Thinking of building a relatively cheap AMD system

Okay, I'm thinking about going AMD for a cheap, yet still somewaht useful system. I have ONE important question that will decide whehter I will go AMD or not. On the Athlon XP1800+ (from newegg), are the multipliers unlocked, and up to which multipliers are unlocked? I'm VERY scared to do any mods to the chip (whoo go me the wussy, but I've had bad experiences with things blowing up on me..). Because I'll be using an old stick of pc2100 ram (512 mbs) and plan to do some LIGHT Oc'ing, (probably up to 150 fsb, and whatever the multiplier will allow..), I would like to know just up to which multipliers are unlocked (I'm an intel guy so... any other tips = appreciated). Just on a sidenote, I'm going for an NF7-s, for great onboard sound and relative affordability

I would try to find an unlocked one as there is no way to unlock the newer chips, you can only overclock using the FSB. You wouldn't have any trouble with the NF7-s ....but you would need better ram.

You could find an unlocked tbred on eBay and Some online stores give steppings.

Here you go

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3446310863&category=44935

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3446215596&category=44935

Newegg does not gaurantee steppings and they move A LOT of chips, so the chances of getting a newer locked one are higher. Check out excaliberpc.com as they gaurantee steppings and you can make sure you get an unlocked one. In my opinion, it is worth the few extra dollars. Good luck!

-Collin-

Instead of 1800+, maybe get a 2100+, 1800+ have been reported locked on many ocasions but so far no one reported 2100+ locked...