Hi, I want to upgrade (long overdue) and I'm thinking about an AN7 board with a 2.5 Barton because this combination is really quite cheap in my part of the world. But I've been told the multiplier on new Bartons are locked, and the AN7 board won't unlock It. My question is, if I decide to try overclocking couldn't I just increase the FSB, leaving the multiplier at it's default, ...... would this work? any advice appreciated.

it would work
but you´d be limited... by your memory and some other things...
you should try to find an unlocked cpu...
btw i would wait for socket 939

Well that combo I mentioned is really cheap at the moment, I think it's because of the intro of 64 bit cpus, which I can't really afford. what's socket 939, my guess is it's 64 bit.

Yes you can, but you cannot O/C until the extreme level. I would get the Athlon 64 3200+ cuz this baby is much reasonable (price : speed).

i´d buy a a 3200+, too, but if ur money won´t then an earlier!! barton would be good, too!
ok, the performance is not so god as the 3200+ but u can easiely reach 2300mhz with the 2500 but only with a good cooler.

yes I'm poor, so 64 bit is out of the question for me. Dark Biene, please recommend a good cooler to O/C a 2.5 Barton to 3.2 .....thanx!

depend on ur money...
so....slk900a + papst 3412 N/2GL should be good
or a little watercooler is also good and not so expensive...my Thermaltake Aquarius II is very good and very quite and costs me 100€!

Get the Thermaltake volcano 11. you will like it. I am using TT volcano 7+ and i can oc my athlon XP 2400+ (2.0) to 2.3X Ghz with only using the multiplier cuz i have a slow ram PC 2100. The tempreture is a round 40c and 47c after hours of gamming

ok...but the vulcano is very loud?

http://overclockers.com/articles739/


TEST RESULTS - CPU Simulator

Heatsink.......................... Die Temp Ambient Temp Delta C/W
Volcano 11+, 4834 rpm,68 dBA 49.5 C 22.1 C 27.4 C 0.36
Volcano 11+, 3008 rpm, 55 dBA 55.1 C 22.0 C 33.1 C 0.44
Volcano 11+, 1395 rpm, <50 dBA 71.1 C 21.0 C 50.1 C 0.66

Yes sorry to tell you that it is quite loud indeed.

sorry....i meant quiet !

I meant at high speed cuz pushing the fan at it's limit make me feel batter. My volcano 7+ make a lot of noice even on the medium speed. i can't stand it. :knife: So now i am running it at medium speed for gamming and low on web browsing stuff. The V 11 seem to be the smarter choice. But the 7+ is all in coper.

but the best u can do for noice is watercooling *smile*..almost no noice i mean....

but the Papst and the SLK should be a very good choice for performance and loudness

i am thinking of getting one of that too, but it is expensive. can you tell how good is water cooling compare with the tradisional way? The water cooling is good in my opinion cuz they are not going to get outdated that quickly like the CPU, so if next time i upgrade i may still be able to use it back.