Overhauling a7n8x dx

[Manoo]

Hi Experts

I read the Buyers Guide and would like your opinion
on how to proceed best.

Over a year ago, I bought an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe and
today, after a few catastrophes, I bought a new
Power Supply (Antec TruePower 430)

(random crashes during new install, then Verto Ti4200 burned out).

I have a Raedon 9800 Pro now and I don't want it to burn
out. Right now, my PCU is running at 52, my motherboard at 37 degrees
celsius. I want to replace my CPU. It seems to be responsible for
all that power sucking or whats going on... I also just recently
took it out to look at it (no, it was the video card) and now the
heatsink is all shabily mounted.

I have memory that can run in dual mode. 2*512-PC3200(LL?) Twinx from
corsair. I want to run that at what max. Speed together with the most
kick-ass processor available for that board. And I dont want to have
to mess with thermal paste for an optimally cooled processor (alternatives
to air?).

So, my question. In order to get one of these puppies down here:

Athlon XP 3000+(400 MHz FSB)(Model 10)(Barton) 1.04 1004 Check PCB and BIOS versions before flashing BIOS!
Athlon XP 3200+(400 MHz FSB)(Model 10)(Barton)

I need to know whether my memory can run 200Mhz (I believe so) and
what PCS and Bios Version my Motherboard has and if I can upgrade them.
Looking at ASUS Probe I read: REV1017 Beta 005 T0. That doesnt tell me much.
Advice on Motherboard upgrade capability would highly be appreciated.

Or generally: How can I get the most out of my system. (Development and
heavy gaming) while still keeping things stable and relatively cheap?

Thank you all so much for comments and pointers.
Manoo

 

[ChipDeath]

a few points...

Do you know what revision your Motherboard is? It will be printed on the board somewhere, usually around the AGP slot. Alternatively, on the motherboard box did it say nforce2 ultra <b>400</b>? or just 'nforce2'?

You <i>might</i> have problems running an XP at 3200+ speeds if you didn't have a rev 2 board.

What CPU do you currently have? you don't seem to list it.

Also, your motherboard Temperature is very high. Do you have any case fans? you should definitely have at <i>minimum</i> an exhaust fan blowing air out the back of the case (NOT just the one in the power supply).

For that motherboard, I would suggest buying a XP-M(mobile) 2500+, as these chips are basically <i>guaranteed</i> to hit the same speeds as an XP3200+ chip, and cost considerably less.

[EDIT]
And you RAM should run at 200Mhz (400DDR), as that's the proper rated speed of PC3200 anyway
[/EDIT]

---
Epox 8RDA+ rev1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @205x11 (~2.26Ghz), 1.575Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL 2-2-2-4
Sapphire 9800Pro 420/744<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by ChipDeath on 04/23/04 11:38 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[TheRod]

ASUS officially said that rev. 1.04 and higher of A7N8X MB support 200MHz FSB. I have one rev 1.04 board, but I only run at 166MHz FSB (I don't have a Barton).

You should be able to run at 200MHz without problems. I strongly recommends you a Mobile Barton XP 2400+, 2500+ and 2600+, they are cheap and overclock like mad cow!

I really don't know why people always recommend Mobile Barton 2500+. The Mobile Barton 2400+ is cheaper and it's basically the same CPU!

--
<b><font color=red>GO!</font color=red> <font color=blue>HABS!</font color=blue> <font color=red>GO!</font color=red></b>

 

[ChipDeath]

Was too lazy to check exactly what revision. That's why I said check the box for 'ultra 400' as that would mean official support.

Was just thinking about my example - I needed to replace the NB HS before I could squeeze past 200. but then The Epox NB HS was pretty crap anyhoo..

I suggested the 2500+ because last I checked people were getting slightly better overclocks from them (more demand = more chance of a newer stepping), and the guy was wondering about 3200+ or 3000+, so I thought the extra few $ might be worth it, and it'll still be a lot cheaper than what he was thinking.

---
Epox 8RDA+ rev1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @205x11 (~2.26Ghz), 1.575Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL 2-2-2-4
Sapphire 9800Pro 420/744

 

[Manoo]

It said nforce2 on the box. :-( Is that bad?

Also, I think I want the mobile barton. Now, I wonder though, if it runs as fast as my memory does.

What should I do about cooling my cpu when going with the mobile and planning to overclock.
Whats easy to install and not too loud?

 

[Croaker]

If you can not find the rev. number download "AIDA32" it can ID the correct chip set and rev. #.
Also I have an A7N8X rev. 2.0 & an AMD XP 2500+M @ 2400mhz. 100% stable at 1.70v @ 50.C with my CPU fan at low setting. I do have some more room to overclock but this is good for now.

 

[scottchen]

For heatsink I would recommend the SLK900A or SP97 built by Thermalright, with a 92mm fan of your choice, although i recommend something that pushes 60CFM at least.

<A HREF="http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/myrig.php?do=view&id=17301" target="_new">My PC</A>

 

[ChipDeath]

You'll probably be able to hit a FSB of 200 or so - my board would get 196 before I had to do anything that invalidated the warranty). The mobile Bartons will easily handle bus speeds in excess of 200, but you won't be able to go much higher because your RAM is rated for 200Mhz, and you should always keep the RAM & CPU FSB at the same speed for best performance.

For cooling, just remember that bigger=Quieter when it comes to fans, so something with a 92mm fan (like scottchen suggested) is what you should go for. (unless you fancy Watercooling of course... )

---
Epox 8RDA+ rev1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @205x11 (~2.26Ghz), 1.575Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL 2-2-2-4
Sapphire 9800Pro 420/744

 

[SoDNighthawk]

My wife has a 2800+ Barton running on the same MoB at 2.24GHz with the same Corsair RAM set at 7.2.2 2.5 it reports 216MHz memory speed at post and is set to overclock setting speed in the BIOS.

450 Watt power supply and a Ti4200 8X AGP Nvidia card the whole thing runs great.

Barton 3200+ 400MHz
A7N8X Deluxe
Liquid 12 Celsius
2x512 Crucial DDR 400 PC3200
GeForce FX5900
Two Maxtor 40Gig 8MB cach 7200rpm
SONY RW 52x/24x/52x
SONY DVD 16x/40x