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Big Dog Joined: 17 Mar 2003 Posts: 3448 Location: KERNOW

1. What is CPU unlocking, is it any good, and how would I go about doing it?

2. What is a good Socket A CPU + Fan for under £50?

3. What is an acceptable temperature for a chip (Athlon 1.8XP) to be running at?

Mobo (if it's any use) is either ECS K7S5A or MSI 6378

Cheers in advance.

Posted: Thu May 22, 2003 8:45 am Post subject: Re: A Few CPU Questions

tom wrote:
1. What is CPU unlocking, is it any good, and how would I go about doing it?

Here is a pretty good description of CPU unlocking: http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/hwGuides/article.php/10709_1009731__6

tom wrote:
2. What is a good Socket A CPU + Fan for under £50?

For £50 you won't get much. A retail Athlon XP 2000+ or under is as good as you'll get for £50 (retail boxes include a heatsink and fan). I recently purchased an OEM (no heatsink and fan included) unlocked 1700+ for C$96 (~£43) along with a Thermaltake SLK-800 and Panaflo L1A fan (that's another £40 or so).

tom wrote:
3. What is an acceptable temperature for a chip (Athlon 1.8XP) to be running at?

Anything up to around 50-55 celcius should be fine. When it gets higher than that I find it a bit too much, even though they're supposed to be able to run up to around 80 celcius or so (can't remember how much exactly).

tom wrote:
Mobo (if it's any use) is either ECS K7S5A or MSI 6378

According to the MSI website, the 6378 can't take anything over a 2000+. And for that it must be a PCB v2.x. For the K7S5A the ECS website doesn't say up to what speed it'll take. But if I remember correctly the first version of that board couldn't take Athlon XP chips (I'm not sure, I may be mixing it up with another board, so you'd have to look at the manual or on-line to confirm).

Posted: Thu May 22, 2003 12:32 pm Post subject:

I have seen a Athlon XP 2000+ for £56.40

http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductInfoComm.asp?ID=6707

I use the ECS K7S5A with a Athlon XP 1700+ (Running at 42C) and its great. Really cheap. It will accept upto XP's 2400+

£36.43 from

http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductInfoComm.asp?ID=1851

Posted: Thu May 22, 2003 9:05 pm Post subject:

I dont think I have seen my XP 2100 go above 36 celcius.

Stray Dog Joined: 08 Jun 2003 Posts: 17

unlocking just refers to the mulitpier. If you don't have an nForce2 or kt400 chipset you need to unlock it.

Good hsf, try they thermaltake volcano 7+, quiet and very good. (if you have the right thermal compound. Shin Etsu is great!! Very Happy

Anything over 50c is pushing it. between 50 and 55 won't kill it right off the bat but those temps will degrade your chip. Try to keep it under 50c. With the vocano 7+ and shin etsu you shouldn't have a problem.

Motherboard, anything with nForce2 in it. That was rated the best overclocking chipset and the best chipset for the AMD athlon xp models. Anyway, the nf7-s v2.0 is a GREAT board. Something cheap but still good it the EPOX 8rda(my board).

Stray Dog Joined: 08 Jun 2003 Posts: 17

By the way any temps that are stated are load temps.

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 8:36 am Post subject:

Stay away from Epox unless you want a bonfire in your case. Go with the longtime manufacturers with a trusted name: Abit (which I use) or Asus. I'll never mess around with the likes of Shuttle or Epox ever again. Both tried to burn my house down.

Stray Dog Joined: 08 Jun 2003 Posts: 17

Stay away from Epox? Use ASUS? I have yet to get an ASUS board that worked right out of the box. I've owned two and had to RMA them both. Plus try getting a good temp reading out of an ASUS board. They suck. Go to [url]forums.cluboverclocker.com[/url] and check out the Motherboard threads. You should notice most problems people have are ASUS related. (bbandit hugs his Epox). And what do you mean epox almost burnt down your house? Did you install it correcly, did you not ground it properly? Anyway I will agree that the Abit is pretty good. The NF7-S v2.0 is probalbly the best board on the market right now. Very Happy

Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2003 9:05 am Post subject:

Parody of Kazmanoff (sp?) from movie Armagedon:

"Abit/Asus mobos, Shuttle/Epox mobos, ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!!!"

Stray Dog Joined: 01 Jul 2003 Posts: 22

tom wrote:
2. What is a good Socket A CPU + Fan for under £50?

I use the Alpha PAL8045T

Worked out at just under £50 with a fan and delivery, and works like a charm.

You do need the 4 mounting holes around your CPU socket though, and it does weigh a hell of a lot, so a decent strong mobo is handy...

Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2003 10:23 am Post subject:

bbandit wrote:
Stay away from Epox? Use ASUS? I have yet to get an ASUS board that worked right out of the box. I've owned two and had to RMA them both. Plus try getting a good temp reading out of an ASUS board. They suck. Go to [url]forums.cluboverclocker.com[/url] and check out the Motherboard threads. You should notice most problems people have are ASUS related. (bbandit hugs his Epox). And what do you mean epox almost burnt down your house? Did you install it correcly, did you not ground it properly? Anyway I will agree that the Abit is pretty good. The NF7-S v2.0 is probalbly the best board on the market right now.

I do not no much about mother boards and such. I have athlon 1800+. What does the + mean? And how do you check temps? And another thing is how and what is over clocking?

Moderator Joined: 05 Dec 2000 Posts: 5941 Location: USA

deaski wrote:
I do not no much about mother boards and such. I have athlon 1800+. What does the + mean? And how do you check temps? And another thing is how and what is over clocking?

Motherboard Monitor is a good program for checking temps - Overclockers.com is a good resource for overclocking info (there are many others) - w Big Smile

f!

Posted: Sun Oct 26, 2003 7:42 pm Post subject: Re: A Few CPU Questions

gronenmeyer wrote:
tom wrote:
3. What is an acceptable temperature for a chip (Athlon 1.8XP) to be running at?

Anything up to around 50-55 celcius should be fine. When it gets higher than that I find it a bit too much, even though they're supposed to be able to run up to around 80 celcius or so (can't remember how much exactly).

Uh...the diode or the socket? Because right now my Athlon 2000+ is running with a 65 C diode and 68 C socket. Is this alright, or should I look into some more ventilation?

Big Dog Joined: 17 Mar 2003 Posts: 3448 Location: KERNOW

thats not so good. more ventilation needed.

Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2003 5:01 am Post subject:

tom wrote:
thats not so good. more ventilation needed.

I was afraid of that. Oh well...I guess I'll just take the side off of my comp for now...