AMD Processor Upgrade Advice... Please

[Stan]

I would like to know my options (if any viable one’s exist) to upgrade
my AMD Athlon processor.

TweakNow PowerPack 2006 reports the following information about my
System:

Mainboard
Model: NF7-S/NF7 (nVidia-nForce2)
5 x PCI: 32 bit
1 x AGP: 32 bit
PRIMARY IDE: Other (None)
SECONDARY IDE: Other (None)
FDD: 8251 FIFO Compatible (None)
COM1: Serial Port 16450 Compatible (DB-9 pin male)
COM2: Serial Port 16450 Compatible (DB-9 pin male)
LPT1: Parallel Port ECP/EPP (DB-25 pin female)
Keyboard: Keyboard Port (PS/2)
PS/2 Mouse: Mouse Port (PS/2)
: USB (Other)

Processor
Model: 1x AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2600+
Code Name: Barton
Socket/Slot: Socket A (ZIF Socket)
Frequency: 1917 MHz
FSB Speed: 166 MHz
Voltage: 1.6 V
Revision/Stepping: 10/0
Signature: AuthenticAMD
Vendor: Advanced Micro Devices
L1 Cache: 128 KB
L2 Cache: 512 KB
L3 Cache: 0 KB

System BIOS
Vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
Version: 6.00 PG
Date: 12/24/2020
Size: 512 KB

Is there a processor upgrade that will Plug-N-Play on my existing MB
and offer enough of a performance boost over what I now have to
justify the cost of the processor upgrade?

Thanks in advance….
Stan

 

[Wes Newell]

Processor
Model: 1x AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2600+
Code Name: Barton
Socket/Slot: Socket A (ZIF Socket)
Frequency: 1917 MHz
FSB Speed: 166 MHz
Voltage: 1.6 V
Is there a processor upgrade that will Plug-N-Play on my existing MB
and offer enough of a performance boost over what I now have to
justify the cost of the processor upgrade?

No, but if you can clock this barton core CPU to a higher speeds. Increase
the FSB to 200MHz and raise vcore to 1.65v. That will give you 2300MHz
easily without over stressing the cpu. that will give you a rated speed of
about a 3400+. Not a bad increase for nothing. If you need more power than
that, then the only alternative would be to replace the MB/CPU. Dual core
X2 Athlons are extremely inexpensive now. You can probably recoop most of
the upgrade cost of a new AM2 MB/CPU/RAM setup by selling your old setup
on ebay.

 

[Greg Campbell]

I would like to know my options (if any viable one’s exist) to upgrade
my AMD Athlon processor.

Mainboard
Model: NF7-S/NF7 (nVidia-nForce2)

Processor
Model: 1x AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2600+
Code Name: Barton
Socket/Slot: Socket A (ZIF Socket)
Frequency: 1917 MHz
FSB Speed: 166 MHz

Is there a processor upgrade that will Plug-N-Play on my existing MB
and offer enough of a performance boost over what I now have to
justify the cost of the processor upgrade?

Thanks in advance….
Stan

Have youy tried overclocking your current setup?
An older NF7 should be able to run the frontside bus somehwere near
180MHz, mayby 185. That would get you up around 2100 MHz, not a huge
gain, but probably available for free.

If you've got a newer NF7, and capable memory, your CPU may well make it
to 200MHz FSB = 2300.

The other alternative is buying a (used) Mobile Barton on E-bay or
elsewhere. These are multiplier unlocked, and most will reach 2.5G
without much effort.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=357682
(Scroll down a page or three to the blue XP-M list)

You may need to do the 'multiplier trick' to reach CPU multipliers over
12.5x
http://www.senorpanadero.net/uploader/userfiles/sen/Socket-multis.jpg

More useful info
http://www.overclock.net/amd-cpus/172-amd-cpu-codes-multipliers-voltages.html

 

[Stan]

Have youy tried overclocking your current setup?
An older NF7 should be able to run the frontside bus somehwere near
180MHz, mayby 185.

Okay, gave the overclocking a try (my first time). 185 turned out to
be disastrous. System went into a booting loop which I had to use DEL
to get out of and back into the bios to set it all back to where it
was before. Turned out after getting back to 166 and getting it
booted, I had a lot of corrupted system files. Have no idea why but
must have happened during the bootup loop it got caught in. I had a 3
week old Ghost backup so got the thing back to normal rather easily.

Now, two weeks later, I drummed up the guts to try it again but this
time at 180. Did a Ghost right before changing things this time! 180
seems to be working just fine. WCPUID reports that I went form an
internal clock speed of 1913 to 2084 MHz and the system bus bumped up
from 333 to 363MHz.

Now all I need to do is make sure I don't burn it up. My bios has
some areas for this but I don't know if what they are set to is proper
or not. The Bios has 4 areas dealing with temp:

CPU OVER TEMP PROTECT with the choices of 65c, 75c, 80c & 90c. It is
set to 90c

CPU SHUTDOWN TEMP with the choices being Disabled, 60c/140f, 65c/149f,
70c/158f & 75c/167f. It is set to Disabled.

