Need advice with upgrades

[oratel]

Hey guys this is my rig:

Barton 2800+
Vantec Aeroflow
Asus A7V8X-X (Upgrading)
Kingston DDR333 512 (Upgrading)
Sapphire 9500 Pro (oc 364.50 core 310 mem)
Antec True Blue 480
Antec soho tower w/ 8 fans

I realize that my memory and motherboard are bottlenecks when overclocking so that's why I'm chucking them and picking up new ones tomorrow. Question is WHAT motherboard and RAM? Do I get the Epox 8rda+ with a stick of 512 Corsair PC3500 or Abit NF7-S with the Corsair? Considering I bought my current mobo and ram last week I don't want to upgrade for a while. Luckily I have sold them at almost what I paid.

Whadaya guys think and what kind of 3DMark2001 and 2003 scores can I pull off with a new setup?

Currently ----> 2001 13656 and 2003 4350

Thanks for the insight
:)

[c627627]

Originally posted by c627627
Mobo: nForce2, Best Abit, most cost effective Epox (excellent for the $ but no serial hard drive and North Bridge V adjustment)

Best is twinmos/ch-5 winbond pc3200
http://www.memoryx.net/gn256pc3200.html

two 256 is better than one 512...

[TranceBear]

Rumor has it that Tonicom is coming out with DDR. If you were around in the SDRAM days this memory whas like gold. It was hard to find and expensive, but is was hitting numbers like DDR!! I am sure when they do make it, many of us "old-timers" will switch with no hesitation. As with the board, there really is no "better" board than any of the name brands. If you take the time to learn to good MB tweaks, you can make an ECS board overclock good, trust me, I have. You have a fairly good setup and I sure would be not wanting to break the bank with silly purchases. Do the memory first and do some tweaking, you just might be suprised of the Asus' ability to please you and your fragging. Good Luck!

[Deathknight]

Originally posted by TranceBear
As with the board, there really is no "better" board than any of the name brands. If you take the time to learn to good MB tweaks, you can make an ECS board overclock good, trust me, I have. You have a fairly good setup and I sure would be not wanting to break the bank with silly purchases. Do the memory first and do some tweaking, you just might be suprised of the Asus' ability to please you and your fragging. Good Luck!


IMHO this is not entirely true. Some boards will just start too far in the hole to overcome their issues. Out of the box the Abit NF7-S is going to give you excellent voltage adjustments and very stable OC results. I have found this to be the easiest board to oc on that I have used. At the same time there are people that are getting some amazingly high OCs on this board too so its not as if its just easy to use but has a low ceiling. You gotta ask yourself how much time you want to spend voltmodding your board for vdimm, vcore and chipset voltage. With an nforce2 board you know you can slap that in your system and immediatly jump up over 200fsb without issue.

Anyways you already sold your old motherboard so its a non issue. Continue your research and better luck with the new board ;) I would imagine most people will be pointing you in the direction of the 8rda+ and the nf7-s (and you probably can't go wrong with either).

[[OC]This]

you seem to quote people's statements very easily. Not a good habit.. Since you like quoting, let me quote you some. Talk about quoting.. ;)

Originally posted by Deathknight
IMHO this is not entirely true. Some boards will just start too far in the hole to overcome their issues.
if you know what you're doing.


Out of the box the Abit NF7-S is going to give you excellent voltage adjustments and very stable OC results.

what makes you think Abit NF7-s give you very stable OC results? Stable? ;) Haven't noticed about the undervoltage and severe fluctuations/spikes? Stable overclock result??


I have found this to be the easiest board to oc on that I have used.
You have found to be the easiest board because it is easy board to overclock. The board is very overclock friendly. You don't have to perform the mod to get high clocks. Enough voltage options, etc. but you only know the half of it (not saying Im putting you down, but consider the other things beside voltage options and overclock friendly).


At the same time there are people that are getting some amazingly high OCs on this board too so its not as if its just easy to use but has a low ceiling.
Some people are getting(you know who) high clocks because they know what they are doing, not only motherboard dependent. Getting amazingly high OCs on this board is because the person/people are supercooling it. The word "supercooling" is the key. Don't depend too much on the board now. It does not give you wings (hoo! hoo! Fly fly!!~~) know what I'm saying?


You gotta ask yourself how much time you want to spend voltmodding your board for vdimm, vcore and chipset voltage. With an nforce2 board you know you can slap that in your system and immediatly jump up over 200fsb without issue.
that depends.. with the rev1.0~ 1.2 nforce2 boards will require some "skills". There is no guarantee doing 200fsb with the rev2.0 boards either. also, memory anyone? You sure? no issue?

Anyways you already sold your old motherboard so its a non issue. Continue your research and better luck with the new board ;) I would imagine most people will be pointing you in the direction of the 8rda+ and the nf7-s (and you probably can't go wrong with either).
don't depend too much on the nforce2 boards. They are not the only one. Abit KD7 series anyone?.. how about KT266a based boards? you can make it fly with these boards with some "skill" running it at mid 190s FSB@ 4:2:1 ratio, talking about performance near the nforce2 boards clock for clock fsb for fsb. ;)

[[OC]This]

Quote the hell out.

[L337 M33P]

Originally posted by [OC]This

that depends.. with the rev1.0~ 1.2 nforce2 boards will require some "skills". There is no guarantee doing 200fsb with the rev2.0 boards either. also, memory anyone? You sure? no issue?



Revision 2 Nforce2 boards are certified and supported for FSB speeds of 200MHz.

[[OC]This]

Originally posted by L337 M33P


Revision 2 Nforce2 boards are certified and supported for FSB speeds of 200MHz.
Kingston DDR333 512

there is no guarantee to do 200mhz FSB.

[Socko4Life]

I have been able to hit 200FSB with no problem on my NF7-S2.0 with no problem, and have even gone as high as 237FSB. I wouldn't necessarily chuck your ram though. With a small voltage increase I was able to get my DDR333 Cas2.5 512MB Kingston sticks to do DDR400 CAS2 with tight timings. I'll find out what kind of chips are on my ram, and post them later.

[Socko4Life]

Nevermind, .....forgot that you sold them already. :P

[c627627]

Originally posted by [OC]This
there is no guarantee to do 200mhz FSB.

This man has a 2800+ Barton.

There's no guarantee there'll be rain on a cloudy day, but you best believe that nForce2 Abit or Asus or Epox +
http://www.memoryx.net/gn256pc3200.html
(which he'll upgrade to)

will darn well guarantee you a 200 FSB as much as anything can be guaranteed with overclocking.

Thermalright heatsink will pretty much ensure it.

[oratel]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I have decided to get the Abit NF7-S board and dual channel corsair 3500 sticks.

:D

[Gautam]

Very nice choices; I'm sure that you will enjoy your upgrade very much. :)