XP2500+ m Bart on A7N8X-E v1013

[Paul Busby]

Hello

I'm expecting a delivery of an XP2500+ mobile Bart CPU tomorrow to replace
my XP1800+ on an Asus A7N8X-E del. I'm so broke at the mo that I can't
afford to replace my Crucial 256x2 PC2100 RAM for a while. I presume I can
run this chip at ~135MHz FSB with a fairly high multiplier? I intend to buy
either 512x2 Crucial Ballistix or Corsair PC3200 RAM very soon. The reason
for buying now is that I can't see the price dropping or availability
improving.

Do I need to do anything in WinXP for this chip, like delete the chipset
driver then reboot? What about Vcore - it's set to Auto which is 1.75V (the
lowest listed) at the present time? The h/s is a Zalman Cu Flower cooler set
to 1500rpm which will need increasing. Any guidance appreciated.

Tar

 

[Rob Stow]

Hello

I'm expecting a delivery of an XP2500+ mobile Bart CPU tomorrow to replace
my XP1800+ on an Asus A7N8X-E del. I'm so broke at the mo that I can't
afford to replace my Crucial 256x2 PC2100 RAM for a while. I presume I can
run this chip at ~135MHz FSB with a fairly high multiplier? I intend to buy
either 512x2 Crucial Ballistix or Corsair PC3200 RAM very soon. The reason
for buying now is that I can't see the price dropping or availability
improving.

Do I need to do anything in WinXP for this chip, like delete the chipset
driver then reboot?

No. Product reactivation should be the only XP issue you have to
deal with.

What about Vcore - it's set to Auto which is 1.75V (the
lowest listed) at the present time?

That motherboard has both auto and manual voltages.
At auto, IIRC, it will use 1.55 volts for the XP-M 2500+.
Using manual voltage selection I have had an XP-M 2500+ run
stably at 1.45 V.

The h/s is a Zalman Cu Flower cooler set
to 1500rpm which will need increasing. Any guidance appreciated.

Unless you overclock, the XP-M 2500+ should actually run a little
cooler than the much older XP1800+.

 

[David Johnstone]

No. Product reactivation should be the only XP issue you have to deal
with.


That motherboard has both auto and manual voltages.
At auto, IIRC, it will use 1.55 volts for the XP-M 2500+.
Using manual voltage selection I have had an XP-M 2500+ run stably at 1.45
V.

Not surprising, that's the recommended voltage!

I have the same problem in a szstem I am tweaking for someone
else, with an Asrock K7VT4A+ Motherboard. I can't see any way
to lower Vcore in bios or with jumpers, and the board sets it to
1,55V instead of 1,45V. Since I don't want to overclock this system
I'd rather not overvolt.

David

 

[Paul Busby]

Thus spake David Johnstone:

Not surprising, that's the recommended voltage!

I have the same problem in a szstem I am tweaking for someone
else, with an Asrock K7VT4A+ Motherboard. I can't see any way
to lower Vcore in bios or with jumpers, and the board sets it to
1,55V instead of 1,45V. Since I don't want to overclock this system
I'd rather not overvolt.

I thought the whole point of fitting a mobile Athlon chip to a desktop m/b
*was* to overclock it? Sounds like you might as well o/c it now anyway!

 

[Rob Stow]

Thus spake David Johnstone:



I thought the whole point of fitting a mobile Athlon chip to a desktop m/b
*was* to overclock it? Sounds like you might as well o/c it now anyway!

I switched from an XP 2600+ to an XP-M 2500+ simply to run it
*cooler*. It let me cut the RPMs by at least 20% for each of the
three fans in my system: case, PSU and CPU. My system now runs
much quieter with no noticeable performance loss.

 

[David Johnstone]

Thus spake David Johnstone:

I thought the whole point of fitting a mobile Athlon chip to a desktop m/b
*was* to overclock it?

There could be other reasons, like lower noise and power consumption.
I know someone who bought one to underclock it for 24/7 server operation.

Sounds like you might as well o/c it now anyway!

Well yes, probably that's what I'll do. Doesn't seem worth buying another
motherboard just to be able to drop Vcore 0,1V!

 

[Paul Busby]

Thus spake David Johnstone:

There could be other reasons, like lower noise and power consumption.
I know someone who bought one to underclock it for 24/7 server
operation.

Well yes, probably that's what I'll do. Doesn't seem worth buying
another motherboard just to be able to drop Vcore 0,1V!

I realised after sending that was one of my rasher comments. I've spent
considerable time, effort & money quietening my system - replacing a TT
Volcano7 with the Zalman made the greatest difference, removing the NB fan
on another m/b, buying a Lian Li case etc

One of the 1st things I'll check will be reported temps - 27/48 (idle) is
what's reported on this m/b against 27/54 I got with the same CPU on a
A7V266-E (emphasis on reported). Found the Artic Silver, wrist strap, now
where's that delivery van...

 

[Paul Busby]

Thus spake Rob Stow:

I switched from an XP 2600+ to an XP-M 2500+ simply to run it
*cooler*. It let me cut the RPMs by at least 20% for each of the
three fans in my system: case, PSU and CPU. My system now runs
much quieter with no noticeable performance loss.

Well, it's fitted but the highest multiplier I get running PC2100 RAM is
12.5x (anything higher gets divided by 2) which gives me 1692MHz with a
socket temp of ~35C unstressed. The lowest Vcore I can set is 1.58V. I'm
running Prime95 at this moment.

I presume any further improvement will have to wait until I buy some PC3200
RAM. So I get ~130MHz more speed & 10C off the reported temps. I start a job
next week, so I can get faster RAM fairly soon. Even if I have to run the
FSB at 180MHz, I'll not be too disappointed. 1st pair of Prime95 test have
just passed...

 

[Helinut]

I have found Crucial ram overclocks reasonably well.
Why not try upping the FSB in increments and see what happens.
You might be pleasantly surprised at how far the PC2100 will go

 

[Paul Busby]

Thus spake Helinut:

I have found Crucial ram overclocks reasonably well.
Why not try upping the FSB in increments and see what happens.
You might be pleasantly surprised at how far the PC2100 will go

Funny you say that. A couple of hours ago, I reset most settings to Auto
apart from FSB = 166MHz. My box is running like a dog at the moment - must
be something to do with running Prime95 in the background! CPU = 2086MHz!!

I'm not breaking out the champaign just yet = something as supposedly
mundane as bringing my PC out of Standby mode can freeze it up if I overdo
it, so it's early days yet. I'm very surprised it booted into the bios, let
alone boot into WinXP, run Prime95 in the background & let other tasks run,
albeit slowly. I'm gobsmacked, though the RAM is set to 2.7V, so will have
to be careful. Good ventilation helps - case = 26C CPU socket = 50C with fan
still at 1650rpm. Will boot in mem86 as the next test.