Been in Intel land too long it seems...

[jdogg707]

Well it seems that I have been in Intel land a little too long and have lost touch with my AMD side...but now I'm back and am looking for a little help. I currently have:

Intel Pentium 4 2.26GHZ@2.83GHZ on a Swftech MCX478 Heatsink
Gigabyte 8INXP
1GB Corsair XMSPC3200 DDR RAM @ 166 MHZ Cas 2-2-2-5 in Dual Channel Mode
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro

I am pretty happy with my current setup but am tired of having problems due to the motherboard and video card combo...it's unstable at anything above 133MHZ FSB for the most part...sometimes it's stable as a rock....sometimes it just randomly restarts...but no matter what it is annoying and I am looking to get the next best thing...an AMD setup that will give me great speed and performance. But the problem is I have no idea what motherboard to get (heard Epox 8RDA+ is the best overclocker), Processor (Heard revision B of AMD Athlon XP 2100+ is pretty good at 3000+ or better rating), Heatsink (No clue here, would MCX462 be the best choice?)? Is there anything else I will need, any settings, files, updates, reccomendations? I am looking to get the most out of this thing so any help will be greatly appreciated...thanks.

 

[JSSheridan]

Your observations are mostly correct. I think most people would agree that the following is a great overclocking setup.

Epox 8RDA+, 2100+ Thoroughbred B, Thermalright SLK-900 & a 92mm Panaflo fan, and an Antec, Enermax, or other quality PSU.

By the way, is the AGP/PCI bus locked on your current system? Peace.

 

[Duvie]

The above config for the intel is and has been a widely known issue for awhile....It is the ati9700pro along with the e7205 chipset....many are running those mobos with other or lesser cards with little or no issues as high as 166fsb...

Dual channel is new chipset and is why I often am not the first to own a new mobo...Too many bugs I let other ppl find out about first...I remember back in the days of the evrlasting GB mobo delays there was rumors of a rework of the e7205 chipset due to agp issues...It is likely related to this and it is likely newer revision mobos will start to come down the pipeline..


Have you contacted Gigabyte to see their officially stance or possible fix for it??? If there answers don't work or seem they are avoiding the issues then by all means jump to amd or even a good i845pe mobo....

 

[majewski9]

Epox 8RDA+, 2100+ Thoroughbred B, Thermalright SLK-900 & a 92mm Panaflo fan, and an Antec, Enermax, or other quality PSU.

good call! I am actually going to be getting this setup as well. Although the regular 8RDA is the same thing except 2 channel sound and no onboard lan. I dont think that 24 dollars extra is worth better onboard sound and lan. Especially for me since I have a SB live and about 3 lan cards lying around.

 

[jdogg707]

hmmm, thanks for the opinions guys...ya, I have tried all of the PCI/AGP lock tricks (34/68, and increase AGP voltage) to almost no avail...and I really doubt that Intel is going to rework the issue due to the Canterwood/Springdale chipsets coming up to replace the E7205 as a the consumer mainboards of choice. I have sent two E-Mails to Gigabyte about the problem and have heard nothing back from either one, so apparently they don't know what the problem is or they don't want to deal with the problem...maybe even a combination of the two. I don't know, I just am looking for a good overclocking setup that is fairly painless as far as problems go...I'm tired of being in the middle of a UT2K3 Deathmatch and my computer randomly restarting...or my desktop being kicked down to 640x480 resolution in 4 bit color...very nasty stuff. I have a good PSU in my opnion, it's the Antec 400W Power Supply that came with my SX1040B and I've never experienced a problem with it before...so I wouldn't think it would be the problem...and should be alright for an AMD setup. So I guess I'll be going with...

AMD Athlon XP 2100+ Rev. B
Epox 8RDA+ Nforce2 Motherboard
Thermalright SLK-900 w/ 92mm Panaflo Fan

I have heard about the Nforce2 boards allowing for the multiplier to be unlocked, how does this work and is it better, in the case of the system listed above to run a lower multiplier and higher mem or default multiplier and higher mem? Also, since this is a 266MHZ processor I suppose that the FSB and Chip are running Async., will I be able to juice the CPU to run at 333? And how does the dual-channel mode work on the Nforce2? Thanks for all the help...

 

[mechBgon]

The ideal thing with the proposed nForce2 setup is to combine both strategies... run CPU and memory in synchronous mode, definitely, and try for the highest multiplier x FSB overclock feasible. The dual-channel memory controller is usually not radically faster unless your board has onboard video, in which case dual-DDR will bring the onboard video's framerates up a lot, thanks to the extra bandwidth.

