Mobile Barton 2500 - owners and wannabe owners...

The forum for non-component-related silent pc discussions.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

kie
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2003 10:46 am
Location: UK

Mobile Barton 2500 - owners and wannabe owners...

Post by kie » Wed Feb 18, 2004 8:43 am

Couple of things:

Could people here running the mobile barton cpus give me some idea of their capability? I have a undervoltable motherboard (Abit NF7-S), so that's not a problem. I'd like to know how slow/cool and fast/hot you're running them.
Thanks ;)


Secondly, I have a supplier in the UK ready to get some Barton 2500 Mobile cpu's in stock, but he wants to see some interest first. Could those interested in getting one of these reply here and i'll direct him to the thread. They will cost £59.00+ vat each.

lm
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 1251
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2003 6:14 am
Location: Finland

Post by lm » Wed Feb 18, 2004 9:19 am

Iirc you can make a mobile barton from a non-mobile barton by connecting 2 of the cpu pins with a copper thread or similar. Undoable mod which does not void your warranty.

Mats
Posts: 3044
Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2003 6:54 am
Location: Sweden

Post by Mats » Wed Feb 18, 2004 10:36 am

Question: Are the mobile Athlons made after veek 40 "superlocked" too?

kie
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2003 10:46 am
Location: UK

Post by kie » Wed Feb 18, 2004 4:59 pm

ok done some research

mobile barton 2500 - are all unlocked and all low voltage

overclockers can do 2.7GHz with air cooling, so this can be cool and powerful

best of all, they are relatively cheap !

Justin_R
Posts: 319
Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2002 3:26 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA, USA

Post by Justin_R » Wed Feb 18, 2004 9:34 pm

lm wrote:Iirc you can make a mobile barton from a non-mobile barton by connecting 2 of the cpu pins with a copper thread or similar. Undoable mod which does not void your warranty.
It's a bit inaccurate to say that this pin-mod makes a non-mobile into a mobile. What it does is make your motherboard think that the CPU is a mobile. You don't get the other chief benefit of a mobile CPU, which is a lower voltage rating at the same MHz compared to the non-mobile.

Mobile CPUs are always unlocked to allow proper interaction with power/speed management software (like PowerNow or SpeedStep).

CoolGav
Posts: 398
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2003 4:26 am
Location: €ngland
Contact:

Post by CoolGav » Thu Feb 19, 2004 2:19 am

I'm interested, but I don't know if my motherboard is compatable (Asus A7V600), if not I might be tempted with a different board. It will also depend on the actual supplier. I currently run a Barton XP2500+ at 2.2GHz and it can do more. Reducing the power but not the speed would be nice, although once it gets to the new CPU, new motherboard stage I start to think of a whole new PC, meaning new RAM, case, PSU etc = spiraling costs (and extra F@H points!)

Harry Azol
Posts: 228
Joined: Fri May 02, 2003 9:21 am

Post by Harry Azol » Thu Feb 19, 2004 9:53 pm

what's the stock voltage?

what voltage is required for 2.7ghz?

CoolGav
Posts: 398
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2003 4:26 am
Location: €ngland
Contact:

Post by CoolGav » Fri Feb 20, 2004 2:06 am

The Inquirer has a piece about the mobile Athlon XP-M 2500+ processor. CPU City has them on preorder at the suggested £59+VAT price...

