[Mr. Killjoy]

Hey, well, I'm not too noob about computers, but when it comes to
newer norms, I'm lost

Well, I currently have this hardware:
Asus A7V8X-X mobo with 1012 or 1013 BIOS revision
Athlon 2200 Thoroughbred (266FSB)
RAM:
256, PC3200, 200mhz Dane-elec
256, PC2700, 133/166mhz Dane-elec
512, PC3200, 133/166/200mhz Kingston
300W (360W peak)
PSU

and I'm gonna turn my 2200 to a 3000 Barton (333FSB)

_Almost_ sure that my mobo wants all modules to be 333 (166mhz)
when a CPU is FSB333...
will it work?
will my PC2700 slow it down?
********************* a lot?
what's the use for the 1014 beta BIOS for this mobo? (if anyone knows )

All I know is that even in the worst case, it's better than my 2200 with its low FSB freq and L2 cache

BTW, how important is the boost from 256 to 512k L2 cache?

Thx

 

[n_w95482]

PC2700 runs at 333 . They don't have to be matched in speed, the 2700 stick will work fine with the 3200 sticks. If you were to kick up the FSB a bit then the 2700 stick probably will limit you. The extra cache doesn't help the Athlon very much. The FSB makes more of a difference with Athlons.

 

[Mr. Killjoy]

Ah that's fine then
anyways even if the cache doesn't make a big boost, it's still better than nothing heh

Thx for the info

EDIT: Just checked something, the site that sells it doesn't mention if it's an FSB333... so if I get the FSB400 version, will it be usable at FSB333?

 

[n_w95482]

It will be usable, unfortunately it will run at a slower speed since the multiplier is locked. Athlon XP CPUs, with the exception of mobiles, were locked after week 39 of 2003. If you happen to get the FSB400 version, you could either try pushing the FSB to as close to 400 as possible with the PC2700 stick inserted (if you're lucky you might hit 400) or you could take out the PC2700 stick and just jump straight to 400.

 

[Mr. Killjoy]

The problem is that my mobo supports 400mhz RAM but not 400mhz CPUs

 

[n_w95482]

Well in that case you could always try overclocking the FSB if you do end up with a 400 version.

 

[Mr. Killjoy]

Overclocking? I thought it would have to be underclocked :s

 

[n_w95482]

It would be underclocking the CPU itself since it would normally be at 400, but you would be overclocking the motherboard.

 

[ViperXtreme]

heh, im usin the same motherboard, but im still using 1012 bios, no reason to update it really , usin 2x256 DDR400 PC3200 ram, running at DDR333 or PC2700 speeds.

btw, how do i know if my barton is locked? i think it's announced date is sumtime in February 2003...

 

[n_w95482]

It seems like the last two digits of the 4 digit block listed to the right of the stepping represent the week it was manufactured in. The numbers are found on the small black sticker. For example, mine lists AQXEA as the stepping, then to the right of that 0330 is listed, so I think mine is a week 30 CPU. Here's a really small list of locked and unlocked CPUs.

 

[Mr. Killjoy]

>> It would be underclocking the CPU itself since it would normally be at 400, but you would be overclocking the motherboard.

So if I use FSB333 on the FSB400 CPU, it will have nasty side-effects you think?
Putting this setting and using an higher multiplier is the only way to go... but
I fear I get worse perfs than my 2200+ :s

>> btw, how do i know if my barton is locked? i think it's announced date is sumtime in February 2003...

Dunno, but are you using a fsb400 or a fsb333 Barton?
Cause with 333 there's no prob since the chipset supports it

What's the lock for? overclocking? If they lock O/C it locks also 333 possiblities on fsb400?

Sidenote for the noobs: Never buy a mobo based on Via KT400/KT400A chipset no matter low-priced it is

 

[n_w95482]

It won't have side effects but it will run at a lower speed. You won't be able to adjust the multiplier unless you make a connection with one of the bridges located around the CPU core. With the unlocked CPUs, the bridge is left intact. With the locked CPUs, the bridge is laser cut. If you do end up getting a FSB400 version, it will run slightly slower (~50 MHz) than your current CPU but it will have the larger cache and the higher FSB. I would say make sure you get the 333 version or make sure your motherboard can overclock decently because if you end up getting the 400 version and your motherboard overclocks crappily (hopefully it will do a decent job at it), then you won't be much better off.

 

[Mr. Killjoy]

Quote myself (you replied when I edited)
"What's the lock for? overclocking? If they lock O/C it locks also 333 possiblities on fsb400?"

Concerning the CPU I'll get there's no way to know, I purchased it on the web, but
the site forgot to mention the FSB... but generally that's the method resellers use to sell lower version of a good thing (so someone needing a fsb400 will end up getting fsb333) but that's only my opinion, let's hope this will be ture :I

AFAIK my mobo as all it needs in the BIOS to make a decent O/U/clocking

 

[n_w95482]

The multiplier is locked but the FSB isn't. Probably the reason why AMD began locking the CPUs is because people (like me :heh: ) were buying the lower end CPUs and overclocking them to high speeds, saving the consumers a lot of money and costing AMD lots of revenue. Does the site list the clock frequency? The 400 version runs at 2.1 GHz and the 333 version runs at 2.16 GHz.

 

[Mr. Killjoy]

Nah it's very minimalist info... I first checked on a site that liste resellers for barton 3000 fsb333, then all sites listed had a small description, all of them mentionned either 333, either nothing...

All the low-priced fsb333 OEM were out of stock (****ing manufacturers, why don't they all use the same sockets? ) and the one I bought for 145€ (boxed+fan) only says it's
Barton 3000+ boxed+fan, with 512 L2 cache :s

EDIT: Maybe I'm worrying too much but on internet it's easy to get ****ed on versions changes. I bought a 9800pro that is 128bit bus and a Flatron F700B 17" monitor instead of its F700P version (difference is refresh rate, B does 60hz on 1280x1024, P does 75hz on 1600x1200)

 

[ViperXtreme]

im using a 333Mhz Barton 2500+ as stated on my sig, and i was able to overclocked it at cas 2.5 up to 2Ghz (182x11) but i can clock it mor up to 2.1Ghz when runnin at CAS 3.0 (191x11), im suspecting the ram since a friend of mine was able to clock hiss 2500+ @2.2Ghz, cas 2.5, same motherboard but with good quality Corsair XMS memory...

 

[Mr. Killjoy]

ah yeah 2500 is fsb333 only but 3000 is not :s
I hope that I'll get a decent FPS boost, I'm not even sure it will be fine with fsb333... so a underclocked fsb400 ......

 

[GeneralClaymore]

the 3000+ xp and 3200+ xp aint worth getting, your better off with a mobile 2500XP and ocing it.

or you can go A64 754, A64 3000+ go for 140 bucks, then u can get like a K8ns for like 70 something. then some pc3200 ram later. use pc2700 u have now as temp.

then when u do get pc3200 or 3500 just OC the A64 3000+ to 2.55ghz.

 

[Kane]

You can check out the board support here.
You say you are using multiple RAM modules. Surely you can dual channel them, right? I'd figure it wouldn't matter about hte RAM speed as long as the total speed is greater than 400MHz (on a 400MHz chip) as otherwise there is more bandwidth than the CPU knows how to deal with.

 

[Mr. Killjoy]

Little update:
I got my Barton, its FSB is 333, it works fine when I remove the 400mhz-only 256mb module. My mobo is crappy, that's the best I can get with it.

Thank you all