TheShaft

I've ordered up a new motherboard that will let me do whatever I want (400Mhz FSB, dual channel PC3200 support, 8x AGP, etc). Now I can afford to only upgrade either the CPU, or the memory.

I currently have Athlon2100XP with PC2100 DDR.

I'm thinking I could upgrade the CPU to a 400Mhz FSB CPU and put my PC2100 DDR in a dual-channel config. The other option would be to upgrade memory to PC3200 in a dual-channel config and overclock the CPU, but I hear that performance can actually decrease if you run your memory at a different (even higher) frequency than your FSB.

Can I even overclock the FSB on a CPU like the Athlon2100XP? Or is it just the clock multiplier I can overclock?

Any suggestions?

Lowfat

i left you a post in the tread you posted on OT.

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mkk

You'll need to raise the FSB to overclock that CPU, unless the multiplier can somehow be unlocked. To unlock the multiplier is probably difficult, though the exact procedure vary with what exact chip generation that perticular AthlonXP come from. You could check with a program called CPU-Z if you are interested, but if you can afford it's probably best to go with new RAM and see how far it can overclock by raising the FSB. Some PC2100 RAM can handle quite a lot higher speeds than they are rated at though, so you could start experimenting a little right away. If the current CPU would prove to be a bad overclocker then there are some great overclocking options in the Barton 2500+ or an AthlonXP Mobile Barton.

Forget about pursuing Dual Channel for its own sake, as the practical performance gain on an AthlonXP system is very slim. If you buy new RAM you should go for 2x512MB anyway because of price, but not because of Dual Channel. For AthlonXP systems that feature never became much more than a hype. It is true that for AthlonXP system it is best to keep the memory bus and the FSB at the same clock frequency.

pr0digal jenius

I'd get a new CPU, as from what I hear, dual channel is a waste on an AMD rig

TheShaft

Anyone know if I can OC the FSB to 200Mhz while dropping my clock multiplier to 8.5x which will keep the total CPU speed at 1733Mhz but give me the benefits of a faster FSB?

TheShaft

ack, must be a stupid question.

davidnsibs

if your multiplier is unlocked than you can do this. however, many athlons are locked so you'll have to see if your lucky. try lowering the multi now and just leave the fsb as it is. does it work? check with some sort of diagnostic tool such as sisoft sandra or something. if its worked, than you have an unlocked cpu and can go ahead and fo 200*8.5 dont worry if not though, because even with 13 multi (which is your by default I think) you may get to 166*13=2158 or higher, just give it a go before you buy new RAM to see if thats what you want to do. try loosing your ram timings to cas 3, and up the others and see how far your current RAM will go too, may as well have a bit of fun with it :-)

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