So what boards will run them?

kie
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2003 10:46 am
Location: UK

Post by kie » Fri Feb 20, 2004 7:11 am

any socket A board with options to change the multiplier down will work - as these mobile chips are designed to run at lower multipliers than the regular XP chips

they're designed to run at 133/266 FSB and 13 multiplier

fabre
Posts: 316
Joined: Fri Feb 06, 2004 3:31 pm
Location: Vancouver

Post by fabre » Fri Feb 20, 2004 5:25 pm

Stock voltage would be 1.45V

big thread on the subject at the overclockers forum, http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php? ... did=271103

CoolRunnings
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2004 12:47 pm
Contact:

Post by CoolRunnings » Sat Feb 21, 2004 2:22 pm

I have one of these chips. Don't assume they're some sort of miracle chip. They're not. They are just picked out of some higher quality wafers than many other Barton 2500s. The stock rating is something like 133x15 or thereabouts and they run at 1.45 volts at THAT setting. They do not run at 1.45v at 2.2ghz with a 200mhz FSB. I'm running 10.5x200 at 1.65v to stay stable. *shrug*

fabre
Posts: 316
Joined: Fri Feb 06, 2004 3:31 pm
Location: Vancouver

Post by fabre » Sat Feb 21, 2004 2:40 pm

I want one to use in an antec minuet case so the less heat the better.
No oc rather some underclocking and undervolting.

CoolRunnings any chance you could try to see if it could run with just a heatsink and no fan?

CoolRunnings
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2004 12:47 pm
Contact:

Post by CoolRunnings » Sat Feb 21, 2004 4:58 pm

It won't. Even at 1.45v it still gets pretty hot. It may "run" but I personally don't want to chance things.

PorBleemo
Posts: 90
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2004 11:23 am

Post by PorBleemo » Sat Feb 21, 2004 8:08 pm

CLARIFICATION:

The mobile Barton 2500+ runs on 1.25v unlike the other mobiles which run on 1.45v!

And you can typically hit 2.7GHz on 2v to the core provided that you have extreme cooling and an excellent overclocking motherboard.

-Por

wumpus
Patron of SPCR
Posts: 946
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 9:57 pm
Location: Berkeley, CA, USA
Contact:

Post by wumpus » Sat Feb 21, 2004 8:14 pm

I ordered one of these immediately for my HTPC after I read about it on the front page of http://www.techreport.com ; wish I had found out a bit sooner before NewEgg's computers auto-incremented the price to $100 from the original $75 based on the demand spike :(

Reader comments on the newegg page do NOT confirm the 1.25 default vcore:
Got mine a full day earlier than expected. Thanks Newegg!! Everything seems to be working just fine on my NF-7 mobo. However, I think there is a typo in the product description. It says the default core voltage is 1.25V when I think it is supposed to be 1.45V like the 2400+ and 2600+. Mine would boot at that voltage but was not stable. Currently I have it folding during the burn in period, but I plan to overclock the heck out of this puppy. Hopefully I will get 2.6ghz or more!! Great deal on a great cpu. Grab one before they go out of stock!

CoolRunnings
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2004 12:47 pm
Contact:

Post by CoolRunnings » Sat Feb 21, 2004 8:45 pm

Stock voltage is not 1.25v! It's 1.45. That's a mistake on NewEgg's site. Also, remember that your milage may vary. You are in no way guaranteed a good overclock with these chips. Some are excellent, others are marginal. It's luck of the draw...

lm
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 1251
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2003 6:14 am
Location: Finland

Post by lm » Sun Feb 22, 2004 3:56 am

Now do those mobile chips undervolt any more from their stock voltage?
My 2800+ runs with 1.33V when underclocked as a 2500+. And that's not a mobile, plain regular barton. Those mobile chips don't sound to be any better in speed/voltage quality.

PorBleemo
Posts: 90
Joined: Fri Jan 09, 2004 11:23 am

Post by PorBleemo » Sun Feb 22, 2004 5:05 am

lm wrote:Now do those mobile chips undervolt any more from their stock voltage?
My 2800+ runs with 1.33V when underclocked as a 2500+. And that's not a mobile, plain regular barton. Those mobile chips don't sound to be any better in speed/voltage quality.
You also have to keep in mind that your chip is really good! Mine can't be undervolted more then 1.6v otherwise I get errors. But it already runs at 35c load so I'm not worried.

-Por

einolu
Posts: 92
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2003 8:29 am
Location: Boston, MA
Contact:

Post by einolu » Sun Feb 22, 2004 6:55 am

just to show u how nice this chip is:

http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/viewtop ... 8d46713ab0

~EO

kie
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2003 10:46 am
Location: UK

Post by kie » Sun Feb 22, 2004 11:55 am

the thing about the mobile chip is that it is a regular barton 2500 that's been selected because of it's low voltage characteristics - basically a high quality barton 2500.

furthermore, it is unlocked.

this means that you can take the underclock, undervolt route to get max cpu power for minimum heat, or you can go for overclocking it and require less cooling that you would require for doing the same with a standard barton 2500.

on top of that, all of them overclock well, and some are amazing, 2.7GHz on air for a chip rated at 1.8GHz is amazing

dukla2000
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 1465
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2003 12:27 pm
Location: Reading.England.EU

Post by dukla2000 » Tue Feb 24, 2004 5:19 am

kie - do you (or anyone) have AMD spec sheets for these things? I have gone round in circles @ AMD and cant find something that has fsb/multiplier, VCore and OPN details. Keep getting back to the Model 10 Data Sheet which doesn't mention 'mobile' :?

I am looking for a cheapo CPU ugrade that will run 200*11, not sure if the XP2500 Barton or Mobile is a better bet.

BTW for UK folk - it seems Overclockers UK is about to get the mobile chips in at better prices than CPU City.

kie
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2003 10:46 am
Location: UK

Post by kie » Tue Feb 24, 2004 5:59 am

this is the amd page for the mobile processors

They're quoted to run at 14 x 133 = 1862MHz
However as they're mobile chips, what they actually do is stay at 133FSB but change the multiplier on the fly depending on load. That way they use less power which is good for laptops.

They run at 1.45V

Of course, they are unlocked and therefore can be run at anything you want pretty much. They will definitely do 200*11. However so will a locked regular barton 2500. The advantage of using a mobile chip at this speed is that you could run at a lower VCore which - less heat.

If you want cheap and 200*11 go for the regular Barton 2500.

I'm playing with a mobile one at the moment, I'll post when I have some real numbers.

dukla2000
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 1465
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2003 12:27 pm
Location: Reading.England.EU

Post by dukla2000 » Tue Feb 24, 2004 8:01 am

Especially can you run 5 loops of Memtest86 test 5? This test is a cache test and fails both my XP1800 and XP2100 when I up the fsb to 200. Which basically told me my L1 and/or L2 on-chip cache can not hack 200.

lm
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 1251
Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2003 6:14 am
Location: Finland

Post by lm » Tue Feb 24, 2004 8:20 am

kie wrote:the thing about the mobile chip is that it is a regular barton 2500 that's been selected because of it's low voltage characteristics - basically a high quality barton 2500.
ITYM high quality barton. What stamp they put on it, 2500, 2800, 3000 or 3200 depends on just the chip quality afaik. There is nothing different in their construction afaik.

wumpus
Patron of SPCR
Posts: 946
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 9:57 pm
Location: Berkeley, CA, USA
Contact:

Post by wumpus » Wed Feb 25, 2004 7:37 pm

Well, I got my XP-M 2500+ from newegg. Unfortunately, I "forgot" that my HTPC has no ability to control the multiplier or the voltage.

That's why this post is powered by a blazin' 1ghz, 1.55v Barton. Yep, that's 166 x 6. I tried 200 x 6, but the onboard nForce2 video (or the 133mhz DDR I originally bought) can't quite handle that. It's stable, but I get video playback corruption over time if the FSB is too high-- anything around 185-200 anyway.

So unfortunately I won't be able to shed any light on the undervolting or overclocking potential of this chip.