CPU WARNING TEMP which says to enter a DEC Number to set/change. It
is set to 75c/167f

PRESENT CPU TEMP which is reporting 26c/78f
Seems pretty cool don't it? Might have something to do with the fact
that I have 8 fans on this thing.
2 built into the PS (1 pulling fresh air into the PS and 1 blowing it
out the rear).
1 on the CPU Heat Sink.
1 on the MB Integrated graphics card (which I have the integrated
Graphics disabled).
2 case fans blowing in.
2 case fans blowing out.

There is also a place that looks like it might need to be dealt with
called CPU INTERFACE which has two choices of Enable or Disable of
which the Enable setting says will use Overclocked CPU/FSB Parameters.
It is set to Disable right now and when I set it to Enable, I don't
see any of the listed parameters on the screen being changed so I put
it back to Disable for right now. Got any idea what this one is all
about and if it should be changed?

That would get you up around 2100 MHz, not a huge
gain, but probably available for free.

Well, I got close at 2084 MHz. Like you said, not a bif boost are
anything to write home about but a boost none the less.

If you've got a newer NF7, and capable memory, your CPU may well make it
to 200MHz FSB = 2300.

I guess I don't since the whole thing went to hell when set to 185.

The reason I was wanting to boost this thing was because I have gotten
into converting video VOB files into AVI files so I can edit the video
files and compose my home movies. There are no VOB editing programs
out there so I have to convert. This takes a bunch of time, up to 1.5
hours for a full mini dvd disk full of recordings.

Regards,
Stan

 

[Wes Newell]

Okay, gave the overclocking a try (my first time). 185 turned out to
be disastrous. System went into a booting loop which I had to use DEL
to get out of and back into the bios to set it all back to where it
was before. Turned out after getting back to 166 and getting it
booted, I had a lot of corrupted system files. Have no idea why but
must have happened during the bootup loop it got caught in. I had a 3
week old Ghost backup so got the thing back to normal rather easily.

Now, two weeks later, I drummed up the guts to try it again but this
time at 180. Did a Ghost right before changing things this time! 180
seems to be working just fine. WCPUID reports that I went form an
internal clock speed of 1913 to 2084 MHz and the system bus bumped up
from 333 to 363MHz.

When you change the FSB speed you also alter all other bus speeds unless
your board is capable of locking them and you have them locked. When
overclocking always use a boot floppy or boot cd til you know everything
is stable. I use a memtest boot cd mostly. There's 4 buses you need to be
concerned with when overclocking. The FSB, PCI bus, AGP bus, and memory
bus.

I guess I don't since the whole thing went to hell when set to 185.

That really doesn't mean anything. There's normally a 5 divider for the
PCI with the FSB at 166, making the PCI bus run at it's nominal speed of
33MHz. With the FSB at 185 (actually 185.85) and a 5 divider that puts the
PCI bus at 37.17 and the normal 66MHz of the AGP bus at 74.34. It also
increases the memory bus from 166MHz (assuming you were running 1:1) to
185MHz.

The reason I was wanting to boost this thing was because I have gotten
into converting video VOB files into AVI files so I can edit the video
files and compose my home movies. There are no VOB editing programs
out there so I have to convert. This takes a bunch of time, up to 1.5
hours for a full mini dvd disk full of recordings.

There's really no question that the cpu will run easily at 2300MHz IMO.
it's just a matter of getting everything set up properly.

 

[Stan]

There's 4 buses you need to be
concerned with when overclocking. The FSB, PCI bus, AGP bus, and memory
bus.

Okay, from what I see in my bios setup, I don't have access to all of
those.

Here is exactly what I have control over and what it is set to now (as
far as what I can find):

External Clock: 180 MHz (Was 166, 185 still bombs)
Multiplier Factor: 11.5
AGP Freq: 66 MHz
CPU FSB/DRAM Ratio: Auto (with options of 3/3 to 6/6)
CPU Core V: 1.65
DDR SDRAM V: 2.6
Chipset V: 1.6
AGP V: 1.5

There's really no question that the cpu will run easily at 2300MHz IMO.
it's just a matter of getting everything set up properly.

Well, I'm a bit of a dummy at this so if you would have the patience
to lead me by the hand through this and see about getting it running
at 2300, it would be appreciated.

BTW, lets cover temps here. I looked on the AMD site and can't seem
to find what my CPU's melt down temp would be. Right now, I have
three options I can set and what they are now set to:

CPU Over Temp Protect: 90c (Can be set from 65c to 90c)
CPU Warning Temp: 75c (Can be set to anything)
CPU Shutdown Temp: Disabled (Can be set from 60c to 75c)

What would you suggest these be set to if changed at all?

Also, after overclocking to 180 the CPU has gotten up to 129 deg f
while doing some movie file format conversions with it running around
112 deg f doing normal load stuff and 105 deg f sitting there idle.

Thanks in advance for any further help you might supply.

