XFX 750a motherboard, overclock potential?

[Athlon Mark]

I just placed an order for an XFX 750a motherboard to utilize with an AMD 64 X2 5000+ Black Edition I picked up. I am now reading on forums that the HT multiplier cannot be changed on this board. Won't this will kill any overclocking potential this CPU has?

After reading up on this CPU, I was shooting for 3.0GHz with great cooling. Will this be an unobtainable goal with the 750a?

[below ambient]

I just placed an order for an XFX 750a motherboard to utilize with an AMD 64 X2 5000+ Black Edition I picked up. I am now reading on forums that the HT multiplier cannot be changed on this board. Won't this will kill any overclocking potential this CPU has?

After reading up on this CPU, I was shooting for 3.0GHz with great cooling. Will this be an unobtainable goal with the 750a?

you'll have to try and find out.. some cpus dont mind HTT changed, while others do...

[Athlon Mark]

Is there an option to change the HT multiplier? I've read on other forums there wasn't. Is there an auto multiplier that adjusts as the FSB goes up?

[Goliath182]

Judging by about every other AMD chip maxes out at, id say youll get 3.3 Ghz. AMD X2's just wont push much farther past that barrier without super cooling and volts.

[Athlon Mark]

Why did the XFX 750a that was reviewed here do so poorly in overclocking? They were only able to coax a 10% OC, from 2.4GHz to 2.64GHz?

http://bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1302&pageID=5065

Granted I've got a 64 X2 coming and this was a Phenom X3, but isn't the HT multiplier still a problem?

[Goliath182]

a X2 would be much lighter on this board. The NB doesnt have voltage options, but with the unlocked muti, I dont see you have much issue getting to at least 3 GHz.

[Athlon Mark]

Thanks man, makes me feel a lot better. I stuck with XFX because I've had good luck with my 680i LT mobo and Q6600 processor. But I was ready to send the 750a motherboard back after reading that review with the Phenom X3.

For anyone interested, here's the package I ordered. Should be here today:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3948277&CatId=2417

[Goliath182]

Looks pretty good. :wink:

What GPU you useing for it?

[Athlon Mark]

Not sure. I've always been an ATI person (my quadcore has a 3870), but I may give the 8800GT a try this time.

[Goliath182]

The 8800 GT is a fine card, I have one myself. :icon_tiphat:

[GC3333]

The 9800 GT is the more current version. While it doesn't necessarily offer any better performance than the 8800 GT, most brands now sport hybrid power, one of the more advanced features supported by the 750a. The 8800 GT series does not. Generally speaking, and surprisingly, there is little if any price differential between the 9800 and 8800 either. And some of the most recent 9800 GT's have GPU's that are built around a 55 nm process, thus having better thermal characteristics.

I recently purchased a pair of BFG 9800 GT OC 512mb PCIe v2 cards that support hybrid power. I got one at Fry's for $90 after rebate and the other at Microcenter for $140 after rebate.

[Athlon Mark]

I thought that one of the big selling points of the 8200/750a series was the hybrid graphics option, where the low-power integrated graphics would operate until the add-on card (higher energy consumption) was needed. Wouldn't this negate the need for that option on the card?

[Goliath182]

The power saver does lower performance a bit. Personally I could care less if i run a ton of wattage. Im runnin a 1KW PSU. You dont just buy one of those to sit around. :lol:

[GC3333]

The hybrid power "power saver" feature is not available with any of the 8800 series. Only in some of the 9800 series. You must look carefully to see if the manufacturer says this about its 9800 series card:

NVIDIA HybridPower™ Technology2
Lets you switch from the GeForce 9800 GT graphics card to the motherboard GeForce GPU when running non graphically-intensive applications for a quiet, low power PC experience.


Again, the 8800 series does NOT offer this feature.

[Athlon Mark]

Thanks for the info GC3333. I must have looked right over that little tidbit of info.