Athlon XP 2500+ - overclock

[dogus1]

I've read that this chip has good potential for overclocking, but I'm confused - I know the mobile version is ready for overclocking, but I do not have that - I've read that it's possible to overclock "earlier" versions of this desktop Barton version, but that later versions were locked down by AMD. How can I tell which version I have, and if it has the potential for overclocking.

Another question: I know the 2500+ has an fsb of 333. Does this mean my 3200 ram can only perform at 333, too, even though my mobo supports DDR 400? AT boot, it reports my ram is operating at 166 (which would translate to 333, right?) Do I need a CPU that operates at 400 (like the 3200+) in order to get the full potential of my ram?

Thanks.

 

[m25]

If you find it cheap enough and don't need anything more powerful, yes. However, it will give tou @ most 20% more performance, so consider @ least a motherboard+CPU upgrade to get something more because with the XP you are missing the now vital SSE2 support. (typically try a socket 754 or 939 if you want to stick with your old DDR.

 

[antichrysler]

I've read that this chip has good potential for overclocking, but I'm confused - I know the mobile version is ready for overclocking, but I do not have that - I've read that it's possible to overclock "earlier" versions of this desktop Barton version, but that later versions were locked down by AMD. How can I tell which version I have, and if it has the potential for overclocking.

This chip has excellent potential for overclocking. It all depends which one you got. In terms of it being locked that refers to the multiplier. The early releases of the 2500+ were unlocked. Later releases had the multiplier locked. To the best of my knowledge these chips could not be unlocked. The unlocking you are talking about refers to older Thoroughbred cores, not the Barton.

If you want to check if yours is unlocked just go into the BIOS and try increasing the multiplier from 11 to 11.5 or something. Pretty much any Barton will allow you that small an increase. If the clock speed increases yours is unlocked. If you want to determine how much potential it has for overclocking you will just have to try overclocking it. There is no said formula for calculating overclocking. You could have one that overclocks to 2.5GHz and you could have one that won't let you break 2GHz. You don't know till you try.

Another question: I know the 2500+ has an fsb of 333. Does this mean my 3200 ram can only perform at 333, too, even though my mobo supports DDR 400? AT boot, it reports my ram is operating at 166 (which would translate to 333, right?) Do I need a CPU that operates at 400 (like the 3200+) in order to get the full potential of my ram?

Thanks.

To answer your question yes. PC3200 memory will run at PC2700. If you are planning on overclocking I would recommend having PC3200. You always want to run the bus and the memory speed in synch. If you were to up your bus speed from 333MHz to 400MHz you would have the same spec CPU as the 3200+.

Hope that helps.

 

[jaguarskx]

While the Athlon XP 2500+ is a great processor, I recommend that you get something a little more up to date.

As m25 stated, look at the the Athlon 64 either S754 or S939.

I recommend the S939 Athlon 64 3500+ for $109. The price may drop a little bit on July 24th since AMD is planning to cut prices, but mostly for their dual cores (I think). The cheapest Athlon 64 is the 3000+ for $88, but I think the 3500+ offers the best bang for the buck at only $20 more.

The ECS RX480-A motherboard is a good budget motherboard that gives you a PCI-e slot for current video cards.

If you already have an AGP video card then get the Asrock 939Dual SATA2 motherboard for about $10 more. It has both AGP and PCI-E x16 video card slots. So you can stick in a PCI-e GPU later.

 

[m25]

already the 3800+ is $108 @ ewiz.com

 

[DrNeil]

The XP2500 barton has the same multiplier as the XP3200, but a lower FSB, so changing the FSB to 200 should be simple enough. Might need a little bit extra vcore though, and a half decent cooler...