A7N8X-X and 2500+ Mobile

[rrace]

Hi,

I'm considering building a new pc for gaming(doom3, hl2) and due to budget I'd like to get the most out of my cash. Here is what I am considering...

Antech Super LANBOY
A7N8X-X
Athlon XP 2500+ Mobile
Corsair Value Select 256MB PC-3200 DDR400 SDRAM
Seagate 80.0GB
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB
...

Now I'd like to overclock the 2500+ mobile(1.8) to a 3200+(2.2?). I've never OC'd any of my PCs so please bare with me as this is new to me. I have read a bit on this and decided the mobile was the best choice for overclocking, but I am not certain if the motherboard will be an issue. I chose asus because my current asus board has served me well. I chose the a7n8x-x as it was the cheapest(!) and didn't include the many features of the deluxe I didn't need, sata, raid, wireless, etc. Are there any issues with this board and overclocking with the 2500+ mobile? From my understanding the 2500+ mobile has an unlocked multipler, which is safer/easier to raise than the fsb. So is it possible to do 13.5x166 with this chip and motherboard? Someone told me it is not possible to raise the multiplier over 13 on the asus board, is this true? I want to avoid raising the fsb as I understand it can damage other hardware components...

So does anyone have experience with overclocking on this board? Or which other board would you recommend? the abit nf7 is probably my only other choice. I have read about overclocking this chip on an epox board, however I don't know if I can find one of those where I live.

Also, what sort of cooling(hsf) would you recommend? I have read that air cooling would be sufficient for my oc speed of 2.2...

any help would be great

thanks

 

[Cybercraig]

You need more ram dude. A single stick of 256 will get eaten by XP alone.


"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. Now, let's eat!

 

[rrace]

okay... Bare in mind this is canadian, and not from somewhere like newegg that has cheap prices(US)

Antec Super LANBOY $109
Athlon XP 2500+ Mobile $139
ASUS A7N8X-X NVIDIA nForce2-400 $94
Corsair Value Select 512MB PC-3200 DDR400 SDRAM $140
Seagate 80.0GB $92
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB $328
Toshiba 16X DVD-ROM $40
Thermaltake Volcano Silent Boost K7 $36
Arctic Silver 5 $10
Enermax 350W EG365P-VE Dual Fan $61

There you go... I might swap the asus board for the nf7...
Plus there is a 15% tax on this I don't know if newegg ships to canada or I'd buy from them...

 

[Verikon]

Multiplier can only go to 12.5, so maximum speed reachable without raising the FSB is 2500 mhz.

 

[CompSci]

An A7n8x-x is quite acceptable. I have both a7n8x(Std-nonDlx) and a A7n8x-x (the no dual memory channel) - and they both run almost the same with xp1700+'s(11*200Fsb). Am Usin kingston pc3200 512 sticks and both are solid as rocks - and have been for over a year... SiSandra numbers are almost exactly the same ~3100 memmark - huh - the dual memory channel on the one just doesnt seam to make much difference... Tuff to beat the A7n8x's runnun 200+FSB... I have to use a IBM 2.8G P4 at work and my old Asus Athlon XP boxes still outrun that IBM 2.8g P4 on real thruput of database preformance and SiSamdra mem scores...!

But that seagate disk.... I've never had a seagate that DIDN"T Fail!!!
and I've never had a WD that did... Obviously, I prefer the WD's...(and I've used and installed a LOT of disk in the last 10 years....
Even Tom's budjet box for under $1000 used WD disks...

Your config should run pretty good ( with a WD instead of a Seagate...)