My first question is how much a mobo affects how much you can overclock? And then what would be a good mobo with NF2 to overclock with?

And lastly, I have an ECS K7S5A with cracked BIOS so i can change the FSB, does anyone know if it is any good for OCing?

Thanks

K7S5A......it is pretty horrible.... i had one.... it cant maintain a stable 166fsb, also there are no options like the vcore and multiplier settings

the mobo is very important for OC'ing.... depending on your budget, check out the epox 8RDA+ or the abit NF7-S rev2.... you cant go wrong with either.....

The question "Does the Mobo really matter?" WTF dude...how do all of your system components connect? Thats right, the motherboard.
You step back on the motherboard; you step back on the system, trusted manufactuers should be your only consideration no matter how low your budget is.

I only trust Gigabyte, Asus, Abit, and Epox. Many people will list others and call me stupid for not trusting them, but to each his own.

You're stupid tekx!! j/k MSI is pretty reliable too

Of the five things that really matter most:

CPU
Ram
Mobo
PSU
Cooling

The mobo is probably the single most important factor. If your board lacks appropriate features, overclocking will be impossible.

If your board/ bios lacks the finer points like voltage adjustments and agp / pci dividers, your oc will be frustrating and small.

You can put all the best gear on a sheitty mobo, you will get nowhere!

You're stupid Tekx! Chaintec is great and looks pimp too!

Ok thanks guys. So how is ASUS for OCing? I have heard they are great for all around stuff but I'm just starting to get into OCing.

Thanks

Asus is good, but I bought a budget one (ASUS A7S333 for 70$)
It is a good stable board, but just mediocre for overclocking.
If I could do it again i would have spent 130$ on a Nforce 2 chipset Asus motherboard and been much happier.

Epox, MSI, Gigabyte, and ASUS all make good boards, I would try NewEgg.com for prices, Go for features that you will need, and don't buy one with stuff you don't need (like onboard video, you will want your own video card! (Ati Radeon 9700 or 9800 are among the best, but expensive at 300 to 400$) or onboard sound if you already have good sound card.
Read some reviews before plunking down cash, remember retail stores just want to move stuff off the shelf, so it might already be outdated when you buy it

I'm using the Asus A7N8X Deluxe Rev 2.0 board for my overclock and it has been very stable and reliable.

Currently running my xp1700+ Tbred B chip at 2407MHZ, 219X 11 for 438 FSB.

Pretty good board for around $120-$130.

Does the mobo matter?

Here's my situation. 2500 Barton on KM266A chipset board-locked to 266 bus on 333 bus chip. Screwed.

Yep, it matters. Get the best you can afford. Go Chaintech...

D_M
Read the forums and you'll get a feel for the OCability of various boards. There is a truckload of infomation here. My advise is to never cut corners at the MOBO level. It's the backbone of your system.
rcurtis,
What are you cooling your system with?

Ok Thanks guys, the reason I asked is I saw alot of mentions of Epox and Abit, and I had previously thought they were budget crap (shows how much I knew).

RCurtis: What cooling are you using and what ram?

She's aircooled at the moment with a Thermalright SLK-800 and a vantec Tornado at full blast. IT's crazy loud! Run's pretty hot....around 56 to 58 C at load. Moving into water cooling now as the heat is all that's holding me back I think. Gotta a little more headroom with this particular chip.

Ram is the Corsair XMS Twin 256M 2,2,2,5.

Uhm, thats a little high, I get 41C load with my fan on medium, on a crappy volcaon9

Well as I stated, "pretty hot"! I realize it's high and that's the reason I'm moving to a water cooled/water chiller setup. Temps are to be expected for a 1000Mhz OC.

lol, mines only a 500mhz or so overclock...prolly need a better cooler to get more. Get one of those vapochill units.

hmm i saw a board called the 7NIL1 Summit for only $70, is that good enough? (aka can it do FSB of 200MHz, high volts, multiplier setting, etc)

PS it is a Chaintech and the specs say: 7NIL1 Summit nForce2 chipset 400FSB, Dual-Ch DDR400, AGP8X, Audio, Lan - uATX

basically my price range for a good mobo is about $85, http://www.pricewatch.com/1/2/5123-1.htm

Quote: Originally posted by rcurtis ...Temps are to be expected for a 1000Mhz OC.

OK, I'm calling this one! *cough bullsh!t! cough*
Can't seem to believe you seeing as how BA is getting a 1K overclock and that is with a Vapochill unit attatched
You claim to get a 1k with a SLK 800. Right,...have you met my Girlfriend JLO?