XP1600+ with EP-8K5A2+ or MSI 745 Ultra

[Gemini1706]

XP1600+ with EP-8K5A2+ or MSI 745 Ultra

I was about to buy the MSI 745 Ultra, and XP1600+, but then I discovered that I cannot overclock using that mobo without doing mods to the board.
The Epox mobo is about $20 more, but I think it has more overclocking features.
The most important thing is that I want the mobo to be able to handle future XPs, like the 2800+, with 333 FSB.
I believe that the MSI mobo cannot handle 333 FSB without voltage twicking..etc.

What is your suggestion?
Can the Epox overclock the 1600+ to 333 FSB, so as to synch with 333 DDR ram?

Also, what a suitable heat sink/fan that can handle such overlocking? Even for future XP1800+...

What perofrmance you get with overclocking the 1600+ to 333 FSB...?

Thanks in advance...

 

[Crashman]

I think the 745 Ultra overclocks, doesn't it?

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[slvr_phoenix]

According to MSI's downloadable manual, you can set the FSB from 100MHz to 200MHz in 1MHz increments, you can manually adjust the VCore, and you have memory dividors that would let you use 400MHz, 333MHz, or 266MHz DDR at a 166MHz FSB. It sounds pretty OCable to me.

Then again, the manual doesn't go into any depth on the actual VCore range, nor the AGP/PCI dividers... It's a pretty crappy manual that doesn't get into any real details and has truely awful pictures of the BIOS screen. (In fact, I can't even read any of the screen the pictures are so bad.) So who knows how OCable the board really is...

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[MeTaLrOcKeR]

The SiS745 Chipset is VERY overclockable...i has an Asus A7S333 motherboard and an AXP 1600+ on there and im oc'ign it to 1.660GHZ with a FSB of 158MHz (316 DDR) at defualt voltage with a ThermalTake Volcano 7 and i get temps of 34 Idle and 39-40 max load...thats in celcious.....

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=13597" target="_new">-MeTaL RoCkEr</A>

 

[slvr_phoenix]

It isn't so much the chipset that matters in this case though, but how the motherboard manufacturer designs the mobo. MSI may or may not be allowing users to completely access the OC capabilities of the chipset. Then again, maybe they are. **shrug** MSI certainly doesn't answer that one with their downloadable user's manual.

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[NEUTRALITY]

the highest I could overclock the 1600+ was to 1.68 mhz with the retail fan and sink while staying stable with everything. Disclaimer: this is good, but results may vary.

For what it's worth, I like epox boards better, but I'm just a stupid hick.




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[lhgpoobaa]

I have the predecessor to the 8K5A2, the 8K3A+, and i can tell you that this series of boards overclock exceedingly well.
Stable as a superglued rock too.

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