XP or XP-M on A7N8X-DLX

[Vormulac]

Hi all,

Having sent my XP3200 back for a refund (it was a reworked, rebadged XP2500
and subsequently was quietly cooking itself at 1.85v!) I find myself again
on the lookout for a new cpu. Someone mentioned instead of getting an
XP3200, getting an XP-M cpu because they overclocking very easily and at a
low voltage.
Can anyone verify this? After my heat issues with the iffy XP2500 I had,
I'm a little wary that I might get yet another cpu that I won't be able to
properly control the Vcore on. My board is an A7N8X-Deluxe Rev 2.0 running
BIOS 1008, by the way.

All opinions greatly appreciated!

 

[Blaedmon]

I have 4 a7n8x-x's all running 2500+ xp-m's at 3300+ speeds, and I'm not
pushing them yet. Temperatures are not worth a worry. Why? They can achieve
these speeds without effort because they were designed for use in Laptops
(M=mobile) at lower vcore speeds. Great chips, i'd recommend them well.

 

[Anthony]

How did you find out the chip was remarked? And where did you buy it from as
I was pondering buying one or the 2500M-XP myself and don't want to get
ripped off..

 

[Vormulac]

I got it from ebay, but from a reputable ebay seller I've never had any
trouble with before, perhaps they got a dodgy batch in from somewhere (and
credit where it's due, they were suitably apologetic and gave me my money
back immediately).

I found out because my cpu was overheating like a bastard and I noticed for
some bizarre reason that my motherboard wasn't giving me any Vcore options
below 1.8 volts, let alone the 1.65 volts it should have been. Someone on a
newsgroup somewhere said to check the bridges on the chip package, as they
had had an XP2500 flogged to them as an XP3200. Apparently, whatever it is
that these unscrupulous people do to the chips that makes them report
themselves as something else can result in their Vcore request getting
messed up.
Anyway, I checked online with AMD and got a picture of an authentic XP3200
and sure enough - looking at the package (ignore the stickers, they're
easily faked) the first L12 bridge was cut - which means it left the
fabrication plant as a 2500, the first four L12 bridges on a genuine XP3200
are left uncut.

From what Blaedmon says, I think perhaps overclocking an XP-M is the way to
go here.