Athlon XP 2500+ @ 220x10 vs. XP 3200+(200x11)

[Ace No-Money]

I have an Athlon xp 2500+ and am planning on overclocking it when i get my new mobo. I would like it to run faster than an XP 3200+ when i'm done. I would like to know if I increase the bus speed and lower the multiplier than would the processor perform faster than the stock cpu ratio. For example

Athlon XP 3200 = 2.2GHz - 11x200fsb

VS.

Overclocked XP 2500 = 2.205GHz - 10x220fsb.

Wouldn't I get better performance from the bigger front side bus even though the overall clock speeds are still close? Doesn't it have somethin to do with bandwidth?

If so just think what 10x240FSB could be like!

ACEÂ’s System
Athlon XP 2500+ w/Tt Silentboost
(VIA) ECS KT600-A
2x256mb Pc3200 Mushkin Black 2-2-2-5 (BH-5)
Radeon 9200 128mb 128bit
Western Digital 80GB - 2mb Cache
400W Hercules PSU
Black Glossy Dragon ATX Tower
Samsung CD-RW
Logitech Z-3 2.1
IBM 17”

 

[Nubius]

Sounds like you could probably use a little more OC'ing experience and reading. Yes it would perform faster at 220FSB, but not the processor. You're taxing your RAM at that point. You gotta realize with the RAM, whatever FSB it's at, when you start going past that number you're OC'ing the RAM. I'd suggest you learn how to get a stable CPU OC by seeing how high the CPU can actually be clocked. At this point you want to start off with like 150FSB with a multiplier that'll put it at it's stock timing..then start raising up the FSB about 5 MHZ at a time and check for stability.


Once you know how high your CPU can be OC'd to meaning the actual top GHz you can achieve, THEN you can set your FSB to 200 and adjust the multiplier accordingly to get the speed your CPU topped out at.

220 is perhaps a possibility depending on the RAM you got. But I can tell you right now 240 won't be unless you have something like OCZ Platinum Rev2 sticks which go for about $278 currently

 

[Raekwon]

well, just like he said in his specs, his ram uses the Winbond BH-5 IC's, which are among the best, if not are the best ram IC's (integrated Circuits) for DDR ram. some people with BH-5 IC's in their ram have been able to get 479FSB when the ram they bought was Kingston value ram rated at PC2700!! (kingston used to make value ram with BH-5 chips) since the BH-5's have been discontinued, who knows why they were, but now they have been much sought after among overclockers. the winbond CH-5 is a lot like the BH-5 but cannot be pushed as far and requires more voltage to perform.

wow, its not often that anyone ever gets to tell nubius something he didnt know

 

[Nubius]

Who said I didn't know it? I was merely pointing out to him if he doesn't know how to properly OC the RAM seperately from the CPU then he should read up on it. But honestly yeah I did overlook the kind of RAM he has currently. Just didn't want him thinking he could throw it up to 240 easily ya know? 4W4K3 told me about the different RAM chips in use and which ones perform the best though because I was curious about OC'ing the RAM since it's hard to find a good RAM specific OC'ing article. I figured if he was asking about the FSB and wasn't sure why exactly 220x10 would be better than 200x12 that he was fairly new on OC'ing and whatnot

 

[Ace No-Money]

I am somewhat new at overclocking, but my main question was whether I would get more performance with a bigger FSB or Multiplier. Hey, and by the way Nubius, the guy I got my DDR from said they'll do 240MHz with 2-2-2-11 at 3.2V! I think it's 3.2v, anyway, right now I only have a cheap ECS Mobo but when i switch to an Abit NF7-s 2.0, i will have my cpu @ 3200+ atleast! By the way do those timings sound right to you all? i've never heard of 2-2-2-11 ! Shouldnt it be 2-2-2-6? Right now i cant even get my cpu past 2.0GHz so I can't wait to get that NF7-s and adjust the multiplier too!

ACEÂ’s System

Athlon XP 2500+ w/Tt Silentboost
(VIA) ECS KT600-A
2x256mb Pc3200 Mushkin Black 2-2-2-5 (BH-5)
Radeon 9200 128mb 128bit
Western Digital 80GB - 2mb Cache
400W Hercules PSU
Black Glossy Dragon ATX Tower
Samsung CD-RW
Logitech Z-3 2.1
IBM 17”

 

[Nubius]

Yeah I didn't read your sig and if I would have noticed 2-2-2-5 timed mushkins with the BH-5 chip I would have acknowledged that 240 IS possible, but yeah sorry I was answering like a mob, assuming you didn't know that much what you are doing, but yeah that was a mistake on my part.

Anywho timings with a high cycle time like 11 are common when trying to get high RAM OC's...however, I really will be surprised if you would be able to leave it at 2-2-2 and still get 240 only having to change the Cycle Time. Also 3.2v is a LOT of voltage for the RAM and no doubt that your RAM sticks would get hot at that point. RAM doesn't really get hot but once you start putting that much voltage through it and those speeds they will.

Also the NF7-S v2 doesnt even go to 3.2v on the DIMM without doing some kind of voltage mod, which the only thing I know of is OCZ has a voltage regulator that fits into a RAM slot and can deliver up to 3.4v to a stick, BUT you can potentially fry the RAM slot, your RAM, kill dual channel abilities..etc..etc.. so I'd say that's for the brave of the brave, I doubt I'd try that.

I'd say to reach 240 you might have timings closer to 2.9v 2.5-3-2-8 or so....BUT really you shouldn't go by what someone tells you because you'll be disappointed when you don't get what they say and for safety sake I'd do a lot of memtest86+ while trying to get 240 especially if you try to keep those really tight initial timings, unless he's actually had it at those timings and speeds, but realize still every system is different and what he got you may not.

 

[Megadeth2]

First of all, I dont' think you can adjust the multiplier on your AXP 2500+ since that is a Barton. Unlocked Bartons are extremely rare.

 

[Ace No-Money]

There are mobos that unlock the multiplier megadeth.

 

[Megadeth2]

Like which ones. I don't think are any unless you can prove me wrong.

 

[xteam02001]

There are mobos that unlock the multiplier megadeth.

sorry man. there is not such mobo that can unlock the multiplier for the xp 2500+. you have to actually mod the cpu. it has something to do with connecting 2 of the L1 bridges. here is a video showing you how to do it: http://www.tomshardware.com/site/videos/thg_videos-01.html