Good OCing mobo for under $150

[R_1_Oh_Seven]

Well im not all THAT new to Overclocking but im looking to get a 2500+ amd athelon xp with 512kb and 333mhz. I want a good motherboard thats easy to overclock with thats supportive of 184 pin corsair ddr ram, 400mhz fsb, nforce 2 chipset, and is under $150

I want to get 3000+ speeds from it with my thermaltake heatsink

I heard or abit, epox, and asus

[bph]

Abit Nf7 is going for $82us at newegg.com and currently offers the most overclocking options and succesfull overclocks.

If you need all the goodies, the NF7-S is $112us.

Both have Special Free FedEx Saver Shipping

[R_1_Oh_Seven]

ive heard this mobo come up a lot, whats a good one with agp frequency lockout, you know ao i dont overclock my agp with my processor. And is there any mobo with ram lockout too?

[bph]

All nforce2 motherboards lock AGP and PCI. The RAM has a divider you can set so it'll tun at lower speeds than the FSB, but that's where the real performance increase comes from, not from just upping the speed of the CPU.

What would be ideal, is an Abit NF7, PC3200 RAM and a 2500+. All you need to do is set your FSB from 166mhz to 200 mhz with the RAM divider running 3/3, 4/4 ect. (async) and maybe a little added vcore to get the CPU stable and *poof* you have a 3200+ with 400mhz fsb, the most expensive and fastest AMD has to offer right now!

Remember, NOTHING is a guarentee. All 2500+ won't OC well, but chances are, if you ordered it from newegg, you have the most recent stepping and a better chance the CPU will reach 3200+ speeds. If the CPU doesn't turn out to be an o/c god, at least with PC3200 RAM and running 400mhz FSB, you should be able to set the CPU miltiplier to at least a 3000+ (all nforce2 mobos unlock tbred and barton) or 2800+ and still out-perform those CPUs at stock speeds because of the higher FSB.

Tip: The best way to maximize your system's performance now, is to lower the CPU miltiplier and up the FSB 'till you get unstable, back off a few MHZ and THEN see how high you can set the CPU multiplier. System bus speed is gives more of a boost than CPU speed. It's alot different than how we used to overclock a few years ago, and with locked AGP/PCI it's a whole new ballgame.

I just ordered my 2500+ from newegg and await eagerly for it's arrival.

[R_1_Oh_Seven]

yea i was gona get the 2500+ but i dont have the 3200, i only have the 2700 corsair, how far do u think i could get my speeds?
Or should i throw it all in for the 3200? I dont have infinate money for this.

[barginhunter]

I would also recommend the Epox 8RDA3+ , great board !

Good Luck .

[Atomic Rooster]

Yup. The Abit NF7-S is the tops for OC'ing. I have one and love it. I just haven't tried pushing it yet. No one can really tell you for sure how far you can push your speeds. You'll just have to dive in and find out.

[bph]

Epox also makes a great nForce2 motherboard that many overclockers rave about, I just have experience with a few different NF7 boards (2 for me, 3 for friends) that have all done an outstanding job with overclocking and stability, so that's what I recommend.

R_1_Oh_Seven, I'd stick with the 2500+ and see how high you can get that pc2700 Corsair to go. If it's the XMS series, I'd say 400mhz is deafinate with relaxed timings. If it's the value series, I have no idea what it can do, it might surprise you though. If it doesn't clock well, save up $124 and upgrade that when you get a chance. Or you can just do the RAM now and get a 2500+ when you save up for it since it will probably be another $10-$15 cheaper in a month or two.

[pinoy87]

Go with the Biostar M7NCD PRO nforce2 mobo...selling for about $68 with $15 mail in rebate making it $53 after rebate at newegg. My bro got this and a 2500+ and OC'd it to 3200+ @400mhz FSB. He actually bought it for a friends system and bought an Asus A7N8X Deluxe for himself. The Asus didn't get to 400mhz FSB stably so he used the Biostar poof he got 400mhz FSB. He used the same CPU and RAM with both. The highest he reached stably with the Biostar is 410mhz. Amazing overclocker and the cheapest nforce2 mobo I've ever seen.