Athlon XP 2500

[prctr]

I recently built an EPoX EP-8VTAI board with an Athlon 2500 XP (Barton) CPU. It runs at only 1100 Mhz. :huh: :( Clock speed is 166 Mhz.

(I am getting this info using PC Wizard 2004 diagnostics / system info) :blink:

I wonder if anyone can tell me how to at least make it run at the rated speed of the processor, if not a bit faster? Not that I am an over-clocker or anything - just wanted to do an AMD machine inexpensively to compare to the P4 machines I have, and would like it to perform reasonably well for its capabilities. Needless to say, I am totally unfamiliar with the various motherboard settings, BIOS settings or any other "tweaks" that might be relevant. :blink:

I would very much appreciate any suggestions - oh yes, and I've put 512 of PC3200 in it.

Note: If I've posted this at the wrong spot, moderators, please move it. Many thanks. :D

[-pops-]

The "correct" operating speed for this processor is 1.83 GHz. Check in your motherboard manual for the jumper or BIOS multipliers which would give this speed.

I would not recommend overclocking, certainly at this stage.

[Boris]

Do as -pops- says.

Your multiplier should be 11

Doesn't seem to be any sort of manual to download for it from

http://www.epox.com/USA/product.asp?id=EP-8VTAI ???

No FAQs on it either !

D'oh ! - missed the download link completely ! :blush:

[prctr]

Thanks Belatucadrus, Boris and pops.

I knew you would come up with something substantive. Now, as for BIOS multipliers and jumpers, well, I'll see what the main board book says about them. Very little, I suspect

I would certainly settle for 1.83, since I am told that an AMD performs somewhere near 25% better than its rated speed suggests, which would push the performance up to around 2.25 in P4 terms- in theory, anyway.

Thanks again for the fast responses !!!

[-pops-]

Yes, you can push the performance but you said in your first post that you weren't an overclocker.

If you do want to overclock, think VERY carefully before you do it. Overclocking is not nearly as popular these days as it used to be as the speeds of modern CPUs are such that the increase in performance obtained with this dangerous procedure is not very noticable in actual use terms.

By overclocking, you can easily turn your computer into a short term electric cooker before it dies a (sometimes spectacular) death. I know, I've seen it happen. There are easier and much cheaper ways of making firework displays and which don't need you to possibly call the fire service.

Seriously, if you do want a faster speed than the CPU is rated for, it is much safer to buy an upgrade.

[prctr]

You've convinced me NOT to overclock!

Now, having just fought with the Power BIOS, I can tell you that there is no way apparent to me to set a multiplier of 11. I have settings, in .5 increments, to go from "5" on up to "9" or so.

The clock speed, in the default settings, is 100Mhz, and it seems to me that should be higher. I am told in the BIOS that I can change the "DEC" setting from 0-250. This, of course, means nothing to me, but I tried setting it to 166, and the thing wouldn't start.

Perhaps I now have purchased an Athlon XP 2500 that will run for me at 1100 Mhz. Impressive! I'm disgusted. Another paperweight for the desktop...............Aaaargh!

[-pops-]

Have you looked in the manual around page 4-21 (as Belatucadrus recommends)?

You will see details about multipliers etc. and pre and post that page for other BIOS details.

[Pilch]

does the board have jumper's on it at all that you need to set?

[prctr]

I looked in the book as suggested, but it isn't too clear - and when I fiddle with the settings, it won't boot at all. Maybe it IS something on the mainboard. I'll report back if I find jumper settings on the main board. I think if I can set those to 166, it should run as well as it is going to.

Thanks very much - again.