overclock abit higher as the motherboard wont be limiting u

Steven4563 said:

thats not true. Its SOME NF2 motherboards overclock better when using 333fsb chips. I could hit over 500fsb if the motherboard and ram could take it as it cant im only running at whats in my sig

Click to expand...

you forgot da half of it..

barton chips aren't da only chips I'm talking about when FSB oc'ing with these NF2 boardz.. Tbreds with 133fsb rated chips usually don't FSB oc well.. except few exceptions.. such as LUCK. There are FEW 133fsb rated tbred chips out there FSB oc like mad dog... All the rest oc like sh#t..... The part you said about SOME nf2 boards oc better with 333fsb chips is old... news. That is nothing new... I knew that when my granpa was in diapers... my wording is powerful... don't underestimate it...





oh yea.. and you(or anybody) have NO proof if the certain type of the CPU is limiting your FSB oc or da motherboard or both!.. Of course, the infamous Abit NF7 v2.0 boards are designed to not FSB oc with da 133fsb rated chips... Not all 133fsb chips are created equal.. Not all 166fsb rated chips are created equal.. what I'm saying?... FSB wise, i'm not talking about da grand total clockspeed here.. just in case if anybody gets confused what da hell we are talking about here... Like I sed, I've seen few 133fsb Tbred chip FSB oc like crazy.. 240s~ 250+ FSB 128bit DC FastDecode.. on the Abit NF7/s v2.0. That's da exception.... the *usual*..and more *secure* FSB oc'ing is with da Barton chips or the 166fsb tbred chips. Bartons, is still a little more favorable to da infamous Abit NF7 v2.0 boards.. New hardware co-op well with new hardware know what I am saying.... tbred 133fsb chips are the ones that will most likely have difficulty getting high FSBs stable. Hope my speech gave you some insight... or I might just go on and on and on...

do not run mixed ram!

1 gig mixed pc2100 and pc2700

u are then running the pc2700 @ pc2100 speeds.

and not to mention there is the issue of possible problems.

are you running thes ein dual; channel configuration?

Mr.Guvernment said:

do not run mixed ram!

1 gig mixed pc2100 and pc2700

u are then running the pc2700 @ pc2100 speeds.

Click to expand...

agreed.... that's not encouraged either... nicely oc'able ramz are required.....

if he has 256pc2700, and 512pc2100 he should mix it if he is not having problems. I would rather have 700mb than 256. or maybe even 128.

Would it make that big of a difference to buy a 2500? If you are going to be tryingto get the highest possible framerate for games then yes. But will you notice it in everyday applications, no. But I would get that 512mb ram you are talking about. With that you can get a higher overclock. You could even sell that ram you currently have to help with buying it. I might even be internested in it(pm me if u sell it).

If it was me, I would stick with my current system, but upgrade the ram if you want to OC better. I think that you should be able to put the multi down and increase the FSB on your current cpu.

Good Luck.

Thanks for all the input everyone. Someone gessed it right. I have the pc2100 512 meg in first slot and the two pc2700 256 wafers in the second and third slots = dual channel (at least that's what it says at boot).

I think I may indeed go for the 2800+ Barton. For the extra $50 I'm sure I'll see a significant improvement over my oc'd 2400+ based on what you guys have said (correct?).

Alas, 16.5x144 is the highest stable OC I can get out of my proc (even with the 512 pc2100 pulled out). I'm fairly impressed with the way it handles most everything I have thrown at it (including LOMAC => "go 9700 PRO!") I just wanted to get something that will go ahead and nudge it past that all-the-time-smooth barrier without starting from scratch like last year = one $grand$ expunged

And I already knew about the faux pas of mixed ram, but since I had it on hand... That's why I'll be getting the 2x512 Corsair XMS pc3200 for dual channel goodness (did I read somewhere that these have cute little LED's on them?).

As far as selling the ram, I think I'll be putting it back into my old setup for a pc my kids can use later (thanks though).

So, if anybody responds to this at all, please answer this question:

If I fork over ~$350 for a new AMD Barton 2800+ and 2x512 pc3200 Corsair, then will I be very satisfied with the results relative to my current setup?

and/or :

Do you think I can get 12.5x200 = 2500mhz out of that 2800+ Barton?


Thanks again.

2500mhz is hard. water cooling makes it possible. 2.3 is normal for air. So it all depends on the cooling. Not sure though because they're all locked now, I'm not upto date onthat.

I wouldn't upgrade my CPU though. 16 is a high multi for an Athlon I think. put that lower and increase the FSB, and the voltages and try that out.

I would just get new RAM, I wouldn't pick Corsair, but its your choice.

My recommendation would be to buy real ram (3500 Corsair, Kingston HyperX 3000, Mushkin Level2 3200/3500, or OCZ 3500 Plat. LE would be a lot better) and jack the fsb up on your current cpu. See if you really need a new chip after. Most of the gain will be from the higher fsb, and you can do that with the current chip. Plus you may find that the current one has more in it than you thought.

That is, unless waiting precludes getting an unlocked chip, I know AXP's are changing but I'm not up on the specifics.

get pc3200 or higher..the higher, the better...ultra high fsb's are the exception and not the rule, tho...meaning above 230...depending on the ram, it may cost more than the cpu so it's up to you....$$ talks.

I wouldn't buy anything now. Really Corsair isn't worth it unless you just wanna have fun with high fsb numbers.

The curent AMD cores just don't scale that well with higher fsb. I mean if you increase your fsb by 30 it will only improve things by 5% or so.... and you need new ram for that.

But I suppose pc3200 would be a decent upgrade (I wouldn't bother right now though).

Upgrading to a Barton would be a poor choice imho. You have a multi unlocked chip - all new chips are multi-locked, this will negate any gains from going to a Barton as you will have less freedom in your fsb settings.

Buying Ram is a reasonable suggestion, and you could then use it in a new system like an athlon64 sometime down the road.

Seeing as they scale much better with high fsb (I think), getting some corsair or better yet BH-5 wouldn't be such a bad idea.

you don't need the barton right now so much as new ram. Get some muskin pc3200 level 2 black

You're probably better off upgrading the ram.

Im currently running my 2500 @3200 200fsb

Wondering if a 2400 15x160 @2400mhz would be better?
Assuming i could get to 2400mhz.

Make sure it is not a locked barton!

I would say upgrade the RAM first - see what you can get with the Tbred from better RAM and if you are not satisfied only then consider upgrading the cpu. I dont think you would see a vast improvement from the TBred but then again Bartons are not that expensive right now.