Low Priced mobo for some overclocking?

[supernancy]

Can you reccomend a low-priced mobo for overclocking? I'm probably looking at around $70 for the mobo and around $60 for the chip- nothing fancy. However I'd love some advice if you think spending a bit more would mean much faster speeds.
Using it for major multi-tasking (I'll be getting a gig of ram on it, I code w/a lot of programs open and also work on some large photoshop files)

Sorry to ask such a simple question, but it's been a while since I've shopped for an overclockable mobo, and most online overclocking sites tend to review motherboards that are expensive. I loved it when Anandech did monthly video card/mobo reccomendations a LONG time ago.

Thanks in advance.

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May your thermal pase never dry up as it did on my old ASUS w/ 600-900 duron.

 

[supernancy]

Did some more research and found the MSI K7N2 Delta-L:
http://sharkeyextreme.com/guides/MVGSBG/article.php/10708_3294771__3
It comes in at about $73, which seems like a good deal.

Any other suggestions?

 

[novice]

Can you reccomend a low-priced mobo for overclocking? I'm probably looking at around $70 for the mobo and around $60 for the chip- nothing fancy

Well, I had very similar requirements a few months ago and went for a Shuttle AN35N Ultra 400 and an XP1700+ T-Bred B. I have been very happy with both products. Were I to go for a similar setup today, I would opt for the same Shuttle board, but would choose the XP2500 Barton CPU. They would run you around $160 or so combined. I would also heartily recommend some decent quality PC-3200 ram in order to get the most out of the chip. From what I hear even the multiplier locked Bartons have a very high success ratio of running 200 MHz front side bus, with the result being essentially an XP3200 for $90.

 

[supernancy]

Nice!
Thanks for the tip, that mobo is about $60.

How do I know if I am getting an overclockable Barton cpu? I remember with old thunderbirds, mulipliers would have to be unlocked, etc. etc.
Is there any articles to check out/ do you reccomend any stores to get a overclockable CPU?

Thanks again!

 

[T2T III]

I'll "second" the recommendation for the Shuttle AN35N Ultra motherboard.

My Shuttle AK31A has been running pretty strong for over 2 years. However, some problems developed a few days ago which prompted me to buy a new board. I found mine locally for $75 - a bit more than NewEgg, but I had it in my hands in about 5 minutes, so paying a little more isn't so bad.

Setup was a B#@!% though. I had some issues with my AGP video boards. In the past, I've had issues with AGP cards not being seated far enough in the slots. However, now I've had issues with them being too far in the slots. I seat the card, then pull it up 1/32" of an inch to get the card to work. Go figure.

After a few hours of wrestling with the video cards, and the re-installing Win XP via the "recovery" method, I'm happy to announce that my system is trucking along once again. The on-board LAN is working well with my cable modem.

The Shuttle board has a nice layout. I have a slightly "oversized" heatsink/fan which I purchased from SVC about a year ago mounted on my 1800+ cpu. The board accomodates this heatsink/fan quite nicely. One thing I noticed is that when you mount the clip, the side of the cpu where you hook the attachment is on the outside of the motherboard. This is a nice feature. Other motherboards mounted the socket the opposite way ... and if you slipped with the screwdriver when attaching your heatsink/fan, you could do some major damage to the board. Way to go, Shuttle.

Finally, compared to my old board - based on the VIA 266 chipset, the nForce2 board seems quite a bit "snappier" in performance.

I'm very happy with my $75 upgrade. It should last me a few years until the nForce4 or VIA KT1200 comes out. Or, whatever numbering scheme nVidia and VIA come up with.

Enjoy !!

 

[novice]

Originally posted by: supernancy
Nice!
Thanks for the tip, that mobo is about $60.

How do I know if I am getting an overclockable Barton cpu? I remember with old thunderbirds, mulipliers would have to be unlocked, etc. etc.
Is there any articles to check out/ do you reccomend any stores to get a overclockable CPU?

Thanks again!

From what I hear, the locked Bartons are not that big a deal as long as your motherboard and ram support the 200 Mhz front side bus. Apparently most of the XP2500 Barton cores will run fine at their standard multiplier of 11x200 for 2.20 Ghz (XP3200 speed) Of course if you really want to play around with your system and try for the 240 Mhz front side bus, then the unlocked multipliers are essential. For me, I would take my chances with a locked XP2500 and set the fsb for 200 and cross my fingers. ( and someday, I probably will)