Whats best for OC'ing?

[win2kuser]

Hi peeps,

I am interested in purchasing a new mobo and chip to add to my collection of FAD crunchers.

I am a touch tight on cash atm, and I am interested in the ECS L7VTA KT400 mobo.

My question is, can I overclock with this mobo, and if so, which would be the best cpu option below to obtain the fastest machine overall.

2.6 Thoroughbred @ £62.85
2.4 Thoroughbred @ £48.90
2.1 Thoroughbred @ £51.55
or
2.5 Barton 333MHz @ 56.80

I currently have a 2.1 Thoroughbred oc'd to 2200MHz (16.5 x 133) running rock solid, so could I see faster speeds than that with this board and say a 2.5 barton.

Would the 2.6XP seeing as its more expensive be faster than the 2.5 Barton, or could the barton overclock to a faster chip than the 2.6XP would?

If I went for the barton, would the FAD client (Distributed Computing) get the use of the extra cache, or would it be wasted. This machine will do nothing other than FAD, it probably wont even have a keyboard or mouse.

Sooooo many questions...

Any help or info would be very gratefully received...

[win2kuser]

Anyone?...

[jmebonner]

It may not be what you're looking at, but the nforce2 mbs are some of the best for overclocking right now and the epox can be had for <$100 (don't know how many pounds that is)
I got the MSI K7N2 and haven't yet tried the o/c but be assured, I wil tomorrow, hehehe.
G/L on the search!

[pinoy87]

I agree with jmebonner. By getting an nforce2 mobo people have gotten about 200 to 1000 more 3dmarks(2001se) than with a kt400 mobo and the epox is the best overclocker of all nforce2 mobos.

[cyclist110]

Being an Epox user I must agree with Pinoy.
I have my 2500 regularly running stable at 2.2gig, and if I had better RAM and a bit more cooling I think I'd easily get 2.4 out of it.
But all the nforce boards rock.

[win2kuser]

Thanks for the replies guys, unfortunately, the nearest nforce mobo with a similar spec to the ECS is 3 times the price!!

Does anyone know if the ECS L7VTA is capable of overclocking?

For the greatest total speed overclocked, which chip would be better, the 2.6XP or the 2.5 barton, if barton, can the ECS mobo take it?

Just how much faster is the barton2.5 over the 2.6XP if at all?

Lots of questions again, but I want to make sure I get this right, I would rather save £50 on the mobo to put towards a 2.5 or 2.6, rather than buying a more expensive brand only to put a 1.3 duron on it

Thanks again.

[cyclist110]

3 times more!? Really? I'd say maybe a third more.
Just remember ECS are a discount motherboard manufacturer....you get what you pay for.

AMD name their processors in order of performance. The 2600 out performs the 2500.

[Telexen]

Most people are having the best overclocking results with the 2500+ Barton...

[Omardeth]

ecs motherboards are NOT good for overclocking . you can overclock on them some but it is very limited .

[win2kuser]

OK, I had a good look at the mobo's on offer, and found a couple of potential contenders - Missed them first time around as the description didn't say Nforce until I went into advanced info

First up is the Asus A7N8X-X at £51.50

Second is MSI K7N2 Delta at £56.13

Both are 400MHz fsb and both are 8xAGP.

You know what my next question is don't you...

Which do you (the experts) recommend for overclocking potential and will either take the 2.5 Barton?

The ECS btw is £27.35 (almost half the price same spec)

To be honest, I don't need this new pc to do anything such as cad or games, just raw cpu power to crunch cancer cures for FAD.

Thanks again...