Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (
More info?)
In article <8uStd.56515$QJ3.29615@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com>, Jonathan
Oakley <jonathan.oakleyNO@SPAMgmail.com> wrote:
> Hi, sorry if this is the wrong forum, but it seems a good start!
> I'd like to upgrade my XP 2200+ on an Asus A7V8X-X, which has 512Mbyte
> of PC2100 Ram.
> I'm thinking that the best thing to do is to just get a 3000+, replace
> the Ram with PC2700. According to the documentation, my Mobo only
> supports 333MHz FSB.
> This is a minor upgrade, so ahead of doing it I'd be very interested in
> what more knowledgeable people would do!
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Jonathan.
What about running an AthlonXP-M on there ? You can set the
FSB to whatever you want, and the multiplier too, as long
as the BIOS has the ability to modify those settings.
Check Google, using "A7V8X-X" and "Mobile", to see what
pitfalls there are with the motherboard/processor combination.
I use an A7N8X-E and a 2600 XP-M, gently overclocked to
200x11=2200MHz. This is a bit higher than 3200+. Runs
reasonably cool and tests stable so far.
The manual for your board, says when the CPU clock is 166MHz
(=FSB333), the memory runs at DDR333. The only question I would
have, is if the user can continue to increase the clock above
166MHz. If that is the case, then purchasing PC3200 memory might
make more sense, as then you'll have room to see how far the
FSB can be pushed on the board. If the experiment doesn't pan
out, then dial it back to 166MHz.
The reason I suggest that, is the performance of the AthlonXP
is tied tightly to the memory subsystem. Squeezing every last MHz
out of the memory, using a low CAS type memory (I use CAS2
PC3200 Ballistix on mine), will help the processor. The reason
I don't overclock above 2200MHz, is the gains from a higher
core frequency are not very great, and that is due to the
amount of memory bandwidth achievable. If the processor had a
better front side bus, I'm convinced it would do even better
than it does currently.
When you plug a mobile processor into a desktop board, the
Vcore voltage is misinterpreted. But the slight extra bit of
voltage it gets, is useful for the adjustment process, of
setting the CPU clock and multiplier, for best effect. I use
1.65V on mine, and find that my 2600+ XP-M doesn't really
like more voltage than that. So, somewhere between 1.5 and
1.65V should work fine.
The only limitation I see, is how many DIMMs can be used with
the board. If you somehow managed to overclock to 200MHz
(FSB400), then only one double sided PC3200 DIMM is supposed
to work. You may be disappointed then, if you bought two DIMMs.
In that case, cranking the CPU clock down a bit, and
increasing the multiplier setting, will give you roughly
the same core frequency, but with less memory bandwidth.
In other words, if you want more RAM (2 sticks), you can
still run the core at roughly the same speed, by decreasing
clock and increasing multiplier. Worst case, you have to go
back down to 166MHz (FSB333), to run two sticks of double
sided RAM.
You can see some Mobiles here (watch line wrap). At one time,
Mobiles were much cheaper than the high end Bartons, and
paying less was why I got so interested in buying one:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=property&catalog=343&propertycodevalue=4181,%200,%200,%200,%200,%200,%200,%200&minprice=&maxprice=&mfrcode=0&DEPA=0&order=PRICE&InnerManu=1028
So, check out Google, and see how many people have tried it.
Every AMD motherboard is different, in terms of how well they
support mobile processors, with programmable Vcore, programmable
bus clock, and the ability to change the multipliers. For
example, if you had a microATX board, the challenge would
be that there likely would be no multiplier setting in the
BIOS, in which case you'd likely need to do a socket mod, to
set a custom multiplier value. But, since your board is a
full sized board, the BIOS is likely to have a few more useful
settings.
HTH,
Paul
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram