help me spend money

[Tom]

I have an Asus A7N8X deluxe mb, with an Athlon 2200XP cpu in it. It also has 512MB of ram, don't ask me what, but its two sticks, and I think its 3200 speed?

I want to upgrade the CPU to an Athlon Barton 3000 if thats possible from Scan, and I also would like to add more memory.

AFAIK the mb is the revision 2 edition, is it as simple as popping the new cpu in, and plugging the RAM in at the same time, and then just checking the bios? Please bear in mind I haven't got the foggiest idea about all this FSB speed business, I just want a solution that I can plug in and set to 'auto' and it will work

 

[Tom]

Oh I intend to take the memory along with me, to make sure I get compatiable RAM. Its from the same place anyway.

 

[WPKenny]

You should be fine tom. Have you applied any thermal goo in the past? It's not that tricky but there is a nack to it.

 

[Stimpy]

You may need a new CPU fan to depending on what your old fan is.

 

[Tom]

You should be fine tom. Have you applied any thermal goo in the past? It's not that tricky but there is a nack to it.

Aye, I've always been good with soldering irons, building cables, etc, so a bit of paste on a die isn't really that tricky. Sellotape can work wonders!

 

[Danya]

Sellotape...?
BTW, don't spread goop with your finger, you'll dump a load of grease and skin particles in it. Instead use a clean plastic spreader of some sort - I use an epoxy spreader I've had for ages, but a clean credit card are similar works just as well.

 

[Clown]

I used cling film.

 

[Tom]

Well, I've put an 3000 XP in it (I wanted the 3200 but they were out of stock so what the hell), and it seems to be running fine. I didn't bother with any heat paste, as the AMD heatsink had a sticky pad on the bottom I presume for the same thing.

The bios says the cpu temp is about 41 C, is that ok?

 

[Ardrias]

Mine is at 59 idle and ~67 load, so you should be ok.
I have a 2400+, would think the heat specs are about the same.

 

[Danya]

Well, I've put an 3000 XP in it (I wanted the 3200 but they were out of stock so what the hell), and it seems to be running fine. I didn't bother with any heat paste, as the AMD heatsink had a sticky pad on the bottom I presume for the same thing.

The bios says the cpu temp is about 41 C, is that ok?

Yeah that's what the pad is for, and paste+pad is a bad combo - one or the other.

41C sounds fine - basically if it doesn't crash it's not too hot.

 

[Tom]

Bought me one of these today:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=121625

Bloody hell its quick! Shame about the noisy fan though.

 

[.Wilier.]

*reckons Tom has too much money*

Nice card Tommeh, Im slightly suprised they even had them in stock.

 

[old.user4556]

Good card Tom, I managed to clock mine to 412/550 (12MHz over the Ultra). Search for the 'coolbits' reg hack, alternatively I can send you it.

G

 

[Tom]

yeah I activated the hidden overclocking panel, at the moment its on automatic overclock though. Is that mode any good?