First Time

[Istuken]

Overclocking, I am going to start but with some new components for my system. I have an Xp 2000+, 512 DDr, and a Ati 9500. I am looking for a good Socket A board that will offer me good overclocking options and will allow me to upgrade in the future.(Sata and 8x AGP) I was looking at the A7N8X, but wanted to check here first, thanks

[Rat]

Here (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-127-166&catalog=22&manufactory=BROWSE&depa=1)



Rat

[scottluebke2003]

Istuken, what model is your XP2000?

If its the old palomino, then it will not OC much at all. When I say "not much at all", I mean it will OC about 100mhz or so, and possibly be highly unstable. But if you have the newest Tbred core, then you can OC like crazy. Good luck

[Direct1]

I second Rat's choice and if you have the money, pick up yourself a AMD Athlon XP 2500+ -- $90 shipped (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-379&catalog=343&depa=1) to go with that nice MB. That should OC to 3000+ or higher. Good luck! :t

[Istuken]

scott how can i check that? I know I got it retail but I dont want to open my case agian, my Heatsink is a ***** to put on :t

[scottluebke2003]

http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=181

This is AIDA32. DL it, install it. Run it. Look at the left hand menu and click on "motherboard", the right side of the screen will expand. Then click on "cpu". this will tell you the speed of your cpu, and the model. Look under "cpu alias" and it should say "palomino" or "thoroughbred".

Look at the screen I attached. it should answer your questions.

[Istuken]

thansk, its a palomino =/ Should I try anyways?

[Direct1]

Well, it won't hurt to try but like Scott said, you probably won't get very far. What brand and speed RAM do you have?

Like I've said, if you can afford it, get the MB Rat said and the 2500+. If your RAM is good enough, you should be able to bump up the FSB to 200 and be running at 2200GHz. Not bad for a $90 chip. Good luck! :t

[Istuken]

yea, i guess ill save my money until lthen, but i have limited income =/

[scottluebke2003]

Why bro has an XP2000 palomino and I have the XP2100 palomino. We both run DDR333, which should provide lots of OC room for the CPU. I am even using the KT400, which should OC fine. But neither of our systems will OC more than a tiny bit. If I OC at all, AT ALL, i get BSOD within minutes.

Palomino's dont OC well and they run really hot.

Like Direct said, if you can afford it, snag a good Nforce2 mobo and the Barton 2500. If you are just into games, then maybe you should spend that money on a good video card instead. That is #1 when it comes to games.

Good example here. I used to have a 900mhz athlon with 384 sdram and an old Biostar board with an old Apollo chipset. When I ran 3dmark2001 using a gf2 mx400, i scored 1900. I threw in a Ti4200 64mb and i scored almost 7000. With OC, 8000 may have been possible. All of a sudden I was able to play most games with decent levels of detail. Games are all about the graphics card.

The XP2000 will provide great gaming, if you have a great video card.

[scottluebke2003]

"Limited income", yes I know how that goes! Well then, stick with that XP2000. We all get the upgrade bug, some more often than others.

[Direct1]

Yeah, wish you would have said "limited income" in your 1st post. ;) Definately stick with what you have then. Do not buy parts now for the future -- the future changes too rapidly. You still have a decent system. Good luck! :t

[Istuken]

Thanks guys then i guess this is what my system looks like.. for now:

Athlon Xp 2000+
Abit NF7-S
Radeon 9500 (softmodded)
512 pc 3200
40 Gb Wd hdd
30 Gb Maxtor hdd

Thanks Agian :t

[Direct1]

Not bad. Then just save up $90 and you'll have a system that rocks if you get the 2500+. Good luck! :t

[iceblue]

If you really have a limited income, PC2700 will be enough for your future 2500+ Barton (unless you want to overclock, but that'd be going against the budget).

[scottluebke2003]

Do you already have a 9500 soft modded? If not, then good luck. A lot of people say they cant find em anymore.

[Istuken]

Heh I already have it and did soft mod, works great, allstarshop.com has the red pbc l shaped memory in stock last time i checked