Okay, i just found some INFINEON HYS64D32309GU-6-A on ebay. Its about to get real fun.

supercordo wrote on 2026-05-24, 21:29:

I shouldnt be this hard to find sticks of ram with 256MB with good timings. What ram are you guys using?

It’s not about 256mb, but single rank sticks. Usually single rank does also mean single sided, so 8 chips on the stick. I usually grade ram in tiers so this is what I’d recommend on socket A/nforce 2:

Tier A:
Winbond BH-5 / BH-6 / Infineon 6A
Samsung TCCD
Winbond CH-5
Hynix ETR-E3C

Tier B:
Micron 5B G (256mb, preferably on Ballistix)
Micron 5B D (512mb, preferably on Ballistix)
Aeneon/Infineon/Qimonda CE-5
Aeneon/Infineon/Qimonda DE-5
Hynix DT-D43
Hynix BT-D43

Tier C:
Basically everything else. There might be some exceptions, though, as I’ve probably forgotten some chips.

In general nforce 2 loves high FSB and tight timings. The Athlon XP is simply starving on FSB bandwidth, as the FSB is only 64bits wide and double-pumped, just like a single ddr1 channel. That’s also the reason why going for dual channel will only give a slight boost in performance and not double the effective “real” bandwidth. Same applies for double sided sticks: while for example Athlon 64 (socket 939) will get a nice boost by going for two sticks and double sided dimms (16 chips / two ranks), Athlon XP only scales a little. But using double sided sticks will stress the chipset and thus limit the FSB scaling and stability. That’s why I’d always recommend to choose single rank sticks. You can still go for double rank sticks, but it makes your life harder when going for highscores and 3d stability.

For me 512mb Hynix ETR works best at low voltage (2.7 to 2.8V) and 2.5-3-3-8, good sticks scale beyond 270Mhz. Besides that 256mb TCCD 2.5-3-3 might also work to 260Mhz+. For benchmarks and high volts 256mb BH-5 or 6A is always the best option, very good sticks will reach 2-2-2-5-9-12 260Mhz-265Mhz and result in the highest scores. Just mind that 3.3-3.5V Vdimm might kill your board sooner or later. So i’d rather not try that on a DFI, as its Vdimm regulator is rather weak.

And I was so hyped to find two Kingmax sticks w/ TP-D43. Guess they're not special after all.

Buuuut hold on, so the A7N8X-X w/ the single channeled NF2 400 might be a better choice than a dual-channel one?

Your „TP“ stick is probably CTP-D43 or DTP-D43. Just try it, you’ll never know how well it works on NF2. I’ve clocked and tested a lot of boards on this platform (currently about 5-6 years into deep research and oc‘ing nf2 since 2004), but there’s still a lot to learn especially on rare dram chips.

The -X board will be slower. Iirc about 5-6% in 2D benchmarks. For real world performance it mostly won’t matter. So yes, dual-channel is a must for top scores.

Yeah, guess it's better that I sit it out temporarily until I can confirm a NF7 in my hands. The sticks are both CTPs.

I may have just scored 2 MSI k7n2 MS-6570 boards. Are they any good for overclocking?

Waiting for my parts to get here i thought i would have some fun on my Thunderbird 1400!!!! Im happy with it. Sorry PcBytes.

supercordo wrote on 2026-05-25, 17:42:

Waiting for my parts to get here i thought i would have some fun on my Thunderbird 1400!!!! Im happy with it. Sorry PcBytes.

No problem 🤣 I did my score on a AMD761 of all things so it's expected that a nF2 beats it. That, and my 1333 sample caps at 1500 no matter what. I haven't tried the 1133 spare I have but something slightly tells me it'll cap around a similar speed, since it's the same AXIA core as my 1333.

I'm waiting on a few boards among which should be a NF7 so I can try and see what I can do with Barton and a few other chips.

I could also try Palomino (another core I don't see in the list at all!) but there's a off chance they might be poor clockers - I have to research them a bit beforehand, but I saved a 1900+ Palomino just in case. The KG7 and 761 are a nice combo (and I would gladly share the OPPainter settings here!) but it probably all boils down to the chip used.

supercordo wrote on 2026-05-24, 21:29:

I shouldnt be this hard to find sticks of ram with 256MB with good timings. What ram are you guys using?

Most of the time Infineon AT-6. I have other Winbond sticks, but mostly I use this AT-6 kit.
AT-7.5 is also worth to look at it.

supercordo wrote on 2026-05-25, 15:45:

I may have just scored 2 MSI k7n2 MS-6570 boards. Are they any good for overclocking?

Delta1 or Delta2 ?
I like the Delta2 boards (Vdimm up to 3,2v!), but they suffer from the bad programmed BIOS. I've modded the BIOS to the point, where it is usable. Still, there are points to solve.
In example: booting at CL2 > ~220MHz.

supercordo wrote on 2026-05-25, 17:42:

Waiting for my parts to get here i thought i would have some fun on my Thunderbird 1400!!!! Im happy with it. Sorry PcBytes.

I wonder how far you are able to clock it. Good luck!

Damn, all I have is a laptop with integrated graphics. It will overclock (it's one of the odd 100MHz bus CPUs), so I could take second place on the Thunderbird charts with a 3DMark score of 300. That doesn't feel right, though.

Squeezed out a few more points. Nothing over 202FSB is stable. I didnt want to go any higher on the voltage.

supercordo wrote on 2026-05-25, 15:45:

I may have just scored 2 MSI k7n2 MS-6570 boards. Are they any good for overclocking?

