Will I soon join the 1ghz gang?

[Barney]

I'm getting rid of my PII300@540 and I'm getting an Abit KA7 with Thunderbird 700 (SlotA).

I'm getting it from my brother,I'm trading the old stuff in along with $150.I think that's a good trade,because the processor is unused (he hasn't even got it yet),it has a Goldfinger device and a big heatsink with 2 6cm fans and ofcourse the mobo.

Will I be able to hit the 1ghz?I saw quite a few on overclockers.com in the cpu list,but I don't know if they're SlotA or SocketA.Which one is better for overclocking anyway,Slot or Socket?And will my 235 watt powersupply be enough,or do I really have to buy 300 (I've got a GeForce256)?

Btw,I also got rid of my Afreey 50x cdrom and my old Teac writer that didn't write anymore,and got a Asus 50x (very quiet http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif ) and a MKE/Panasonic CW-7502-B 4x/8x scsi writer (the one with the tiny fan in it).Anyone knows if that stuff's any good?

Ronald

[Missing the point]

I really think that you should get a 300W PS, with the TBirds, they suck a LOT of power.

Also, if you are planning on getting to a gig, you will have to do the voltage mod to the motherboard, so that you have more voltage supplied to the chip. The TBirds have a 1.70 or 1.75V stock voltage, and all the motherboards support up to 1.85. That is not a lot of headroom for the TBirds. With the voltage mod, you can have up to 2.11V safely, which is plenty, and should allow you to get to a gig.

Wait a second, I just re-read your post, and I noticed that it is a SLOT A. If I remember right, the slot A CPU's still have full speed L2 cache. If they do, then everything I said still applies, but if not, I am not too sure. I have never dealt with a Slot A TBird before, so I don't know how they run.

I think you can still get a big heatsink for it, but it may be a bit harder to find.

I hope that I helped ya out a bit, and try to see if it has full speed L2 Cache or not.

[Barney]

I think it has full speed cache,like the socket Tbird has.

Voltage won't be a prob. since the Abit KA7 supports up to 2.05 V and can get even way higher with the goldfinger device (I can use it to change the multiplier,FSB and voltage).So that's a http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif .Since my brother is going to use the processor for a couple of weeks,he will crack the case and put the GFD on.Too bad my brother will already have it overclocked,so no fun for me in that one,but my brother will have the risk of damaging it while cracking it. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

I'm also getting a big cooler on it.My brother has used it for a while already to cool a classic athlon 750 at 1g.It's about 3cm high and carries 2 Sunon 60mm fans.Maybe one day I'll buy the Global Win VOS-32.

About the PSU I'm not sure.My brother ran his classic Athlon (which consumes more power than the Tbird) at 1ghz with a 250 watt psu.And my brother has also got another big powerconsumer in it,a Geforce2 GTS.

Ronald

[golfcart]

The ka7 is not a recomended board for any of the thunderbirds...some people say it works but not stable. i would suggest using a classic athlon.

[Barney]

I know that,but no mainboard is recommended for the Tbird (the VIA KX133 isn't 100% compatible with Tbirds).Almost all mainboards work with this chipset.Then why are there slotA thunderbirds anyway?Or would the old AMD chipset work with them?I doubt it.

Ronald

[gyoung]

I thought the Slot A TBirds were ONLY fully compatible with the AMD reference boards.

[Barney]

Btw here is a picture of my cooler,but mine has 2x 60mm fans,instead of 2x 50mm. http://www.titan-cd.com/k7series_1.htm#TTC-DK7BFT .

Ronald

[tangluva]

Or would the old AMD chipset work with them?I doubt it.

My Gigabyte GA-7IXE does because of the AMD-750 northbridge chip. All I had to do was flash the BIOS to a current one and my 650 Slot-A T-bird is up and running 110% stable.

[Barney]

I've solved a few problems today.

I knew my power supply was in the way for the Goldfinger device (I have a small miditower).And the powersupply was too light.
So I got a Sky Hawk "El Cheapo" big tower (6 5"25 and 2 3"5 bays http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif ).It's 24 and a half inch high and carries a 250w Sky Hawk PSU.
I've looked on their website,but both my case and powersupply weren't on it.So it must be a very new type.It's not (yet) been approved by AMD (maybe because it's so new,that they haven't tested it yet).

The specifications of the PSU are: +5v 25A ,+12v 10A, -12v 1A, -5v 0.5A, 3.3v 14A, VSB 1.5A.
Can anyone tell me if this is good enough?I've looked the specs of some 250w PSU's and are all almost the same.

The store my brother got the Tbird 700 from today seems to have sold him a used/damaged processor.The heatplate is full with big scratches,indicating that someone putted a heatsink on and off a couple of times.Another stupid thing is that the store guaranteed that it would work properly on the Abit KA7/KA7-100 (and it didn't http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/frown.gif )!So they will have to give him his money back.

What means that I've got 150 bucks to buy a slotA processor.What can I get for it and where can I get it?I think I'd rather have a classic Athlon than a Tbird,because with the classic I don't have to worry about compatibility and I can overclock it further.

Ronald

[tangluva]

http://www.axiontech.com/cgi-local/hardware.asp?category=processors&subcategory=SLOT+A++++++++++++++++++++++++

Great place; go here all the time. The only thing that sux about the Classic Athlons is that you need a cache divisor program (unless you have a certain GFD, the northwind one I think) and reset the divider to 1/2 to 1/3 or 2/5.

[Barney]

Thanks for the link,the price on the 900 looks good,but I don't think they deliver outside the U.S.

Btw,the cache divider is no problem,I think I can change that in the BIOS and if not my brother has a program to change it.

Ronald