How does this sound?

[NV30]

I've got a potential buyer for my system, and how would the following perform:

2500+ AQZEA
Zalman cooler
512MB PC3200
Gigabyte VT600

And probably a 9600 Pro or so for a graphics card.

Could I get to 3200+ levels with this setup? Any advice?

 

[Nic]

Easily. Something to watch out for is that the 2500+ could be locked (mine is) as AMD have started laminating their chips to prevent overclocking. I am waiting for a new PSU to arrive before I can test mine, and I think my Abit NF7-S v2.0 will unlock this chip through the bios. I'm not so sure about the mainboard you have, so you'll need to check that out yourself. The 2500+ should easily OC beyond 3200+ level.

 

[NV30]

Great! Any recommendations on a specific card? I understand that a 9700 Pro is a good deal, but you can't find them anymore. 9600 Pro is a pretty good bang for your buck right?

 

[Nic]

9600 Pro is what I have and its damn good. The non-pro 9800 is very good and will OC to 9800 Pro levels.

 

[NV30]

OK, will consider those. How about PSU, is an Antec 300W enough?

 

[StormBringer]

I would recommend 350+, 400W would be a good size, as it should have you covered on all the currents(Amps), and give you some expansion room if needed later.

 

[dani_17]

Never buy a gigabyte motherboard. Get better the Abit or one of the newer MSI ones.

The other stuff is reasonably okay. Maybe pumpin' the memory till 1gb would be okay... Depends on what you are going to use your pc for.

 

[dani_17]

Do it 400w at least and from a good brand. In my opinion the difference from the 350w to the 400w model is just too little.

 

[NV30]

OK, will look into a 400W+, guess an Antec 1080 would be good?

Why not Gigabyte?

 

[NV30]

Nic,

Is there a way that you can tell if the 2500 is locked or not just by appearance?

 

[Nic]

Originally posted by NV30
Nic,

Is there a way that you can tell if the 2500 is locked or not just by appearance?

Yes, you'll be unable to access the bridges to unlock the chip. Unfortunately, ALL current cpus are locked, so you'll need to get old stock if you wish to unlock. Its not all bad news, as many nForce2 mainboards can unlock the chips through the bios. Check out this article ...

Unlocking and Overclocking the Athlon XP

Your best bet for a mainboard would be the Abit NF7-S v2.0, as that allows access to all the multiplier settings, unlike other mainboards, such as the Asus A7N8X (many nForce2 boards do not read the 5th multiplier bit).

 

[NV30]

Thanks for that link Nic. So I'm not quite sure what a bridge is, unable to access them?

 

[Nic]

Read the article ...

 

[NV30]

Alright, mine is locked.

 

[young&wild]

Originally posted by dani_17
Never buy a gigabyte motherboard. Get better the Abit or one of the newer MSI ones.

Never buy a gigabute motherboard? Why? I thought they are pretty stable as well.

 

[NV30]

So basically I've settled on the following.

2500 with AQZEA stepping,
Abit NF7-S board
Antec 1080 PP case w/430W PSU
2X256MB PC3200 OCZ dual channel optimized RAM
Zalman CNPS-6000-ALCU cooler

Either a 9600 Pro or 9800, still debating on that one.

Whatcha think?

 

[Nic]

9800 (OCs to 9800 Pro) if you can stretch to it ...

Make sure the Zalman will fit your mobo. If it doesn't then GlobalWin CAK4-88T is a good substitute and its cheaper.

 

[NV30]

How can I find that out?

 

[NV30]

Checked out their site, says it suports up to a 3000+ Barton, so I guess I'd need a better one.

 

[NV30]

Any recommendations? Vantec Aeroflow?

 

[Nic]

GlobalWin CAK4-88T (Silent)

It wasn't refering to the rating (3000+), but the way the heatsink mounts to the mobo. It may be compatable, but its a very heavy cooler so I'm not entirely sure myself.

 

[NV30]

Hmm, how well does that PSU hold up to overclocking?

 

[Nic]

If its an Antec (400w+) it'll be fine.

 

[NV30]

Sheesh I was writing garbage there. I should have said how does the cooler hold up to overclocking? Seems that the Aeroflow is great from what I'm hearing, and if I have the bucks, to go with an SLK900A.

 

[Nic]

Go with whatever takes your fancy ...