I am building a new system,
AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 2.25 333FSB Socket A Barton
ASUS A7N8X-Deluxe Socket A (onboard audio, dual lan)
Corsair Twin-X PC2700 2x256MB DDR (TWINX512-2700LL)
Western Digital WD800JB 80 GB 7200 RPM 8.5MS 8MB ATA100
1.44 Floppy Drive
Liteon 52x CD-ROM
Liteon 48x24x48 CD-RW/16x DVD Combo Drive
ATI Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB DDR 8x AGP

and i was going to get the AMD 3000+ but I've seen many ppl buy a 2500+ and have it overclocked to 3000+ Specs. I was thinking about doing that but on the 2500+ i thought the multiplyers are only up to 12.5? and that you would have to unlock your Athlon or something. I've also read somewhere that there motherboard automatically unlocked the multiplyers 13 and up! so what i am asking is, is there a way to overclock a Barton 2500+ to a 3000+ without any "physical" moddification?

That motherboard will unlock it for you. In the BIOS you'll be able to OC the FSB and the multiplier. Go to the Asus web site and download the manual for that board. Then look in the BIOS section for the settings, and how to OC it through the FSB and the multiplier.

No physical modifications needed.

What i mean to say is that, since the Barton 2500's multiplyer is 11, only the multiplyers up to 12.5 are available and the ones from 13 and up are locked? is there a way to get those unlocked without having to "Unlock my athlon" ? I am using a A7N8X Deluxe mobo.

I have not figured out how to up the multiplier above 12.5 on this board. However, you can raise the multiplier to 12.5 and then increase the FSB. I am running at 12.5 * 177 = 2.21 without a volage increase and a friend of mine is running at 11 * 200 = 2.2 (that is the 3200+ speed) with a slight voltage increase (raised it to 1.7). I would definately recommend the 2500+ over the 3000+ as it is far cheaper.

Well you can get it to 3000 with a cpu ratio of 13 if u up the FSB a little, so get a better ram, pc3000 or pc3200 so you can up the FSB with out the threat of damaging your RAM.

Well you can get it to 3000 with a cpu ratio of 13 if u up the FSB a little, so get a better ram, pc3000 or pc3200 so you can up the FSB with out the threat of damaging your RAM.

Well you can get it to 3000 with a cpu ratio of 13 if u up the FSB a little, so get a better ram, pc3000 or pc3200 so you can up the FSB with out the threat of damaging your RAM.

I just got my 2500+ and was able to overclock it to 3000+ with no problems whatsoever. Please do not buy that 3000+ ... You're wasting your money. You see, the 2500+ runs at a FSB of 333 (166*2) and a multiplier of 11 with actual MHz (FSB*Multiplier) of 1826. So, if you up the FSB (which you can do without unlocking your CPU) to 400 (200x2) you will get 2200 Mhz (200*11). That's is the setting for a XP 3200+! However, I wasn't lucky enough to actually be able to keep mine cool at those specs. I did, however, manage to get it to run at 400mhz FSB and a multiplier of 10.5 (the setting for an XP 3000+). I haven't tried to get a higher multiplier, but only because it would be pointless because what you really want is the highest multiplier you can get with the highest FSB you can get (Generally 200Mhz considering RAM and Chipset limitations)and for the 2500+ this is typically going to be either (if you're lucky) the stock muliplier (11) or the one below (10.5). Only thing though, is I had to raise to VCORE to 1.725 to keep it stable. Runs a little hotter now too, but a good cooler with help that. The key here is to have a mobo and ram that support a 400mhz FSB. What the hell are you waiting for? The 2500+ is like $85!

.....damn I hope that makes sense to you. The point is, read up on overclocking, buy the 2500+, and save some money.

If the XP 2500 doesn't need any unlocking, then i'd be very interested in this chip! what was amd thinking??? lol

I have had my 2500+ up to 2.4Ghz,@ normal voltage. I tend to run it at 2.1Ghz (3000+), it was running fine at 2.2Ghz but it crashed whilst playing UT2003.

