Overclock my 2500+ or get 3000+?

[Sasage]

Hey Fellas,

I have the money but which would be faster, a Barton 2500+ overclocked or a 3000+? I have four fans and Thermalright SI-97 to cool it down so I *think* I will be alright.

Also, I just recently got another stick of RAM so I have a total of 1 GB now. Are 2 GBs overkill?

[Virtualbody1234]

Most 2500+ Bartons overclock to 3200+ speeds just by upping the FSB to 400. But be aware that not all will.

2 GBs is overkill for most users. In fact, those RAM chips don't run as fast as most 512 sticks.

[lynx]

I seriously doubt you will find many new 3000+ chips anyway. Unless you mean a Sempron 3000+, and as far as I can tell that's only the same as the XP2800+ :blink:

You will almost certainly have to raise Vcore a little to run at 3200+ speeds, and that will boost your temps. But if you've got one now it's certainly worth trying as long as you are careful.

Tell us what mobo you've got, some aren't too good at overclocking.

[clocker]

Hey Fellas,

I have the money but which would be faster....
It's totally down to the luck of the draw...a good 2500 can easily reach 3000 speeds and a good 3000 can absolutely scream, but neither chip, even upclocked till it bleeds, will compare to the newer 64-bit chips.
I recommend you save your cash till you can move off the socketA platform altogether.


Also, I just recently got another stick of RAM so I have a total of 1 GB now. Are 2 GBs overkill?
Even the 939 platform has issues running 2GB (4x512MB) at top speed and your socketA is far more inefficient.
Any improvement would be minimal and certainly not justifiable by a cost/benefit equation.

[Virtualbody1234]

I seriously doubt you will find many new 3000+ chips anyway. Unless you mean a Sempron 3000+, and as far as I can tell that's only the same as the XP2800+ :blink:

You will almost certainly have to raise Vcore a little to run at 3200+ speeds, and that will boost your temps. But if you've got one now it's certainly worth trying as long as you are careful.

Tell us what mobo you've got, some aren't too good at overclocking.
Upping the Vcore isn't always needed. I have a 2500+ Barton running at 3200+ speed just by setting the FSB to 400. No other alterations other than good case cooling.

It has been running continuously for about 1 year 24/7 under full load (folding).

[Sasage]

Well I was going to redo my thermal paste just to make sure it was ok, but then could I jump right up to 400 FSB or do I need to do the increments and test with Prime95 each step?

[Sasage]

I have a Abit nf7-s btw.

[lynx]

Ok, the NF7-S v1 and NF7-S v2 are good overclocking boards (the similarly named NF7-S2 is not) so you should be ok on that score.

I personally wouldn't go straight for 400MHz FSB. I think you should go up in steps, although they can be fairly large, and check the full load temps for about 15 mins at each stage. As long as the system boots and the temps don't get excessive I wouldn't bother with Prime95 except as something to run full load.

I can't remember how the Abit boards measure the clock. If they indicate 333MHz to 400MHz (ie DDR speed) I would make the jump in 22MHz stages. If it is 166 to 200 MHz then obviously the jumps need to be half that, ie 11MHz at a time.

Once you've got where you want to go (or as far as seems safe), that's the time to start your stability tests. The fact that you've managed to get there usually indicates that the system is fairly stable. If it was going to fail Prime95 at an earlier stage then the chances of reaching your final stage would be pretty slim.

If you redo the thermal paste you will have to run through several heat cycles over a number of days before it gives optimum efficiency, so it is probably better to leave it until you've got some temperature readings.

Edit: just a thought, will your memory handle 400MHz? If not, you may have to run it asynchrously.

[Sasage]

My mobo is the version 2.
This is the RAM that I have http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145416

[clocker]

The Corsair should easily handle a 200MHz FSB.

[Sasage]

Alright,I got it up to 200x11=2.2
Is this as fast as I can go?

[Snee]

Maybe not, but in my experience you probably can't take it much further without upping the vcore.

Dunno' how much more the ram will like either.

Seeing as how you've already surpassed the 3000+ you mentioned earlier, you've done well as it is if it's prime-stable.

If you do up your vcore be sure to mind your temps as well.

[Peerzy]

Alright,I got it up to 200x11=2.2
Is this as fast as I can go?


No, but i wouldn't try any higher as you could fry your chip. 2.2Ghz is just above an AMD 3000+ so you did what you set out to do. Leave it for a week or so play some games see if you find anything goes wrong, if not you could decide to push for more but to be honest who's gonna notice 30MHz extra when your CPU looks like its been a deep fat fryer.

[Virtualbody1234]

As I have already said, I have one running at the same 200x11 @stock vcore for over a year under full load. I'm quite sure that it could go faster but then you risk instability so I leave it like that.

2.2 GHz is the same speed setting as the 3200+


What are your temps?

[Sasage]

Ok...I think I will not tempt fate and leave it right where it is.

[Snee]

Do so, 2.2 gigahertz is quite enough for most things, I've found. If you definitely need more power you should probably be getting an athlon 64, anyway.

[clocker]

Do so, 2.2 gigahertz is quite enough for most things, I've found...
Really?

Geez, my Oregon Trail lagged horribly till I wrung my T-bred's neck and forced her up to 2.25 GHz.
Even then, my 2 meg vid card was a bit of a bottleneck.

Being a hard-core gamer can be expensive.

[Snee]

:blink: *






*And since posting this is, IMO, a logical result of the preceeding post, feel free to not remove this post.

[willhub]

if ya going to overclock ya ocmputer,stick it in a fridge lol, at were my dad works, they either put computers in a fridge and then have this giant room just for keeping the fridges nice and kool.

try it, i would if i could get the fridge into my room, but i doubt my mum or dad would be happy