Which P IV to buy

[GoLdFiNgeR]

Should i get the 2.0 GHz with a 400 mhz fsb, or the 2.2 with the 533 mhz fsb

all prices aside, is the 2.2's performance that much better?

amd please dont say to get an amd, because im building this comp for a friend and he doesnt want amd, even though it was my suggestion for cost.

and also what is a good mobo, probably with ddr 333 or 400 is it? one that i could probably upgrade in the future

thnanks
will

 

[GoLdFiNgeR]

Ths is the mobo i was looking at to use with teh 2.2 ghz

Asus P4B533 Audio USB 2.0 DDR Memory

http://www.micropro.com/item.htm?item_id=MBASP4B533&product=Motherboards

 

[GoLdFiNgeR]

wait scratch that, it doesnt have ddr 333 support

 

[fugigoose]

Why would you waste money on a P IV board. The new Athlon XP 2600+ came out. They way better and way cheaper than anything Intel has. Don't waste your money.

 

[cdogg]

If you must go Intel, then consider going with RDRAM over DDR if you plan on using the 533MHz bus. The reason is that RDRAM PC1066 operates at 533MHz and won't bottleneck the Frontside Bus the way that DDR does.

For RDRAM, here's a recommended board:

http://usa.asus.com/mb/socket478/p4t533-c/overview.htm

For DDR333, go with the SIS 645DX chipset. Here's another Asus board I found that has it:

http://usa.asus.com/mb/socket478/p4s533-e/overview.htm

Just remember that if you go with DDR333, buy CL 2.0 if you can find it. CL 2.5 and higher can really hurt performance and stability.
~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[Hungster]

Depends what you are doing with it

i personally like Intel, i was disappointed with Athlon slot day, i gave up, i love AMD K6 days

you can tell the speed different much between DDR and RD RAM
, remember RD RAM is very hot, you better have some good cooling on the memory, with few minutes on, you can burn your hands.
Plus it is dumb to buy two stick of 256MB to get to 512MB of memory, i do like the speed if you really want to add the numbers

If you buy Intel, stick with the Intel chipset mb for lesser problem, Asus P4B533 is a real good board, DFI is another good one, the main reason i choose Asus because of the bios update.

 

[attrofy]

Just my opinion, but don't bother with anything less than 2.53 GHz with RDRAm 1066 if you don't want to go with AMD. The performance just isn't there for the rest of the Intel lineup. This is the only combination that can beat any comparable AMD chips - and this is mostly due to the RAM and the 533 MHz FSB.

As mentioned the 2600 just came out, which actually tops the performance of the 2.53 in most catergories at $100 less (plus cheaper memory - and cheaper board) and the new 333 FSB boards haven't been optimized to fully utilize the new chip.

So short of the Chevy vs Ford issue, the AMD chip offers better bang for the buck. But since money doesn't seem to be the issue, go for the 2.53. As for the difference between the 2.0 400 FSB vs 2.2 and 533 FSB, I don't think it will be that noticeable under normal computing circumstances. Unless your friend is crunching numbers to the extreeme. IMO, there wasn't significantly noticeable differences going from 266 to 333 on AMD chips under normal computing, so by guestimation, I would say that the increase would be combarable (in doing the mathematical percentage gains).

 

[GoLdFiNgeR]

fugigoose read my first post and youll know why i want intel

if it was for myselft i would get amd also, i like their procs better and know more about them, one reason that i am asking this quetioin about intel procs,

yes money is an issue, and i told him to go amd, but he wont listen, but i may just buy the damn thing and tell him its intel, he wont know the difference,

hence ddr ram and not rdram, and isnt intel throwing away the rd support? i need expandability too. hes doing a little gaming, mostly music and dsl surfing, and basic word processing,

 

[Hungster]

For what he does, yes, you almost want to buy a AMD and tell him it is Intel lol

look at Asus P4B533, it uses DDRAM which doesn't require pairing up, plus Asus tends to have upgrade bios more often than others i find
another good one is IWill, from the same QDI manufacture

usa.asus.com

http://www.iwillusa.com

there are many, but i ran into a problem of getting bios upgrades, and info

 

[cdogg]

atrofy, while I agree that the 2600+ is an excellent buy and a good performer, I must disagree with your comment that the 2600 "tops the performance of the 2.53 in most catergories". Where did you get that information?

Here's a review that clearly shows the P4 2.53GHz/533MHz wins in more than 2/3 of the benchmarks against the 2600:

http://www17.tomshardware.com/cpu/02q3/020821/athlonxp-13.html

~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[GoLdFiNgeR]

yes cdogg i saw that too, but you cant argue price, well, maybee you can, how much is the 2600 anyways?

 

[CitrixEngineer]

Bang for buck, AMD have had the crown for a long time - and retain it.

Performance-wise, Intel top the pile - at the moment... Don't forget that the socket A design has remained unchaged for many generations, while the Intel socket seems to change with every other chip name. Something to bear in mind for future-proofing your rig.

Asus have long made good boards - as do Abit. Abit tend to be on the solid, reliable side rather than blazing performance, however. I do agree that Intel chipsets seem to give best performance when combined with Intel chips, whatever the manufacturer.

My usual $0.04 ;-) CitrixEngineer@yahoo.co.uk

 

[Hungster]

Ever listen to Bill Gates when he gave example of Microsoft working with Intel on their product when he was in Toronto event "Breafast with Bill"

CitrixEngineer puts it dead on, i bought tone of hardwares to test them out with Windows, found out Intel was the right choice

 

[CitrixEngineer]

One word of warning, which underlines part of what I was saying about future-proofing;

The 3.0 Ghz+ series of Intel chips look as if they are going to have a new socket, as reported on Tomshardware.com (it's there in between the analysis of the new PIV's vs Athlon XP).

At least with AMD, you don't have to change your motherboard along with your processor (kinda like throwing the baby out with the bathwater...)

One other point (back to the original question!); If you're going Intel, there are 2 FSBs to consider; 100Mhz and 133Mhz (just like AMD). The 400 and 533 figures come from QDR (Quad Data Rate), and are not true system bus Mhz figures. The 100Mhz (400) chips are consistently outclassed by the 133Mhz chips (from both manufacturers), and the difference when playing high-power games is noticeable. In short, go for a 533 chip/board combo. CitrixEngineer@yahoo.co.uk

 

[GoLdFiNgeR]

great, thanks, what about the amd "hammer" is that going to be socket a?

 

[Hungster]

Who said you don't need to change MB for AMD when they step up the speed, you think your old MB can handle higher speed even if AMD keeps the same Socket A ?

go pick up this month's Maximum pc, they talk about the new PCI bus systems, all the increase of cpu speed, the bus systems can not handle it, PCI, IDE controller
new serial IDE controller will have their own dedicated hd

since SCSI has gone 320MB/s, IDE has to make imporvement to keep up.

 

[Guest_imported]

Goldfinger,
If you are in the Uk prices for the P4 2.53Ghz have dropped this week from £540ish to £210ish. If you are after a 333 board have you considered the Asus P4S533-E board (see

http://www.asus.com.tw/mb/socket478/p4s533-e/overview.htm#).

It has a SIS chipset but has loads of features and is for sale at £81.90 (komplett.co.uk)

 

[GoLdFiNgeR]

no i havent actually, but ill check it out thanks

 

[ceh4702]

DDR RAM is only slightly better and Rambus PC800 RAM which isnt too expensive. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[fugigoose]

My bad, didn't read it thoroughly. Your friend needs to be educated though