What I did do was experiment with passive cooling of the CPU with only the Silver Mountain II heatsink-- a generic medium sized copper pin fin -- and the 120mm PS fan. So.. yeah. After about 4 minutes of prime95, when mbm reported 86c cpu temps, and still slowly climbing, I opted to turn the pc off :(. I know, I know, not likely to work but I was curious. The "virtually no airflow" case is really hard to deal with even at "only" 1ghz. Maybe with some ducting and undervolting?

After that failed experiment, I placed a 3-pin panaflo L 80mm with the zalman 56ohm reducer above the heatsink; that's about as low-airflow as I can go, I could barely feel air moving with my hand. After about 15 mins of prime95, that appears to be sloooowwwwly topping out at 61c.

It really is astonishing how big the difference is between "no airflow" and "barest whiff of directed airflow" for air cooling. I guess that's why the fanless cases are so inordinately hard to build.

kie
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2003 10:46 am
Location: UK

Post by kie » Thu Feb 26, 2004 1:14 am

Ok here's the current situation with my Mobile XP2500 Barton.

Firstly, what you can get out of these chips depends a lot on when they were manufactured as different batches get different results. They are many that will do 3GHz with extreme cooling.

However I am going for maximum GHz while retaining quietness.

I am using a thermalright SLK800 with a L1A fan. The fan is on a rheobus but at the moment I have is set at max volts (still very quiet considering I have 4 hard drives running in my rig). Obviously this is not going to provide extremem cooling for the cpu and therefore I am limited in the volts I can put through the chip while maintaining reasonable temp. So my max temp is 50C at full load.

Ok now for the numbers:

CPU = 2.4GHz (210 * 11.5)
VCore = 1.66V (standard for the mobile chip is 1.45, standard for barton is 1.65)
CPU temp = 40C idle, 50C full load.
Memory = 2*256MB + 1 * 512MB in dual channel, running at 2.5, 3, 3, 6 timmings (420MHz) (2.6V)

I can take the chip to 2.5Ghz but that require more VCore and therefore increases my full load temps above 50C which I don't like (60C is my working limit).

My chip is not one of the best overclockers as far as I can tell but I don't have the type of cooling that can take it to the edge anyway. Hope this helps people some.

wumpus
Patron of SPCR
Posts: 946
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 9:57 pm
Location: Berkeley, CA, USA
Contact:

Post by wumpus » Thu Feb 26, 2004 6:17 am

I brought my XP-M chip to work where I have multiplier and voltage control.

Yours is better than mine-- at 2400mhz @ 1.75v, mine generated immediate prime95 errors. I increased voltage to 1.9v and now it's running prime95 without errors.. so far.

It's no Pentium-M, but it's probably worth the additional $20 for silence (undervolting) or overclocking (overvolting) enthusiasts.

spacey
Posts: 81
Joined: Mon Aug 11, 2003 10:31 am
Location: Ontario, Canada

Post by spacey » Thu Feb 26, 2004 6:49 am

i installed mine last night, it boots up at 2.58 ghz at 1.825v but i think there is something up with my motherboard, perhaps it needs more to stay stable... it can't handle it. right now i'm at 215x11.5 = 2.367 ghz at 1.70v which seems to be okay.

compared to my old barton 2500+ non-mobile, i'm getting almost 200 mhz more with same amount of voltage.

wumpus
Patron of SPCR
Posts: 946
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 9:57 pm
Location: Berkeley, CA, USA
Contact:

Post by wumpus » Thu Feb 26, 2004 8:43 am

Yeah, I'm definitely not seeing this "2.7ghz!!1!" level of performance. Mine is not stable with 2500mhz @ 1.9v, and somewhat stable at 2400mhz with the same voltage..

JavaLava
Posts: 31
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2003 3:43 am
Location: Jakarta, Indonesia

Post by JavaLava » Fri Feb 27, 2004 7:44 am

kie wrote:Firstly, what you can get out of these chips depends a lot on when they were manufactured as different batches get different results. They are many that will do 3GHz with extreme cooling.
What is the full stepping code for your Mobile 2500+?

Post Reply