Stan

 

[Wes Newell]

Okay, from what I see in my bios setup, I don't have access to all of
those.

Here is exactly what I have control over and what it is set to now (as
far as what I can find):

External Clock: 180 MHz (Was 166, 185 still bombs)
Multiplier Factor: 11.5
AGP Freq: 66 MHz
CPU FSB/DRAM Ratio: Auto (with options of 3/3 to 6/6)
CPU Core V: 1.65
DDR SDRAM V: 2.6
Chipset V: 1.6
AGP V: 1.5


Well, I'm a bit of a dummy at this so if you would have the patience
to lead me by the hand through this and see about getting it running
at 2300, it would be appreciated.

BTW, lets cover temps here. I looked on the AMD site and can't seem
to find what my CPU's melt down temp would be. Right now, I have
three options I can set and what they are now set to:

CPU Over Temp Protect: 90c (Can be set from 65c to 90c)
CPU Warning Temp: 75c (Can be set to anything)
CPU Shutdown Temp: Disabled (Can be set from 60c to 75c)

What would you suggest these be set to if changed at all?

Take your pick, but the cpu probably shouldn't be run over 65C assuming
the temps are correct. With proper cooling, it shouldn't go over about 55C
anyway under full load.

Also, after overclocking to 180 the CPU has gotten up to 129 deg f while
doing some movie file format conversions with it running around 112 deg
f doing normal load stuff and 105 deg f sitting there idle.

Most use centigrade when dealing with computer temps. I think 129f is
about 54C, so that's within limits.

Thanks in advance for any further help you might supply.

I don't have a K7 ssytem any longer, but this is where I would start. In
Softmenu;
Raise vcore to 1.75v to make sure the cpu gets enough juice. I've put as
much as 1.85v in mine without any problems except running hotter. Once you
have it running at the spedd you want then you can go back and lower it to
1.65v (default for running at 2200MHz) and see if it still works.

Change CPU Operating Speed to user defined and set external clock to 200
and multiplier to 11 (2200MHz is the speed of the 3200+).

AGP freq to 66. CPU FSB/Dram ratio to byspd.

Not sure what the CPU Interface setting means exactly, so I'd try it first
enabled (to allow overclocking) and if that didn't work, disable it.

Power supply to User Define so you can raise vcore. If your ram is at
2.5v, up it to 2.6v. Shouldn't need to change the others.

Now make sure you have a floppy or cd boot disk in and try to boot.

The one thing I don't know is what ram you have. There's a ram timing
setting in the advanced bios settings. if you have slow ram , you may need
to set cas to 3 and possible you can set the base ram bus speed there.
The manual isn't clear on that part.

Good luck.

 

[Stan]

The one thing I don't know is what ram you have. There's a ram timing
setting in the advanced bios settings. if you have slow ram , you may need
to set cas to 3 and possible you can set the base ram bus speed there.
The manual isn't clear on that part.

Before I do anything, here is that info for you..........

Okay, here is what I mem I have according to Everest Home Edition
v1.10:

SPD Memory Modules
Xerox (512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (CL 3.0 @ 200 MHz) (CL 2.5 @ 166 MHz)

Field Value
Memory Module Properties
Module Name Xerox
Serial Number None
Manufacture Date Week 17 / 2003
Module Size 512 MB (2 rows, 4 banks)
Module Type Unbuffered
Memory Type DDR SDRAM
Memory Speed PC3200 (200 MHz)
Module Width 64 bit
Module Voltage SSTL 2.5
Error Detection Method None
Refresh Rate Reduced (7.8 us), Self-Refresh
Highest CAS Latency 3.0 (5.0 ns @ 200 MHz)
2nd Highest CAS Latency 2.5 (6.0 ns @ 166 MHz)



Now, here is what's in the bios as far as manipulating all this:

Advanced Chipset Features/Memory Timings:
(Set at TURBO right now)

OPTIMAL:
ROW-Active Delay: 8
RAS-to-CAS Delay: 4
ROW Percentage Delay: 4
CAS Latency Time: 3.0

AGGRESSIVE:
ROW-Active Delay: 7
RAS-to-CAS Delay: 3
ROW Percentage Delay: 3
CAS Latency Time: 3.0

TURBO: (Where it is set to right now)
ROW-Active Delay: 6
RAS-to-CAS Delay: 2
ROW Percentage Delay: 2
CAS Latency Time: 2.5

BY SPDL:
ROW-Active Delay: 9
RAS-to-CAS Delay: 4
ROW Percentage Delay: 4
CAS Latency Time: 3.0

EXPERT:
ROW-Active Delay: User Defined
RAS-to-CAS Delay: User Defined
ROW Percentage Delay: User Defined
CAS Latency Time: User Defined

 

[Wes Newell]

Before I do anything, here is that info for you..........

Okay, here is what I mem I have according to Everest Home Edition
v1.10:

SPD Memory Modules
Xerox (512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (CL 3.0 @ 200 MHz) (CL 2.5 @ 166 MHz)

Then if you set it to byspd, you should get the correct settings with cas
3.