Piece by piece preparation for OCing

I am really trying to get set up for OCing because I always want the best speeds for my buck. Right now using my Palomino 2100xp, apparently I cant do that. I am going to get a new motherboard, because the maximum mine can support is a 2100xp. So I was thikning that I get a mobile barton 2500 (because from what im reading, they are the easiest, and most reliable to overclock) on a motherboard that would support that.

So the purchase of the processor and motherboard would be one step alone, I know that I have to have good ram too, so I was wondering if someone could find a good board for me to run a mobile B 2500 on with, hmm, 3200 or 3500 dual channel ram? set me up with that.

I just know for certain right now that I pretty much want that processor. The ram I have right now is not good enough to overclock 2*512 (pc2700).


motherboard:
Supports Mobile Barton 2500
Supports RAM:2700,3200,3500
8X Agp
4x+ Pci's
if im OC'ing that what else do i need? I will have good cooling for the processor (SLK-900a + TT Tornado12+ExtremeEdittion)

nForce2 chipset.

Abit, DFI or Soltek.

Can't go wrong with either of them, some have more features than others so they're priced differently.

That's an excellent heatsink!


Power supplies are very important for Ocing. Any Fortron/Sparkle should help you get the most out of your overclock. If you don't have enough $, even a lower rated Fortron or Sparkle will outperform higher rated cheapos.

another question, if a motherboad supports dual channel ram, will my old pc2700 stuff work in it? cause i KNOW its not dual channel.

You'd need two sticks instead of one.

You'll need to place them in the first and third RAM slot.

This is the board I plan on getting for my 2500mobile barton

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-136-137&depa=0
That will support my old sticks 2*512 pc2700 correct?
then later on I would hope to upgrade to this........

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...ufactory=1666&description=&page=3&listStyle=2
but is it a problem for my motherboard because they dont say they are dual channel? Am I cheating myself out here, or whats the benefits of dual channel?

and if I want, I can take those 2*512 pc3200 (corsairs) and put it in a rig for a AMD64 later next year or so... can an AMD64, lets say... 3000, work with my soon-to-be-owned corsair ram if I ever choose to?

c627627 said:

nForce2 chipset.

Abit, DFI or Soltek.

Can't go wrong with either of them, some have more features than others so they're priced differently.

That's an excellent heatsink!


Power supplies are very important for Ocing. Any Fortron/Sparkle should help you get the most out of your overclock. If you don't have enough $, even a lower rated Fortron or Sparkle will outperform higher rated cheapos.

Click to expand...

I think it has to be specific about which motherboard and revision from each manufacturer, since each may carry more than one motherboards with the same chipset. For overclocking, esp FSB overclocking, they may make a noticeable difference.

E.g.
ABIT NF7-S rev 2.0
DFI NFII Ultra Infinity

are popular for overclocking.

DFI NFII Ultra Infinity is a new board, average FSB overclocked higher, to 240 MHz reported.

The NF7-S rev 2.0, a very popular board for about a year, average FSB to 220-230 MHz, Vcore to 2.2+ V (more than one would need for the CPU).

As long as you put those two sticks in the first and third RAM slots, you'll get your dual channel.

Since it appears you're spending $ and not going for the quickest cheapest replacement, consider Athlon 64 as it's 25% faster than Barton with same GHz.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=287888
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=291331

zYclone said:

This is the board I plan on getting for my 2500mobile barton

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-136-137&depa=0
That will support my old sticks 2*512 pc2700 correct?
then later on I would hope to upgrade to this........

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...ufactory=1666&description=&page=3&listStyle=2
but is it a problem for my motherboard because they dont say they are dual channel? Am I cheating myself out here, or whats the benefits of dual channel?

and if I want, I can take those 2*512 pc3200 (corsairs) and put it in a rig for a AMD64 later next year or so... can an AMD64, lets say... 3000, work with my soon-to-be-owned corsair ram if I ever choose to?

