New CPU time.

**XP1800** · 08-03-2003, 04:00 PM

Originally posted by mystifmagic

I've never owned a board that unlocked a CPU for me, I have always done it the manual way... which isn't a big deal so I look past that.

...spoken by a true OC'er...

I think you will love the Barton

**Royal Oaks** · 08-03-2003, 04:08 PM

It seems the best chips today are the AQXEA Y 2500+ chips. These are usually doing very well, but if you get an AQXEA 9, you might not fare as well. From what I hear that chip is good, but most people are crapping out well before those who have the Y. The 1700+ will probably OC the best, but you can't get 512K. The cache really comes in handy in things like UT2k3, so if you play that the Barton is your best bet. Newegg is still hit or miss for the best stepping though (the days of advertising steppings seem to be gone

). If I were to buy today I would probably go with the 2500+, but that 1700+ would really tempt me. Quite a few guys are doing well over 2.4 with those, and the best thing is it does it at low vcore uppage. Another vote for the 2500 though, and I really would try to get the most out of that board first. I didn't want to upgrade boards myself, but my 8K5A2+ recently died. You can probably run over 200 no probs, but HDD corruption is probable (as you already know). With a stock FSB of 166 as well, you will definitely need to unlock probably if you want the most MHz. Have fun with that baby

**mystifmagic** · 08-03-2003, 04:12 PM

Originally posted by sapasion
That's correct he will have to manually unlock his Barton. But, forget not that mystif is one of SF's most accomplished OCers. Manually unlocking a Barton cpu will not be a challenge for him

I've had my share overclocks in the past, but I have been out of the circle for awhile... almost too long. I guess I just need to get back in the game so this might be the route I take to do it.

Is the 8RDA+ just a well proven board, or are there any other Nf2 boards that have onboard raid without lacking the OCability? How about Via's new KT600, is it any good? If there are none there are really comparable to the 8RDA+ and the KT600 is junk I will either keep my board or grab the 8RDA+ and lose some drives or find a decent ATA card.

**Royal Oaks** · 08-03-2003, 04:16 PM

Originally posted by mystifmagic

I've had my share overclocks in the past, but I have been out of the circle for awhile... almost too long. I guess I just need to get back in the game so this might be the route I take to do it.

Is the 8RDA+ just a well proven board, or are there any other Nf2 boards that have onboard raid without lacking the OCability? How about Via's new KT600, is it any good? If there are none there are really comparable to the 8RDA+ and the KT600 is junk I will either keep my board or grab the 8RDA+ and lose some drives or find a decent ATA card.

There are only 2 boards currently out to consider if you are OC'ing; The 8RDA+ and the Abit NF7-S V2.0 VIA still thinks they can use dividers to win OC'ers over...

**sapasion** · 08-03-2003, 04:22 PM

Oaks is spot on. Those are the two front runners as the Asus crowd has reallt waned in light of pricing and performance of the aforementioned other two. Still I'd see what you can do with your current mobo first

**hwmicre** · 08-03-2003, 04:26 PM

Originally posted by mystifmagic
Yeah, those were fun days. Yes, the economical route has almost always been my path; biggest overclock for the fewest bones.

Kinda hard to argue with 2.3/2.4G for about $175 with an 8RDA+/2500+.
Not to say anything bad about the Abit, that's for sure....

**XP1800** · 08-03-2003, 04:32 PM

Originally posted by hwmicre

Kinda hard to argue with 2.3/2.4G for about $175 with an 8RDA+/2500+.
Not to say anything bad about the Abit, that's for sure....

Thats definately a potent combo, and should OC very nicely, expecially with your pc3200RAM

I think the general concensus on the CPU seems to be the 2500+ Barton though

**mystifmagic** · 08-03-2003, 06:43 PM

The 8RDA+ doesn't have dual channel DDR, correct? Will I be missing out on very much performance without Dual Channel? I realize that requires two sticks of identical ram, but I don't want to skip something I may want and regret not having later on.

