Got my Nforce2 today.

[sethpa]

Just picked up some Kingston Hyper-X PC3500, will post how it does when I get a chance to put it in. Has to be better than the old Samsung PC2700 I'm running, which won't do better than 177 at Cas 2.5.

[wvjohn]

i have s stick of geil 3200 which i got as a rma for some ocz - haven't tried it in case i want to sell it - it does come in a very swank plexi box, though

the best i've gotten is 210 with some mushkin cheapo 3200 - one stick only

with the mushkin and a stick of 2700 sammy the best is about 185

[Bigal]

Well, I did go ahead and order that GEIL memory, since it looked pretty tasty to me. Once everything arrives and I have a chance to put that motherboard in my Coolermaster ATC-710 (the second case that I modified over the holidays), I'll let you know how well everything works. I don't have a videocard yet, so I may have to borrow one from another machine temporarily.

[Bigal]

Well, the memory is due to arrive on 03-04, and I also decided to order a shim from Best Byte in Texas (XMPT AMD CPU Shim, BLUE Anodized), since my Thermalright SLK900U is not going to sit on all four of those corner pads of the AMD Athlon XP 2100+ tbred 'B' chip. I don't want to crush the die, even though I will be using the four mounting holes in the Epox EP-8RDA+ motherboard.

My videocard is the Abit Siluro GF4 Ti4200-8x OTES 128Mb, one very cool looking card. I could have bought a Ti4600 for $50 more, but this card is just too cool to pass on. Here's a link to it: http://www.abit.com.tw/abitweb/webjsp/e ... 00-8X+OTES

[NascarFool]

Well Pred, you convinced me that I needed an upgrade so I got me an 8RDA+. Installed and running. Now I'll have to see what I can do with this XP2400.

[Bigal]

During this past week, I've been doing minor things to get this system ready. Mounting that massive SLK900U heatsink on the Epox EP-8RDA+ had me worried, as I was waiting on that shim to arrive. Then I noticed the four round pads that go onto the heatsink, since the four pads on the Athlon XP 2100+ won't touch the base of the heatsink. I thought, "Well, I can wait another day for the shim to arrive, or I can use these four pads and mount it tonight!". I went ahead and used the four pads, and after downloading the instructions from Thermalright (no instructions came with my heatsink), I had it installed. The GEIL PC3200 DDR SDRAM went in next (boy, their plexiglass sliding box is very high class), and the board went into the case. The next day I picked up an Ultra-ATA/133 controller card to handle the Zip 100 and the CDRW drive (both primary), and I picked up the TurtleBeach soundcard since I liked it so much with my MSI Nforce1 board.

Today I finished the assembly. My Abit Siluro GF4 Ti4200-8x OTES 128Mb videocard looks so cool, but I wanted to slow that 7200 RPM fan down a bit. So I decided to use my Vantec Nexus Multi-Function Panel CPU fan controller to adjust the fan voltage. Although I spliced the wires fine, and it controls the speed a bit, I forgot that without a fan speed (yellow) indication to the Nexus panel, it thinks the fan has stopped and it starts beeping! What a pain. I decided to plug the Abit fan directly back into it's fan connecter, and then I used the Vantec Nexus to control my Vantec 92mm CPU fan (which I don't need to slow down at all really, as it's pretty quiet.

Right now, I'm doing the Windows update (W2K), and installing software. The system is running very well, although that Abit fan is causing most of my noise. I also have a Vantec Nexus 4-channel fan controller that allows me to adjust the four fans (2 front, 2 rear) in this Coolermaster ATC-710 case (which I modded over Xmas). I won't be overclocking that t-bred chip until I get the system configured with my games and stuff.

Any ideas on how best to control that Abit 7200 RPM fan? I assume it runs off the same 12 Volts that the other fans use, so maybe I can use that Vantec Nexus fan controller to keep it quiet. Or, is there a way to disable that stinking alarm on the Vantec Nexus Multi-Function panel? I don't want to destroy the sound output - just disable it.

I'll post more when I get some FSB adjustments made. The SLK900U is keeping this CPU real cool right now; I think it's running just over 30 C in the bios measurement.

[Bigal]

Just a short update. I've got all five of my systems running in the basement right now, because we are having Austrailian Cypress wood flooring installed on the main level as I write this. What a job, moving three of the machines down there and reconfiguring my network! Anyway, I decided to increase the FSB today for the 8RDA+ (aka my Unreal machine), along with the multiplier. I'm running a 13.5 multiplier, along with a 148 MHz FSB. This gives me 2009 MHz, my first step above 2 GHz! I set the memory frequency to 100%, memory timings to optimal, CPU interface to optimal, and system performance to expert. If you go to this link: http://www.bloodys.com/scripts/cpu.php , you will be able to get the scoop on what the numbers mean for your particular CPU. The numbers I have tell me that my Athlon XP 2100+ is a Thoroughbred-B, it's stepping code is AIUHB, and it was downgraded from the 2800+. That last bit is very good news, I do believe. This CPU should be good for much more. However, I want to see if a new bios has been made available yet to fix that possible "no boot" if you go too high in the FSB setting - as there isn't a jumper to reset the board back to 100 MHz for the FSB.
Does anybody know if a new bios is available for this board to fix that issue?

By the way, my temperature at 2 GHz is only 34C (idle). That's using the SLK900U with the 92mm Vantec Stealth fan.

[Bigal]

Oh yeah, I solved that Abit fan issue. I used one channel of my Vantec fan controller to control the videocard fan. I also just received a Thermaltake 3-speed fan control that mounts in a PCI hole, but the Vantec does a real good job of slowing that 7200 RPM fan down to where I don't even hear it. I basically set it pretty low when I'm not using the machine for much, and if I want to start gaming, I can crank it back up to what ever speed I please. Owners of that new Geforce FX card should consider doing the same thing to control their fans too.

[wvjohn]

my 2100+ is happy as can be at 13.5 x172 @1.75 - folding 24/7 gaming etc. 37C idle