Been Away...need help for new system

Hi all...I've been away from the forums for a bit so I'm a little outdated.

So my bestfriend is getting a new system..and like usual..she don't care what she gets as long as it works and I get all the better hardware while she gets what I've finished using.

So basically, its more like i'm getting a upgrade.

I'm using whats on my sig right now... and thinking about getting the 2500+ Barton for me while she gets what I have. Is the 2500+ going to out perform my setup right now? What is the best stepping for it? Is there anywhere known to sell this stepping, like excaliburpc? Additionally what is the best mobo out there right now..is it still the Abit NF7-S?

The only probably with giving my chip to her is that she probably won't buy additional cooling for it and the fact that her case is really cramped in space. Its a really small cutesy case that she refuses to get rid of...meaning that its potential will go to waste. What speeds do you think will be able to run on stock cooling with my 1800+.

you'll probably need a barton running at 2.2Ghz and above to be faster than your TbredB at 2.337. this should be quite possible.

I think one of the latest steppings is the AQZFA, although I'm not sure if it is the latest.

pacino has one running at 2.55Ghz with 1.9v, watercooled:
http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=239687

unfortunately I'm not familiar with shops to recommend a seller with guaranteed stepping...

on the motherboard issue... I think the Abit NF7-S is still the best there is. If that's not the case, then someone please correct my mistake...

As for running the 1800+ in your friend's case... the safest is probably to just run it at default, as she just wants a working system. But that's a bit of a waste.... so maybe 1.8Ghz on default voltage? is that doable? I guess it kind of depends on just how bad your friend's case is.

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off topic: cool site! I'm just going through that Chinese celebrity contest. I'm not that familiar with current Chinese culture, so this poll you have is quite a pleasant way to get back to my Chinese roots.

maybe the site I made on attraction some time ago might be of interest to you:
http://www.student.kuleuven.ac.be/~m0324684/attraction/

edit:
took a while to pick through all those pretty ladies!

more questions...

Are all NF7-S's sold as version 2.0 now or do I still need to be cautious about that. Cuz I was just looking at newegg and they still list it as supporting 333mhz fsb only.

And should i spend $45 a piece for Buffalo Winbond Ram or $44 for Geil ram.

Geil is more well known and better listed ram timing..
but i've heard that the winbonds are crazy overclockers

Side note: Thanks for the comment about the site... if anyone else is interested in voting... http://www.deftor.com/girls-poll.htm. The site you listed was interesting too..thanks.

AFAIK the aqzfa is definetly the newest Xp2500+ stepping out there. www.cpucity.co.uk had it guarenteed but im pretty sure they dont ship outside of the uk.

There are still a few older revisions of the NF7-S floating around, i would be very very supprised if newegg had them because from what ive been told there only been made in V2.0 now in days.

The Xp2600+ "barton" is also out now, they seem to have older weeks than the newer Xp2500+ from the limited ammount ive seen of em. They are set to take over the 2500 so the AMD Pr numbers are left nice and neat.

is the 2600+ something that I should be looking into instead of getting the 2500+?

probably not right now, if they are not made with the latest stepping as Col_Loki said.

I'd avoid the Xp2600+ for the min TBH , the newer stepping bartons are running alot cooler and are better overclockers.

Quite possible the Xp2600+ are mabye older stepping Xp2800+'s ........ one of the ones i saw was a Aqxca 0308 .
I would try to mabye get an aqzea or aqzfa ................. if not then mabye an aqxea .

PS Here's a link to a pic of the Xp2600+ Here . This guy reached a limit of 2.36ghz with an SLK900 but it was in a shuttle..........

ok..thanks guys...that stuff really help.

so i'll probably get a 2500+. I'll try my luck with newegg...

I'll call newegg up about their NF7-S, to make sure that its revision 2.0. Then order everything from them.

Probably also get 512 of the winbond buffalo ram, I'll keep my 1gig of ram and give the 512 to my bestfriend.

Winbond is getting crazy overclocks and great timings. The BH5 is usually better than the CH5. On average 220 FSB (normally tight timings 2-2-2-5).............

The NF7-S should get up to the 220's FSB wise , your Ram will prob be limiting you in that area. On the other hand you have 1gb , which is mighty nice and it should hit a little over the 200mhz FSB mark (prob with a Vdimm increase).

Your cooling is perfect for the job, just down to the luck of the draw CPU wise, but you should (almost) definetly get over 2.3ghz, ......... who knows mabye up to 2.5ghz but with a really good chip.

nm you're getting it for someone else

racpuc said:

dont waste your money. You wont see that much of a performance upgarde

Click to expand...

Actually a good bump up in fsb (185 -> 220) will give a very nice bump in performance. The cpu probably won't be as big of a jump but it will still be an improvement. Gotta remember someone else is getting the old parts. I have done this in the past, its the perfect way to justify some frivolous spending

Yeah..old stuff goes to someone else..so i need new parts anyway...i got all my stuff and have it built...now i'm just tweaking the overclock.

I got the 2x256 buffalo (bh-5) DDR3700

What timings should i put on this, is 2225 doable. What vram should be expected for 220fsb with 2x2x2x5? or is this even do-able?

for the cpu, its a AQZEA ????0331

Luckily for me, its unlocked and I've heard its a pretty good stepping. I'm at 210x11 right now...should I pump up fsb? should I be happy with 2.3ghz? What volts would i need to get this thing go higher..i'm on 1.75 (although mbm5 reads 1.7). Whats a safe voltage which will give me a safe temperature.

neweggs been selling 2.0 nf7s for quite a while.. same goes for most places.. havnt seen older revisions of teh board from most retailers so you're safe to go with newegg =d plus they got a great price on teh board so order wiht confidence ;P