1.7 P4 & Dual Channel config...

[bob4432]

building a new machine and i have a 1.7P4 laying around. this will be just for internet / word processing / no gaming. figured i would pick up a cheap i865pe based board from newegg. was wondering if the 1.7 would benefit from a dual channel setup? it is a 400MHz FSB chip

 

[imported_Kensai]

It will benefit, as do all chips from dual-channel. Essentially, you get twice the bandwidth than single channel.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Kensai
It will benefit, as do all chips from dual-channel. Essentially, you get twice the bandwidth than single channel.

i understand what dual channel is but will that slow of a cpu use it?

 

[3chordcharlie]

if it can run 100/400fsb and 200/400ddr at the same time (I've never seen a machine doing this), then no, otherwise yes.

If it's a Northwood, it might well OC to 133/533fsb (2.266ghz), and then you could run dual channel ddr266, which would be nicer.

 

[stevty2889]

it's a 1.7 so it's a williamette core, so be sure the motherboard you get still supports williametts before you buy it. It will benifit from dual channel, but since it's a williamette, it won't really be all that much faster, and probably won't overclock much at all.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: stevty2889
it's a 1.7 so it's a williamette core, so be sure the motherboard you get still supports williametts before you buy it. It will benifit from dual channel, but since it's a williamette, it won't really be all that much faster, and probably won't overclock much at all.

so a mb by default will not support this core even if it is listed as listed as running the 400MHz fsb boards?

since this chip does not seem to be much of a performance chip, should i go with a different chipset that may be cheaper?

 

[bob4432]

after reading some benchmarks, i am not too impressed with this chip. i am replacing a 1GHz athlon and for what the machine is used for, do you peeps think the money would be better spent on getting a ~18GB 10krpm u160 hdd setup (~$80) instead of buying a new board and ram for this p4?

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: bob4432
after reading some benchmarks, i am not too impressed with this chip. i am replacing a 1GHz athlon and for what the machine is used for, do you peeps think the money would be better spent on getting a ~18GB 10krpm u160 hdd setup (~$80) instead of buying a new board and ram for this p4?

Most likely, or even an up to date 7200rpm IDE drive would probably help a lot.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie

Originally posted by: bob4432
after reading some benchmarks, i am not too impressed with this chip. i am replacing a 1GHz athlon and for what the machine is used for, do you peeps think the money would be better spent on getting a ~18GB 10krpm u160 hdd setup (~$80) instead of buying a new board and ram for this p4?

Most likely, or even an up to date 7200rpm IDE drive would probably help a lot.

i would do that but at what size does a via kt266 have trouble with hdds? the machine only needs ~9GB...