Underclocking Barton?

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fetaost
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Underclocking Barton?

Post by fetaost » Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:41 pm

I'm upgrading to an AMD Barton 2500+ and an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe mobo. Is it possible to underclock/undervolt with this combination. I'm pleased with the speed om my current 1GHz AMD but I had to change mobo.

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Post by pingu666 » Tue Mar 25, 2003 3:03 pm

yeah i think it is

fetaost
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Post by fetaost » Tue Mar 25, 2003 10:56 pm

Does the Barton have to be unlocked on some tiny bridges? I can't find any information on that.

counterpt
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Post by counterpt » Wed Mar 26, 2003 2:31 am

I'm really sorry but I'm very curious why you would want to. I'm not acting dumb or anything, I'm just curious why you'd get a really fast processor to slow it. is there an advantage to do this rather than get a slower (cooler) processor in the first place?
Thanks.

fetaost
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Post by fetaost » Wed Mar 26, 2003 1:09 pm

Of course I could have bouht an old 1GHz Thunderbird cheap, if they're still around, (I crushed my previous when installing a PAL8045 heatsink.) but I thought that the Barton might be more efficient with 0.13 micron and its bigger L2 cache and thus less heat per MHz. I might be wrong though. Anyway, if I put my computer in another room I could use it with full speed.

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Post by Rusty075 » Wed Mar 26, 2003 1:29 pm

A Barton running at say 1400Mhz will be both cooler and more powerful than a Tbird running at the same speed. That's thanks to the improved marchitecture, the .13 process, the bigger cache, and the increased FSB.

And as far as I've seen the Bartons are unlocked, just like the Tbreds. Although it depends somewhat on the motherboard used.

I found a review here, KickAssGear.com where they overclock a Barton 2500 on a ASUS A7N8X board. They report that both the multiplier and the FSB are unlocked on that board. If they can overclock it, you should be able to underclock it. Remember too that as you underclock it you'll be able to drop the Vcore down too, making run even cooler. For the best performance I'd underclock it by dropping the multiplier, not the FSB. You may want to try raising the FSB while dropping the multiplier, that way the increased bus speeds will counteract the performance loss from the reduction in Mhz.

ez2remember
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Post by ez2remember » Wed Mar 26, 2003 3:16 pm

That motherboard you mentioned does not undervolt, but you can overvolt. Also I think that particular board does not require joining the bridges to overclock. The new chipset allows for overclocking/underclocking without any modification, like I found on my Asus A7V8X. :D

fetaost
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Post by fetaost » Wed Mar 26, 2003 3:37 pm

Is there any meaning of underclocking if you can't undervolt? (I don't know.)

ez2remember
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Post by ez2remember » Wed Mar 26, 2003 6:25 pm

fetaost wrote:Is there any meaning of underclocking if you can't undervolt? (I don't know.)
When I had the Asus A7V8X I did exactly that to see underclocking without undervolting would help temps. Yes, but not very effective, for every 300-400 Mhz I descreased I got a reduction of only about 1oC. Not worth the time nor effort, it's only effective with undervolting. :D

counterpt
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Post by counterpt » Thu Mar 27, 2003 4:32 am

fetaost wrote:Of course I could have bouht an old 1GHz Thunderbird cheap, if they're still around, (I crushed my previous when installing a PAL8045 heatsink.) but I thought that the Barton might be more efficient with 0.13 micron and its bigger L2 cache and thus less heat per MHz. I might be wrong though. Anyway, if I put my computer in another room I could use it with full speed.
ebay, I've bought a few there.
Why not get an older but not as old xp processot and with the money you save, get a good quiet cooler. This way when you upgrade you still have the cooler.

Seriously though, thanks. I didn't didn't know about the advantages of underclocking. While I understand why, I don't think I will. It's like getting a Porche and only driving it at 10mph (or kph, same effect!).

fetaost
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Post by fetaost » Thu Mar 27, 2003 12:38 pm

ez2remember wrote:That motherboard you mentioned does not undervolt, but you can overvolt.
I checked the manual for the A7N8X on Asus website:

"CPU Vcore
When the CPU VCore Setting parameter is set to [Manual] this field permits selection of specific CPU core voltages.
Configuration options: [1.100V] [1.125V] ... [1.825V] [1.850V]"

Seems like it should be possible to undervolt, if the processor permits it? But as usual I'm not sure. =)

fetaost
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Post by fetaost » Mon Apr 07, 2003 1:20 am

Finally I've recieved my new gear. The A7N8X does not undervolt lower than 1.6v even though the manual says so. Maybe a future bios will allow that.
Also I can't see any effect of the Q-fan thing which is supposed to lower fan speed. It isn't well documented, don't know which fans that are affected and at what temp full speed is used.
Anyway it seems like it wont be needed because CPU temp is 45C using an Alpha PAL8045 and an Arctic Cooling TC-1 fan. The Nexus PSU is the only case fan.
I was planning to use a Papst 1500 rpm fan on an Alpha PAL8045 heatsink but the Papst was too loud even at 7V! The shroud on the heatsink made it worse and using rubber grommets didn't help enough. Too bad I can't find any Panaflo's here in sweden. The Arctic Cooling TC-1 is ok though, maybe I'll buy another one for the case when it gets warmer in the summer.

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Post by Raygun » Mon Apr 07, 2003 8:32 am

http://www.overclockers.se sells Panaflo for 125 skr.

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