Depends. There’s the older Delta-L (red PCB). I got two of these - one does about 240Mhz, the other 250. this was just a quick test, but both won’t do 260+. Usually these boards are older and got early production weeks of the chipset soldered. (Mine are week 10 2003 or similar). On average early chipsets aren’t great clockers.

The black delta2 though… it should have the new SB (with sata integrated) and there might be good boards.

PcBytes wrote on 2026-05-25, 18:03:

I could also try Palomino (another core I don't see in the list at all!) but there's a off chance they might be poor clockers.

Tbird and Palomino are made on the 180nm node, which is the reason they just hit a wall at some point. Thoroughbred A is a die shrink to 130nm, but will still hit a wall. Tbred B is the first „good“ clocker which may hit 2.4ghz+.

You’ll hit the cpu limit anyways, so why bother with palomino and Tbred A? I get that Tbird is a special category though.

Tzk wrote on 2026-05-26, 06:06:

Depends. There’s the older Delta-L (red PCB). I got two of these - one does about 240Mhz, the other 250. this was just a quick t […]
Show full quote

supercordo wrote on 2026-05-25, 15:45:

I may have just scored 2 MSI k7n2 MS-6570 boards. Are they any good for overclocking?

Depends. There’s the older Delta-L (red PCB). I got two of these - one does about 240Mhz, the other 250. this was just a quick test, but both won’t do 260+. Usually these boards are older and got early production weeks of the chipset soldered. (Mine are week 10 2003 or similar). On average early chipsets aren’t great clockers.

The black delta2 though… it should have the new SB (with sata integrated) and there might be good boards.

PcBytes wrote on 2026-05-25, 18:03:

I could also try Palomino (another core I don't see in the list at all!) but there's a off chance they might be poor clockers.

Tbird and Palomino are made on the 180nm node, which is the reason they just hit a wall at some point. Thoroughbred A is a die shrink to 130nm, but will still hit a wall. Tbred B is the first „good“ clocker which may hit 2.4ghz+.

You’ll hit the cpu limit anyways, so why bother with palomino and Tbred A? I get that Tbird is a special category though.

Fun. Palomino was quite "unloved" mainly because it put a lot of heat out. T-Bred A is fairly rare in my collection so not really surprised if I can't find any whatsoever 🤣. I'm not sure if the KG7 does T-Bred "A" anyways, but I know it does Palomino at the very least.

While waiting on things to arrive.. (they take their fair time 😒)

That poor T-bred 2400+ is getting abused.. 189MHz + higher multi

tehsiggi wrote on 2026-05-26, 12:14:

While waiting on things to arrive.. (they take their fair time 😒)

That poor T-bred 2400+ is getting abused.. 189MHz + higher multi

The attachment 189_14830.JPG is no longer available

Overclock that video card!!

Tzk wrote on 2026-05-26, 06:06:

Depends. There’s the older Delta-L (red PCB). I got two of these - one does about 240Mhz, the other 250. this was just a quick t […]
Show full quote

supercordo wrote on 2026-05-25, 15:45:

I may have just scored 2 MSI k7n2 MS-6570 boards. Are they any good for overclocking?

Depends. There’s the older Delta-L (red PCB). I got two of these - one does about 240Mhz, the other 250. this was just a quick test, but both won’t do 260+. Usually these boards are older and got early production weeks of the chipset soldered. (Mine are week 10 2003 or similar). On average early chipsets aren’t great clockers.

The black delta2 though… it should have the new SB (with sata integrated) and there might be good boards.

PcBytes wrote on 2026-05-25, 18:03:

I could also try Palomino (another core I don't see in the list at all!) but there's a off chance they might be poor clockers.

Tbird and Palomino are made on the 180nm node, which is the reason they just hit a wall at some point. Thoroughbred A is a die shrink to 130nm, but will still hit a wall. Tbred B is the first „good“ clocker which may hit 2.4ghz+.

You’ll hit the cpu limit anyways, so why bother with palomino and Tbred A? I get that Tbird is a special category though.

They are the old red boards unfortunately. They both came with 2500+ tho.

supercordo wrote on 2026-05-26, 13:03:

tehsiggi wrote on 2026-05-26, 12:14:

While waiting on things to arrive.. (they take their fair time 😒)

That poor T-bred 2400+ is getting abused.. 189MHz + higher multi

The attachment 189_14830.JPG is no longer available

Overclock that video card!!

It's not running at stock. The sensors tab of GPU-Z shows it, the overview does not.

But yeah, it's not the limit yet. Just a rough "there you go"

tehsiggi wrote on 2026-05-26, 13:26:

supercordo wrote on 2026-05-26, 13:03:

tehsiggi wrote on 2026-05-26, 12:14:

While waiting on things to arrive.. (they take their fair time 😒)

That poor T-bred 2400+ is getting abused.. 189MHz + higher multi

The attachment 189_14830.JPG is no longer available

Overclock that video card!!

It's not running at stock. The sensors tab of GPU-Z shows it, the overview does not.

But yeah, it's not the limit yet. Just a rough "there you go"

I see now.

Might setup the KG7 again w/ a 1900+ Palomino. I have a unlocked 2500+ and NF7 on the way but in the meantime I wanna take the KG7 and a Palomino out for a spin and see how far can I get them. Not to say I won't try the 1333 on NF2 too but I just want to see how far can AMD's own chipset go.

Oddly enough the 2 MSI delta boards came with some BH-5 ram. An odd stick of Kingston with ram on both sides but only 8 chips and khx3200/256. The odd stick doesnt boot at 2-2-2-11 but the khx3200/256 does and is currently booting at 250fsb in single channel since i only have one stick. haha