What CPU for this motherboard (Upgrading)

[bigoman]

I currently have an MSI K7N2 motherboard.

It says it is designed for the Athlon XP.

Does this mean the newer Mobile Athlon XPs and the Mobile Athlon XP-Ms (are those two the same thing?) will work with the motherboard?

What do you recommend I get. I am not against OC, so a Mobile does that better I hear. I am looking to spend around 150, but will go as high as 200 if its worth it.

Thanks.

 

[o1die]

Your board may work fine, if it has multiplier adjustments in the bios. You can enter the bios by pressing the "del" key during posting. You'll find the multiplier settings in the section titled "frequency/voltage control". Most boards list the mobile barton as "unknown cpu", but don't worry, they still work fine with manual adjustments. Without multiplier adjustments, a mobile barton will default to the lowest setting, usually 600 megahurtz, and you won't be able to set it higher. I ran my mobile 2400 at 200 x 10 at the default voltage of 1.45. I wouldn't go higher as I was using a cheap heatsink not designed for overclocking.

 

[bigoman]

I don't think my bios will let me set the multiplier, but I could be wrong. I found all the other OC options, like setting FSB etc etc, but nothing called "Multiplier"

Does it go by any other name?

Any other suggestions out there?

 

[bigoman]

After further research, it seems to me that the multiplier option only appears in the bios after the processor has been unlocked. My current Athlon XP is not unlocked. So if I get the Mobile Athlon XP, which I understand comes unlocked standardly, I should be able to access the multiplier settings.

Someone tell me if I'm right or wrong.

Thanks

 

[Fern]

Hey bigoman,

Check out this LINK it's to extremeoverclocking, where they did a review of your board for OCing purposes. They couldn't seem to get the multi adjustment working either.

 

[o1die]

If your board doesn't have multiplier adjustments, go for the barton 2500. With a voltage boost, many will run at 200 fsb (posting as an xp3200). Your board should have voltage and cpu fsb adjustments. That's all you need for the barton 2500, if you have pc3200 ddram.