**lonewolfroger** · 08-03-2003, 06:45 PM

The 8rda+, has DCDDR

**mystifmagic** · 08-03-2003, 06:50 PM

Originally posted by lonewolfroger
The 8rda+, has DCDDR

In conclusion, I am not up to date on anything computer related at this juncture of my life.

I am guessing it would be wise for me to grab an identical stick of Corsair if I buy the 8RDA+?

**lostlilchild6** · 08-03-2003, 06:51 PM

Hey Mystif?!?! How's it going bud? Long time no see

.

I see you are looking towards a worthy upgrade... correct me if Im wrong.. but your motherboard is KT400-based isn't there? Therefore... T-bred B's and bartons should have no issues in your board.

However, if you're looking towards a board and cpu upgrade, I would strongly suggest the 2500+ and NF7-s V2.0 Combination

. I couldn't be happier with my current AMD setup... and I got it up to 2.54GHz stable on air

. I had a 2100+ @ 2.62GHz on my 8RDA+... it was good... but I didn't like the board too much. It was a good board, dont get me wrong, but there ARE better out there

. The on-board NIC died on my 8RDA+... dont know when/how, but it did

. So I used that as an excuse to pick up an NF7-S... and I'll tell ya... the NF7-S Is MUCH better than the 8RDA+. OC'ing wise, and features wise. Even though the only main feature diffrence is on-board SATA... but still. But yeah, I would totally recommend the Abit over the Epox... since I've owned both, and OC'ed both to hell and back

. I would also recommend the 2500+ barton over any of the Tbred-B chips... only because OC'ing potential is just as good, but the 512k of cache is nice to have, and always a plus.

So that's my all-star lineup...

-NF7-S V2.0
-Athlon XP 2500+

**lostlilchild6** · 08-03-2003, 06:52 PM

Originally posted by mystifmagic

In conclusion, I am not up to date on anything computer related at this juncture of my life.

I am guessing it would be wise for me to grab an identical stick of Corsair if I buy the 8RDA+?

I would get another 512mb

. Even though DCDDR isn't that impressive as far as performance on an AMD platform goes, it's still good to have. Not to mention 1024mb's of ram

. I say get it.

**mystifmagic** · 08-05-2003, 11:56 PM

Originally posted by lostlilchild6
Hey Mystif?!?! How's it going bud? Long time no see .

I see you are looking towards a worthy upgrade... correct me if Im wrong.. but your motherboard is KT400-based isn't there? Therefore... T-bred B's and bartons should have no issues in your board.

However, if you're looking towards a board and cpu upgrade, I would strongly suggest the 2500+ and NF7-s V2.0 Combination . I couldn't be happier with my current AMD setup... and I got it up to 2.54GHz stable on air . I had a 2100+ @ 2.62GHz on my 8RDA+... it was good... but I didn't like the board too much. It was a good board, dont get me wrong, but there ARE better out there . The on-board NIC died on my 8RDA+... dont know when/how, but it did . So I used that as an excuse to pick up an NF7-S... and I'll tell ya... the NF7-S Is MUCH better than the 8RDA+. OC'ing wise, and features wise. Even though the only main feature diffrence is on-board SATA... but still. But yeah, I would totally recommend the Abit over the Epox... since I've owned both, and OC'ed both to hell and back . I would also recommend the 2500+ barton over any of the Tbred-B chips... only because OC'ing potential is just as good, but the 512k of cache is nice to have, and always a plus.

So that's my all-star lineup...

-NF7-S V2.0
-Athlon XP 2500+

Howdy dude, it has been awhile. I've been doing great, just been busy with getting college plans together since I start in Sept. How's everything been going for you?

I'm probably going to buy the 8RDA+ because I'm a dedicated Epox guy, and secondly (and more importantly) I want to save as much cash as possible, especially since I will probably grab another stick of ram, which gets pricey. I will look into the Abit more, but as of now I would like ot use the $40 I save by getting the Epox on the ram or CPU.

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