I have not had a single problem, In my view you are better spending your money buying better quality ram (pc3200) and a decent cooler/case.

I have also found the Asus board to be very stable, just ignore the Speach Post thing, it lies, keeps telling me the memory has failed the test when it is fine!

I have heard that you cannot run a multiplier of 13 on an A7N8X for some reason with the 2500+. I use an A7V8X and it runs at 13 for me no problem.

I have one and it is set to 2.17GHz at 1.65V and it runs fine with a 333MHz FSB.

I can only go to 12.5, after that it has to use the processor's internal multiplier table, which in the case of the 2500 is maxed to 12.5 which is why you cannot go any higher, that is why I have changed the FSB to 400!

Maxed to 12.5... is that only on your motherboard, because I can run mine past 20 if I wanted to. I've had it quasai stable at 13 before!

Col,

The XP2500 is totally unlocked so you can have any multiplier from 5 to 18.

The problem is that the nforce motherboards use 4 bit encoding for the multiplier selector while the current Athlons use 5 bits. This limits the selection to the lower set 5 to 12.5 or the upper set 13 to 18.

Some nforce mobo's can get around this, I use the GA-7N400 pro (nforce 2 ultra) which allows most multipliers though 12.5 isn't available. I can run 13x166 or 12 x166 though currently I'm running 220x10 with PC3500.

Unfortunately the A7N8X doesn't have this fix though I'd be tempted to run 10.5 x 400 (XP3000 400FSB) if it's stable.

Ant

Ant

I currently have a 2500Xp barton running at 3200xp specs with no problems at all. I run it on an Nforce2 soltek motherboard and a Coolermaster areo7+ cooler

idles at 38 and 44 overload. I use kingmax 333mhz ram and at 11x195 it clocks to 2.15gig 3200xp.

I have had this chip upto 2.48 but crashed out in 3dmark2001
but the chip isnt burnt in right yet so maybe stable a little while longer.

Bob

Just an idea here, but how about posting both your MB and Bios versions as well?
I wouldn't be surprised if that's why some Asus users can go past 12.5 and some can't. It's amazing what a Bios upgrade can do to extend a MB's ablity.

I HAVE A 2500+ AT 2300 MHZ AND NO HAVE ANY PROBLEM ITīS A GOOD CHOICE TO OVERCLOCK I HAVE A 7NNXP GIGABYTE MEMORY SAMSUN DDR 3200 AT 209X2 AERO7+ RADEON 9700PRO AT 209X2 AND WORKS FINE SO I DONīT WASTE MY MONEY BUYING A 3200+ AND BETTER

Please tell me how long will the CPU last with OC with good cooling?

I have a 3000+, with a 14.0x multiplier on an A7N8X motherboard. In order to further overclock to I have to unlock the chip? And mind you that heat is not a problem, as my CPU is liquid cooled by a Koolance EXOS External Liquid cooling system.

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3000+ (2.33GHz)
MOBO: ASUS A7N8X
PS/U: 550W
VIDEO: GeForceFX 5200
RAM: 512MB PC 2700

i have BIOS 1007. still wont go past 12.5. a7n8x-d rev2

The AMD Athlon XP 2500+ is the way to go. Check out my system INFO...
You will save alot of $$$$$$$.
My System
Asus A7N8X Deluxe nForce2 bios 1007
AMD Athlon 2500+ w Volcano 7+ w Artic silver 3 (Clocked @ 2300MHz)(40C Temp.)
200 MHz (400 MHz) FSB, 11.5x Multiplier (reads 3400+)
512MB KingMax Duel Channel DDR C2.5 PC3200 x2
80 gig WD, 8m catch @ 7200rpm x 2
Asus GeForce4 Ti4200 128 DDR, w 8X
EnerMAX power 430
Pioneer 40X12X40
Pine 16xDVD
Win XP Pro SP1

For AMD Athlon INFO check out this pages links.
http://www.geocities.com/superxpfx/VideoBoyPC.html?1066284452281