don't laugh, looking for Athlon XP 3400 Barton...

I've done the standard google search and nobody seems to actually have this mysterious CPU (for a Socket A motherboard). Does this CPU actually exist? If so, does anyone know where I can buy one?

My reason - I have a Socket A PC (running AMD Athlon XP 2200) that has a lot of software on it that has complicated license issues (i.e. complete re-install of OS on a new CPU/motherboard is not an option) associated with it, so I want to make it as fast as I can in the existing Socket A motherboard I have.

Unless someone knows how to change CPU/motherboard without having to reinstall my OS along with all my licensed software?? I've tried this before and rarely has WinXP been able to deal with a CPU/motherboard change and has almost always resulted in a complete wipe & reinstall of XP. But if you know of a way please inform me.

Thanks, Rob.

http://www.amdboard.com/barton3400.html

I guess it never materialized?

The motherboard supports FSB 266/333/400 (it is a DFI LanParty UltraII) and the BIOS has been updated to support Barton's.

But I think you're right as far as the 3400 being rare, I've found 3200 barton's for $150 or so, but the 3400 barton either never really existed (just someone selling a 3200 as overclocked) or it was a very limited production run from AMD.

Wonder how overclockable the 3200 is and how well my motherboard can handle overclocking...

How well do the Barton's overclock vs. the Standard XPs in a watercooled setup?

Get a 2600 mobile - you can run it at whatever fsb you want. I've got one on an NF7-s running at 200 fsb x 10 (2 gig) and it has gone as high as 230 on the fsb.

Just over a year ago I bought an AMD Athlon XP 2600+ Barton 333MHz FSB Socket A Processor Model AXDL2600DLV4D that is UNLOCKED! It’s a rare "Low Power Desktop" model that was unlocked up and down and only needs 1.4v and unlike the mobiles it has a 333 fsb. I had the thing running at 2300mhz, that’s 100mhz over the 3200+ with a Vcore of only 1.6v. I had it up to 2400mhz @ 1.7 but my good (but not great) aftermarket heatsink was at its limit. If you can find one, it’s a great deal, especially if you have a MB that can run a 200mhz fsb with DDR400 ram. My fsb topped out at 180mhz with DDR333

3200+ was the end of line, no further can e pushed.
Or you could buy a unlocked 2500+ Barton off me that can do 2.5Ghz.
Price negotiable.

I agree, with stock voltages, pushing over 2.7 sends temps skyhigh. What would you like to trade for your 2500?

Don't have one of those, my friend has the 754 but won't part with it. I know what you mean, I have yet to sell an old CPU. In fact the XP2000 benches now exactly as it did 5 years ago and still runs in the hi 50's quite well.
I just saw one for sale new for $125, fifty more than I paid then. Sure wish I had bought the unlocked 266FSB mobile when it was still common.

I had an Athlon XP 2600+ 333Mhz Barton, which overclocked decently on air. I attained 2.2 Ghz @ 400Mhz FSB, but I don't remember if I ever bothered to get it entirely stable (as it ran hot +/- 60C). The chip was unlocked, although multipliers over 12.5 wouldn't work. With a good water-cooling setup, I think I could have gotten 2.5Ghz out of that particular chip.

As always, your results may vary.

AMD did release a 2.33ghz 3200+ 333FSB version for compaq so that was the highest binned chip ever

if you use a tool called sysprep which is on the xp pro disk for sure you can wipe system info out to allow you to change mobo and cpu without the need to reload windows.

I would recommend liquidpaper007 and baracuda73's suggestion of simply putting whatever new board and processor you want, then boot to your XP installation disc and do a repair. Has always worked for us.

I did pretty much the same thing, went from an Athlon 1800+ to a 3200+ 400FSB, and stuck with a VIA chipset as i had heard that stay with the same chipset make and it will be fine.

Well it was, XP Home took fine to it, and the speed scared me. Will clock it on thursday when i get paid, some nice OCZ RAM.