A7N8X and 1.4(200 FSB)

[sgar72]

Hi

not too long ago i upgraded my athlon 800 to a 1.4 thunderbird ( 200 fsb only) as this is as far as my ancient mobo (kt133) could take. Now i an thinking of getting the a7n8x deluxe and some ddr but i cant afford a new CPU just yet. My question is ( i dont know much about oveclocking) is there any way for me to run the CPU on this mobo as if it was a 1.4 (266 FSB)? If so , is there much to gain? Should i get 266 or 333 DDR?

Tanks very much in advance

 

[svol]

Yes there are to ways:
1. You just start increasing the FSB towards 133MHz and hope you have enough cooling and a good core stepping for supporting a speed of 1862MHz. But the chance you will success in this are very low.
2. Unlock the chip if it isn't unlocked. Now also start increasing the FSB but lower the multiplier to keep the CPU speed around 1400MHz. This way you have a good chance of reaching 133MHz (266 DDR) FSB without needing extra cooling.

My CPU runs so hot the arctic silver undergoes nuclear fusion 😱 .

 

[Crashman]

The Thunderbirds were easy to unlock(pencil trick), so it should be easy to get any bus speed you want simply by changing the multiplier. But as far as I know the 1.4 was ALREADY unlocked, so unlocking might not be needed.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[bw37]

It looks like it should work based on the small amount of information so far available on the ASUS website.

Check this: <A HREF="http://www.asus.com/products/mb/socketa/a7n8x-d/jumper.htm" target="_new">http://www.asus.com/products/mb/socketa/a7n8x-d/jumper.htm</A>

It shows a fsb jumper that should let you run your 1.4 stock though maybe it's meant more for newer Durons, not old Athlons so who knows.

If it didn't really support 200/100mhz fsb CPU's, I would be a bit concerned. With your 14 default multiplier, it would try to boot at 1866 mhz with a 266/133mhz fsb (14x133.33). It is possible to change the default multiplier so this can be resolved as well, assuming it supports a T-bird otherwise. There are old articles on this (related to t-bird overclocking) both at THG and Anandtech.

BW

 

[sgar72]

Thanks a lot for your advises guys, for what i have understood now, its only question to find out wheter the mobo will support that thunderbird, if it does , it sounds fearly easy to do a bit of OC. But suppose i managed to raise the fsb to 133 and lower the multiplayer to around 10ish, would the cpu be sligtly faster than now with the defoult 100 fsb or not?

Thanks again

 

[svol]

Yes, combined with PC2100 (266MHz DDR) memory and running at 10.5x133=1400MHz your CPU and memory performance will be lots of % higher. And if you want you can try to OC your CPU higher by increasing the muliplier if your cooling is good enough.

My CPU runs so hot the arctic silver undergoes nuclear fusion 😱 .

 

[sgar72]

Thanks Svol, its starting to make sense now.
One last thing, i can only afford one stick of 256ddr but which one would you raccomend PC2100 or PC2700,CL2.5 or CL2.?
Tanks again.

 

[svol]

Well you could runt the memory sync to the FSB... then PC2100 would do because pushing it way higher then 133MHz will be difficault. But if you want to run it async you can also choose for PC2700 RAM for the maximum memory speed. But you will barely notice the higher speed when running on a 133MHz FSB with 166MHz (333MHz DDR=PC2700 RAM) memory. But if you plan to upgrade to a 166MHz FSB CPU in the near future you'd better choose PC2700 RAM.

I always recommend CL2 (CAS 2, which is a memory timing) for the best performance.

My CPU runs so hot the arctic silver undergoes nuclear fusion 😱 .