Pick a $100 AMD Cpu for my new board

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JT

Long story, but ended up with an Amptron M7ncd motherboard and would like to
get the most bang for the buck with it.
Since this board doesn't support overclocking via the multiplier (I
believe), I don't see much need in a overclockable chip so considering the
choices out, what's the best chip I can get for this board for <$100 ?.
(nforce 2 chipset) Course if later on I snag a new board cheap, an
overclockable cpu would be nice to have too. Thoughts?
thanks,
JT
 
Amptron M7ncd
Click to expand...

Yeah the barton 2500. These are disappearing and the prices are
actually going UP. I bought mine a while ago for $85
retail (with fan). Now I see them for $113 or so retail and Newegg
doesnt even carry the retail anymore. They have the OEM (no fan) for
$85. Youll have to buy a fan/heatsink for it.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-506&depa=0

They also have the mobile version for the same price. Some say the
mobile can OC even more but Ive only tried the barton non-mobile
version so I recommend that.

You dont have to change the multiplier for these. These have the set
11 multiplier and are supposed to work at 333 (166) mem freq setting.
All you do is plop it in and set the mem to 400 (200) instead and you
automatically have a 3200 AMD XP which about as fast as youre going to
get in general with a socket A board.

The thing is you have to have DDR 3200 (400) memory to do this
obviously.

512 meg stick for $59 I cant remember if your board supported dual
mem but its only a hair faster with it - using say two 256 sticks
instead.

http://shop4.outpost.com/product/3655355
 
Long story, but ended up with an Amptron M7ncd motherboard and would like to
get the most bang for the buck with it.
Since this board doesn't support overclocking via the multiplier (I
believe), I don't see much need in a overclockable chip so considering the
choices out, what's the best chip I can get for this board for <$100 ?.
(nforce 2 chipset) Course if later on I snag a new board cheap, an
overclockable cpu would be nice to have too. Thoughts?
thanks,
JT
Click to expand...

Better to overclock by raising FSB than multipliers. Buy a
chip spec'd for 133 or 166 MHz FSB and o'c to 200MHz FSB, or
however much higher remains stable.

The primary issue then is whether it supports FSB and
voltage changes, and how good your heatsink is. You might
consider a Barton XP2500. If you're willing to burn CPU
bridges or do wire-mods you might consider a MOBILE Barton
XP2400, and do a "5th bit," +8 mod to change it's default
multiplier from 6X to 14X.

Frankly I would not spend upwards of $100 on it, and think
about replacing the board again later. It'd be much better
to just keep an eye out for reasonably priced Athlon 64
boards and replace the board, get an A64 or Sempron. Even
so the cheapest Barton you can find would be the best value
upgrade and given the overclocking limits, you're better off
with the lower multiplier of the slower Bartons to allow
higher FSB increase before you hit a wall for max speed
possible from the CPU without very expensive cooling
solutions.
 
what about a xp-m 2500 cpu for $85 for this elcheapo board or?
As an alternative I've got a deal cooking for a nf7s and a xp 2500 cpu for
around $125 that has already been tested to run @ 3200 speeds.
which would you choose?
 
JT said:
what about a xp-m 2500 cpu for $85 for this elcheapo board or?
As an alternative I've got a deal cooking for a nf7s and a xp 2500 cpu for
around $125 that has already been tested to run @ 3200 speeds.
which would you choose?
Click to expand...

I'd take the better nf7s with known working xp 2500+ and sell the m7ncd for
40 bucks on ebay, if you can get that much.
 
what about a xp-m 2500 cpu for $85 for this elcheapo board or?
As an alternative I've got a deal cooking for a nf7s and a xp 2500 cpu for
around $125 that has already been tested to run @ 3200 speeds.
which would you choose?
Click to expand...

As David Maynard mentioned you might try selling the board,
though I'd be surprised if you could get $40 out of it.
Otherwise, if you bought an XP2500 Barton, which has 166MHz
FSB and 11X multiplier, simply raising FSB to ~200MHz and
perhaps a CPU voltage increase would get you essentially
same performance, the Bartons are multiplier locked and both
are nForce2 chipsets.

The NF7S is a better board and might even allow higher o'c,
though that also depends on the nForce2 northbridge revision
on each board. I have an M7NCG (same board but mATX plus
integrated video) that has been running fine with an o'c
Barton Mobile @ 200MHz FSB, though it does have multiplier
adjustments... some M7NCD/G boards had them and some didn't
based on the revision of the board. Anyway even though the
NF7S is a better board overall, if it has the earliest
revision of nForce2 northbridge it's probably not going to
o'c the FSB as far IF the M7NCD has later revision.

I'd not consider swapping boards to be worth the extra $40
unless you plan on using it for at least 18 months, give or
take. NF7S needs ATX 2.03 power supply (one with 4-pin 12V
connector) too, while the M7NCD does not.... something to
keep in mind if you're using an older PSU that isn't ATX
2.03.
 
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