Athlon XP3000+ with ASRock K7S41GX compatibility Help Please

[Dan]

I have an ASRock K7S41GX Motherboard with an Athlon XP 2000+ processor w/ 2-1GB sticks of Mushkin PC2700 DDR333 Non ECC, Unbuffered Ram. I want to upgrade the processor to an Athlon XP 2800 or XP 3000. I looked at the compatibility specs on the ASRock website, and I think either Processor should work, but I read a post in another part of this site that stated I should be using DDR400 Ram with this processor. The specs for my board call for DDR333.
Will I be OK with what I have?
If not, what is the fastest processor I should use?

Thanks for any help!

[Wizzard1]

Yes, DDR400 will downclock to DDR333 speeds, in 95% of cases. Rarely, the memory wont want to downclock or run out-of-sync with the processor (chipset/memory misconfiguration).

You want an Athlon XP with a 166Mhz FSB (FSB333) and _NOT_ one with 200MHz FSB (FSB400).

Most 741GX boards, although capable of FSB400, will not openly support it.

[Bryan]

I'm using an XP 3200+ on my Asrock K7S41GX. I'm running it at 2.2 GHz with no problems. I adjusted my bus speed to 200 MHz to give an FSB of 400 MHz. I am using DDR400 memory. It's been a couple of months and no problems. You shouldn't have any issues with an XP 2800 or 3000 even if you run at a 400 MHz FSB. Just make sure you have the latest BIOS and try not to overclock more than the 34 MHz to give yourself the 400 FSB, and you should be OK. Asrock boards do support O/Cing, they just tell you your on your own when you do it. Also with the 3000+ or 3200+ make sure you have good cooling.

[jamesjameson]

In my case, for my Asus A7N8X is fundamental the board revision, not only the model of the motherboard and BIOS version.
It is like you have the same car model but the newest revision has some problems corrected (electronics for the motherboard).

For example in my A7N8X motherboard Rev 1.06 I cannot go over 195 MHz (x2) FSB... the motherboard with higher revisions seems they can work until 250 Mhz (x2) like also I could set in the BIOS!

So I think you should have a closer look or do the exact comparison with Bryan's ASRock K7S41GX motherboard... if they are IDENTICAL it is ok!

[tango]

I've got one of these boards. Good reliable board for a cheap price. Been running mine for about 3 years now and it has been highly reliable. Oddly I got given an old one along with some other IT disposals the other day and I was confident it would be ok... it was dead! CPU was fine though so I got a sempron out of it at least..

Thing is with this motherboard because they're so cheap its pointless sending it back for repair...