200N and XP3200

[Mike210]

200N and XP3200

[Mike210]

Is it possible to install a Barton 3200+ in a 200N?  I curently have the Barton running in a mid tower but the more I read about SFF the more I am ready to make the change.  However the specs on Biostars website say only up to 3000+ but specs on other sites say up to 3200+.  I would really like to move to a SFF but cannot justify buying a new processor just to do so.  Thanks.

Mike

[fobis]

I would seriously advise against buying a 200N at this point in time.
What do you need an SFF for?

[Mike210]

Don't really need one.  Just like the idea of getting rid of the big box for something smaller and quieter.

[fobis]

The 200N would definitely be smaller, yes. But quieter... I wish. If you want a 200N running quietly, you have to be prepared to mod like crazy and not overclock so high.

[rrussell]

WOW! Smackdown from Fobis

Not that I disagree - if you like the hands-on stuff, and are willing to cut a couple (or more) holes, then it's a good place to start.  But to get mine quiet, I had to add cross-fans and holes, replace the CPU cooler and exhaust fan, and cut a hole in the roof and turn the PSU upside down so it could breathe cool air itself. It's that PSU fan that's the real bugger. On a whim, I also replaced the VGA cooler and drilled some holes so it could get more air as well. It's been an ongoing project, and once I was done I was like, "Well, that was fun - what now?"

That's all about making it quiet, of course. I still love the thing

That said - the latest bios should let you run a 3200+. Mine's running at 3200+ speeds, though it's not a bona fide 3200+, so an actual one should be just fine. If you still want one.

[jebo_4jc]

The 200N was never designed to support 400mhz fsb processors.  Luckily, the nforce chip can handle speeds up to and around 400mhz.  My 3000+ cpu has the 400mhz FSB like the 3200+ does, and I've had to *baby* the 200n to get it to run at the 400mhz speed.  Basically, you have to move up to 400mhz slowly, starting at about 350mhz or so (175mhz system bus) and bump up a few mhz at a time till you get to 400mhz.  At that point, you should be relatively stable.

[granolamonkey]

Like fobis & rrussell, I ran a XP mobile chip in mine ...

I disagree that it takes babying to get the 200n to run at 400MHz ... From the day I bought the XP-M 2500+ chip it ran at 11*200FSB for two years. I had 2*512mb of pc3200 DDR that ran synched with the FSB ... and sometimes I ran at 205 ... but without any real purpose.

200n is a good investment, but rather than dropping a wad of cash on the SFF box new or used, I would recommend selling your CPU and mobo on a forum and upgrading to a more current socket. Depends though - I don't even use my 200n lately but it is hard to get rid of it! I love this thing!

[Derekasaurus Rex]

It seems Biostar's web site mentions the 3000+ as the fastest supported CPU in the iDEQ 200N, but it also mentions a 400MHz FSB (with BIOS update), so it seems like the 3200+ should work.

Incidentally, the 3400+ is also a 400MHz Socket A chip -- would that work as well? Or is the 3200+ the fastest CPU the iDEQ 200N will support?

I'm trying to get a bit more life out of mine and fortunately I stocked it with 2GB DDR400, but unfortunately being it's being wasted on a 2400+, so I'm looking to drop in something faster without going into OC territory.

[rrussell]

I'd think you'll be ok - make sure you get the latest bios from their web site.

I agree with granolamonkey - I'd say it's a tradeoff between the multiplier and the fsb. I could hit 200 so long as I inched my way up to it, but doing that PLUS the multiplier made things sketchy.

YMMV of course