Got my 2500+ today need suggestions

[Juan Sanchez]

I finally got my Athlon XP 2500+ (and Soul Caliber 2...thats besides the point tho) today. The stepping is AQXEA0330VPMW and I was curios how it overclocks. Today I also ordered an ABIT NF7-S because I head it has great overclocking potential (I was torn between it and the Epox that came w/the rounded cables, the Abit won due to the fact it uses soundstorm) I plan to up the FSB up to 200 mhz making my chip a 3200+. Anyway I also plan on getting a 9800 np and hoping that I get one with 2.8 ns ram so I can flash it to a 9800 Pro. Anyway heres my future system any advice/opinions will be apprieciated.

Antec Performance II (Black) w//350watt PSU
AMD Athlon XP 2500+@3200+
Abit NF7-S
Ati Radeon 9800np-->Radeon 9800 Pro
Vantec Aeroflow HSF
512 MB Geil Twin Dragon PC3200 Ram
120 GB Maxtor HDD 7200 RPM
ASUS 52X48X52 CD-RW (Black)
Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM (Black)
Sony Floppy Drive (Black)

As I said, opinions/criticisisms/advice/praise will be greatly appreciated. It should be done by Late October/Early November and should be enough to run Half-Life2 and Doom 3 right? Those games and SIMS2 are the biggest reason for me to build this system. The Vidcard is last on my list of things to by though as my 9500 Pro should serve me good and with rumors that the R360 is gonna be a HUGE jump over the 9800pro It seems to be wise of me to keep the vid card last. Anyway, peace guys take it easy.

[ArcticFox]

Looks like a good system. I would advise not just jumping right up and upping your FSB from 166 to 200Mhz. Take it slow, one step at a time, and benchmark in between to check for stability issues. I got my 1.83Ghz 2500+ running fully stable at stock voltages at 2.00Ghz by reducing the multiplier and changing the FSB to 200Mhz. Next stops: 3000+ and maybe 3200+!

[Bob The Great]

I aggree with ArcticFox! Take it slow, and be sure to flash the vid card first so you will no what any instabilities are from. Then after a week or so of 9800PRO usage OC the CPU.

Thats a really awesome system from the looks of it! The only thing I would change is the heatsink, because I like quite stuff, but you should be fine.

Nice system though! Good luck with the oc's

[Gait_Keeper]

yes take it slow, all chips are not exactly equal.
different chips from different lots will act differently.

when you get it high as you can , and stable post a screenshot

[DanU]

I just received my barton 2500+ last week. Mine is running stable at 2000MHz (10x200MHz) with default voltage. I tried it at 2200MHz (3200+ speed) but it was not fully stable at default voltage. I'm planning to try it with higher voltage when I get some better cooling. Here is my setup:

Shuttle AK35N Ultra
2x256MB DDR400 Corsair Value Ram
80Gig Seagate ATA133
Athlon XP 2500+ Barton o/c to 2000MHz (10x200)
Speeze Falconrock HSF
Thermaltake SilentPure 420W PSU

[Juan Sanchez]

I dont need a super high OC I just want it to be a 3200+, which would make me a very happy customer indeed. Also I currently have a 9500 Pro and i may decide to keep it in their until the R360 comes out. Thanks for the advice about taking it slow, I will, I'll just install Win XP on it at 2500+ and make sure it's nice and stable then I'll OC to my hearts content. BTW I heard that the Stock HSF may be enough for the 2.2GHZ speed I'm looking to do any truth to that? If it is I wont have to buy the Vantec and save myself 30 bucks.

[XxCowOfChaosxX]

BTW I heard that the Stock HSF may be enough for the 2.2GHZ speed I'm looking to do any truth to that? If it is I wont have to buy the Vantec and save myself 30 bucks.

i wanna know too!

[ArcticFox]

You may be able to punch a chip to the redline using a stock cooler, it's been done before but it really depends on the chip. Your results may vary, see store for details.

[Juan Sanchez]

Well I orderd the Vantec aeroflow, I hear it's the best HSF out their and is second only the the SLKs (which are just HS, you need to buy a kickarse fan for em) when it comes to aircooling. All that is left for me to buy is the Ram, HDD, and the 9800. Im torn on the ram, I know I need 3200 but I can either get 2x256MB 3200 Geil for $90 OR 2x256MB 3200 Kingston HyperX for $125. Also with the HDD, I've been hearing a ton of the giant ones (120 GB+) DIEING early deaths. My freinds WD120GB died after a month of use so im afraid to pick one up. I hear even worse horror stories about Maxtors (I'm currently using a Maxtor 60 GB 5400RPM and its been cool)

[beppodmime]

Buying a good drive with a warranty will protect you from early failures. The Maxtor you listed with an 8MB cache has a 3 yr. manufacturer's warranty, even for the OEM drive (according to NewEgg.com) so you should be alright with it. All hard drives are subject to failing early, although the chances are minimal. Grabbing one of the larger ones is usually more cost effective than two smaller drives, so I'd go with one 160GB versus two 80's.