Click to expand...

Two PC3200 or PC3500 should work in dual channel for nforce2 motherboard. Don't pay extra for getting the match pair. Two modules with same brand and model would be fine, even reusing different models may even work most of the time.

PC3200, PC3500 modules made of the Winbond BH-5 5 ns memory chips are most sought after, but they are hard to find now.

The existing PC3200, PC3500, .... should work with the upcoming motherboards for A64, e.g. the motherboards with Nforce3 250 GB chipset for both 754 and 939 CPU's, up to the overclocking clock frequency the memory modules allow.

By around 2nd half, end of next year, according to plan there will be A64 motherboards using DDR2 memory modules which are different than the current DDR memory modules in terms of pin count, clock frequency, signal timing, ...., so DDR and DDR2 memory modules and motherboards will not be interchangeable.

At that time, we would need new CPU (90 nm SOI), new motherboard, new DDR2 memory modules, new HT devices (PCI-e), video cards, .... $$$$


Remarks on A64 and various platforms (page 19)

Links to Nforce3 250 GB reviews and motherboards (page 19)

Yeah I think im just gonna screw the barton and go straight for the 64 3200

now im picking out a motherboard, heres the link to my proc...
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-413&depa=0
and the extra 512 cache is worth the 60$ as opposed to the 3000@210$ with only 512 on the L2

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-128-201&depa=0
thats the new motherboard that i would get for the rig, what i would do is get the processor first, then get this motherboard and transfer my 2*512 pc2700 ram into it for the time being

then later upgrade to 2*512 pc3200 ram
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...ufactory=1666&description=&page=3&listStyle=2
whilest using the AMD64 setup.

Im not considering the barton anymore, this is the same price almost, half the time, and 25% faster..... which to me is just more efficient. Tell me what you think of the setup

While it's best to wait for the new PCI locked VIA K8T800 Pro (not K8T800) chipset mobos or the PCI locked nForce3 250 (not 150) chipset mobos (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=15566)

If you want to go for nForce3-150, consider that their prices will probably drop in May when 250s come in.


PCI locked VIA K8T800 Pro is coming and if it's anything like the non-pro version available now:

"I still don’t understand why Nforce 3 250 - even with 16bit uplink and 16 bit downlink doesn't perform as well as the K8T800 does."

K8T800 doesn't have a PCI lock, K8T800 Pro will.

There's a negligible difference between all the chipsets. If you can wait another month, or god knows how much longer go ahead.

Otherwise that board is an excellent choice. Unless you really need the SATA RAID 0+1, etc of the K8NNXP, the K8N Pro does just as good of a job. Both are fully AGP and PCI locked.

Do not even consider Athlon XP's at this time.

I'm having trouble believing that VIA will ever PCI/AGP lock their chipset. They haven't catered to the enthusiast in the past.

Yeah, at the forums people don't even want to think about VIA. I'm saying let's see the chipset. It will be PCI locked. The way things look, it just might outperform the nForce3 250, at least with 250's initial BIOS.

I don't see how they can price 150s high when 250s come out in three weeks or so. 250s are bound to push the prices down on 150s.

nice to agree, so it would be smarter to wait a whopping, month for the 250s come out, the 150s would drop, and just stick with a nForce3 150 until the 250s drop? the 150 is still going to be fast... and its PCI locked... yes?

I plan on using A64 3200
2*512 Corsair LowLatency pc3200

250's are available now, but yes, it may be a while before they push down the prices of 150s: http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=292790

The K8N is still a good choice, the 250 may be slighter better. I'd suggest looking harder for memory. BH5 is still the best choice, if you can find it. CH5 is found in cheaper memory quite often. ZZF has 2x512 of KHX3000 for $215; I'd recommend that over the Corsair. I got lucky and got some BH5, but even if you get CH5, it's not a big deal. The Corsair has no chance of being BH5, and its still quite pricey.