If you do get the 8RDA or 8RDA+, update your BIOS before you get into the OC'ing, make sure not to plug anything onto pin 10 of the USB3 header, and make sure to put your heatsink on the right way (stepped end of base at the top). Also, if you use WinXP, install SP1 for WinXP before installing the nVidia 2.03 driver pack, and when installing the 2.03's, make sure to say No to the SW IDE driver.

I also suggest removing the northbridge heatsink and using Arctic Silver 3 after scraping off the stock thermal pad. On mine, it took a lot of AS3 to fill the gap, so do a test fit and make sure the AS3 is showing contact all the way across the core of the heatsink.

 

[jdogg707]

So really I will be running, for example @ Default on the Athlon 2100+ 13x133 and my memory running @ DDR266, Now if I increase the FSB to 166, my processor will be running at 333MHZ or 2158MHZ and my RAM will be running @ 333MHZ...Now theoretically I could hit 400MHZ CPU FSB and 400MHZ Memory bus considering I'll be using Corsair XMS PC3200 DDR RAM...Now which would be the most realistic, or what would be the best settings? So the dual-channel doesn't give as much performance increase as say the Granite Bay does over 845PE?

mechBgon: Why should I not install the SW IDE Drivers? Is there something I should install instead? And I should install the latest BIOS before doing anything such as overclocking? Is there any other software or settings I should be aware of? Would you adivse replacing the northbridge heatsink with a thermaltake Crystal Orb or something of that nature? I have some Arctic Silver 3 and the epoxy, which would you reccomend? Thanks.

 

[mechBgon]

If you don't install the SW drivers (with WinXP) then it will install the WHQL IDE drivers instead, and they work better with CD/DVD burners, which nearly everyone seems to have nowadays. I named the top things I think you should know, based on what troubles people run into around here.

With Corsair PC3200, if it will do DDR400, great, drop the CPU's multiplier as needed, and run DDR400 on the memory and FSB (sync'ed).

 

[jdogg707]

awesome...well, it seems like this should be fun at least...well, I am going to go put in my order...hopefully everything will work out for the best!!!

 

[jdogg707]

One more question...with the SLK-900 and a 92mm fan, will I need a CPU shim? And if so which one should I get? Thanks.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: jdogg707
One more question...with the SLK-900 and a 92mm fan, will I need a CPU shim? And if so which one should I get? Thanks.

Do NOT get a CPU shim.

 

[jdogg707]

Excellent, thanks for the response...also upon an earlier comment that I should put Arctic Silver 3 on the northbridge...would it be a good idea to replace the northbridge cooler with The Vantec Iceberg Copper Chipset Bundle? Will it fit? And would the effort made to put it on be worth it? Thanks.

 

[mschell]

I'm running an Abit NF7 rev 1.2 along with a TB +2100B and 2x 256 Samsung PC2700 ram in dual channel mode. This setup easily runs 200 x 11 with 1.65v. I think running the FBS and memory in sync is best for true performance. I've had the multiplier up to 12.5 @ 1.75v but this causes my thermaly controlled H/S fan to run full speed all the time.
Even at 2200MHz (actual) the system seems much faster that my 1.8A @ 2.4GHz I845GE. The Aopen AX4GE Max does not allow any memory overclocking so my ram was limited to 333MHz.

The same memory running 400Mhz dual channel on the NF7 scores over 30000 on the Sandra Mem test while the Aopen could only manage 26000. Gained 900 3DMark2001SE pts, (GF 4200) default clocks.

Browse here and you will see that the Epox is junk (IMO) - get an Abit NF7-S v1.2, a SATA drive converter is included in case you want to run extra hard drives.

 

[touchmyichi]

I'd be willing to take your old stuff off your hands hehe.

Anyways I don't think it would be worth it for you to upgrade from that. If I were you I would spend the money you would spend on a 8RDA+ and a 2100+ and get a higher end p4. But hey, its your choice.

 

[chizow]

What GPU are you using? nForce2 mobos + 9700pros don't seem to like high FSB even with the AGP lock. A7N8X(D) users hit about 195MHz before stuttering/locking, 8RDA+ users have had better results but still nothing great (205MHz). Probably a moot point since XP's don't really need the bandwidth.

Also, as for chipset cooling, check out Insane3D's nForce2 Chipset Cooling Project Post for some sweet passive cooling options. I'm using a Copper Orb on my NB and the stock passive cooler on my MCP-T. Not sure if its making much difference though, as I upgraded to XMS 1024TwinX PC3200LL at the same time.

Chiz