Looking for best price/performance ratio (OCing)

[Xdrive]

Hey everybody, I've been lurking around here for a while and I'm almost ready to build a budget gaming system. Just have a few important questions about Price/Performance ratio and Overclocking.

My budget is around $450 tops - for CPU, Mobo, Hdd, Case, and memory - I already have the rest. I'm basically trying to get the best configuration for my money. What I'm here for right now is to get a good idea of what CPU/Mobo/RAM combo to go with, and whether or not I should OC.

I've read on here that the absolute best CPU for my situation would be the AMD mobile 2500+ because of its great OCing abilities and $75.00 price. This sounds great to me, but I have *NO* experience OCing at all. Is it a safe thing to try? I don't have the money to seriousely risk messing anything up. And I don't have much experience with BIOS manipulation other than for changing the location from where the OS is read on my old crappy eMachines.

Also, is the 2.4Ghz P4 a good choice for price/performance? It costs a tad more than I can afford honestly, but I'd be open to suggestions about that from you all. I'm looking for a CPU that costs around 100 bucks or less.

Futureproofing is not a real consern for me, though it would be nice to be able to upgrade some. That's another reason why I'm wanting to go with a budget processor for a socket, that way I can put a higher one in later that matches that socket. Or, of course, I can just OC if that would be safe.

I really appreciate all of your help. This is a somewhat confusing thing for me, and since I'm on such a tight budget, I can't really "play it safe" and just buy a 3200+ or 3.0 P4 or anything like that.

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Emachine T1090 - 900Mhz Celeron - R9200 SE PCI - 20 Gig Hdd - 384 slow RAM - yeah, I think it's time for a hardcore upgrade.

 

[HardWareBoss]

P4 2.4C you can OC to 3.0. That's what I'm using. Don't know price. Have not checked in awhile. But you maybe able to buy 2.8C for same price as 2.4C.

 

[Cybercraig]

Looking for best price/performance ratio (OCing)

Hey everybody, I've been lurking around here for a while and I'm almost ready to build a budget gaming system. Just have a few important questions about Price/Performance ratio and Overclocking.

My budget is around $450 tops - for CPU, Mobo, Hdd, Case, and memory - I already have the rest. I'm basically trying to get the best configuration for my money. What I'm here for right now is to get a good idea of what CPU/Mobo/RAM combo to go with, and whether or not I should OC.

I've read on here that the absolute best CPU for my situation would be the AMD mobile 2500+ because of its great OCing abilities and $75.00 price.
***********************************************************


You've answered your own question. Get the ABIT NF7-S, some Mushkin Basic Green (or Corsair), and you're there!
A great combo that will hit your target price! You will easily hit XP-3200 speeds!




Abit IS7 - 2.8C @ 3.30 - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - EAT ME MSI!

 

[endyen]

The Abit NF7-S and xp-m2500+ is a good combo. I'm just using generic samsung ram (pc3200/DDR400). You will need a good hsf, the mobiles do not come with one. The vantec Aeroflow is good and cheap.
To OC you open the first section (NF7-S) of the bios, set it to manual, set the FSB to 200, the multiplier to 11.5 and vcc top 1.7 ( the mobo will not put out 1.65 until it's set to 1.7).
If it gets too hot in your room, you can reduce the multiplier to 11 and the vcc to 1.65 (1.6 actual) If you feel really adventurous, most chips will do 2.4 with 1.75 vcore, and with better cooling can get as high as 2.6 or more.

 

[Zeekfu]

I bought the athlon xp 2600 mobile because it was only $7 more than the xp 2500 moblile.

<font color=black>yippie ki ya, m..........<font color=black>

 

[Xdrive]

Hmmm... so it sounds like the 2500+M with NF7-S mobo it is. Any other recommendations?

And also, is OCing a relatively safe thing to do if you don't have much experience? I don't have the greenbacks to replace parts and I know that OCing usually voids manufacture's warantees. So in other words, would OCing weigh in my favor, or would there be a better chance that it would end up mucking me over?

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Emachine T1090 - 900Mhz Celeron - R9200 SE PCI - 20 Gig Hdd - 384 slow RAM - yeah, I think it's time for a hardcore upgrade.

 

[endyen]

So long as you are carefull, dont try for any records, and check temps and stability often, while doing the OC, it is safe, and rather a lot of fun.

 

[Tavelkyosoba]

agreed.

but if you grab a 2500 you dont need to OC, its fine for now...although i did notice quite a difference when i oc'd a 2500 to 3200 speeds.



I've got a book of matches,
I've got a can of kerosene,
I've got some bright ideas involving you and me.

 

[Spitfire_x86]

Best overclocking combo:

CPU: AXP 2500+ (mobile)
<pre>Alternate CPU: AXP 2500+</pre><p>
Mobo: ABIT NF7-S v2.0
<pre>Alternate mobo: ABIT NF7 v2.0</pre><p>------------
<A HREF="http://geocities.com/spitfire_x86" target="_new">My Website</A>

<A HREF="http://geocities.com/spitfire_x86/myrig.html" target="_new">My Rig</A> & <A HREF="http://geocities.com/spitfire_x86/benchmark.html" target="_new">3DMark score</A>

 

[TheRod]

If you odn't need 5.1 audio, go for the basic Abit NF7 instead of the NF7-S.

--
It's tricky to use words like <b><font color=green>AMD</font color=green></b> or <b><font color=blue>Intel</font color=blue></b> in a signature some users could think your are biased.