2.66 (533) or 2.6 (800)?

[jwocky]

What's the better value - a 2.66ghz (533mhz bus) (for $164) or a 2.6ghz (800mhz bus) (for $175)? Does it depend on what applications I use my computer for?

I'll be using the cpu on an Asus 800mhz board (which can also support 533 chips).

 

[dullard]

Personally, I'd get the 2.6 (800) without hesitation. It performs better on most single program benchmarks, and will dominate anytime you do more than one program at once.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

2.6 800FSB.

No Competition.

 

[CraigRT]

anything with 800 FSB.

 

[nick1985]

800 by FAR

 

[dullard]

As proof, start here. Unfortunately that doesn't include the 2.66 (533), but you can see that the 2.6 (800) outperforms the 2.8 (533) in the majority of tests. Heck it even beats the 3.06 (533) in a significant number of tests.

 

[jwocky]

Thanks for all the advice. Just ordered a 2.6 800mhz and Asus P4P800 mb w/ 1 gig PC3200 ram. Should be a VERY significant upgrade from my 1.4ghz

 

[InlineFive]

As an addendum to the above posts but the 800FSB series P4 has HyperThreading, so it can process two threads.

 

[jwocky]

How helpful is hyperthreading in real world applications? Doesn't the programs have to be aware of and take use of dual threads? So maybe future generation programs will take more advantage of HT than the ones currently out.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: jwocky
How helpful is hyperthreading in real world applications? Doesn't the programs have to be aware of and take use of dual threads? So maybe future generation programs will take more advantage of HT than the ones currently out.

You are correct that most single programs will gain very little from HT - Graph. Notice how in that graph that 1 test was noticibly slower, 6 tests were noticibly faster, but the vast majority of tests had no noticible effect with HT. But the real benefit kicks in when you do multiple things at the same time - proof. In real life, you frequently are doing one task and suddenly the virus scanner kicks in, or suddenly you need one bit of information from another file, or you like to do some tasks in the background while working on something in the foreground. The second link should show how benefitcial HT is when any of those situations come up.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: jwocky
How helpful is hyperthreading in real world applications? Doesn't the programs have to be aware of and take use of dual threads? So maybe future generation programs will take more advantage of HT than the ones currently out.

If you are running a single program, it must be multithread-capable in order to take advantage of Hyper-Threading. While running 2 applications, whether they are MT-capable or not doesnt matter. Windows will manage the resources and HT will see a significant performance increase over a non-HT CPU.

Edit: Examples of multithread applications

Photoshop
3ds Max
Cool Edit 2000
Star Wars Galaxies
Planetside
Everquest 2 (not out yet)

Any application that MT-aware can also take advantage of dual procs.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: jwocky
How helpful is hyperthreading in real world applications? Doesn't the programs have to be aware of and take use of dual threads? So maybe future generation programs will take more advantage of HT than the ones currently out.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=28&threadid=1180277

This should help.

 

[jwocky]

So now that I've decided on my upgrade hardware (), can anyone recommend whether I need a 350 or a 400watt power supply? Hardware will be the following:

P4 2.6ghz (800mhz FSB)
Asus P4P800 motherboard
GeForce FX5900 Video card
1 gig DDR PC3200 RAM
1 serial ATA Hard Drive (Raptor)
1 ata hard drive
1 external hard drive
1 24x CDRW
1 dvd/cdrom player

I generally don't overclock any of my components.

Thanks as always.

 

[jwocky]

Anyone?

 

[NokiaDude]

Originally posted by: JustAnAverageGuy
2.6 800FSB.

No Competition.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: jwocky
So now that I've decided on my upgrade hardware (), can anyone recommend whether I need a 350 or a 400watt power supply? Hardware will be the following: P4 2.6ghz (800mhz FSB) Asus P4P800 motherboard GeForce FX5900 Video card 1 gig DDR PC3200 RAM 1 serial ATA Hard Drive (Raptor) 1 ata hard drive 1 external hard drive 1 24x CDRW 1 dvd/cdrom player I generally don't overclock any of my components. Thanks as always.

A good quality 350 will be fine. I use this PSU with the computer in my sig.

 

[jwocky]

Originally posted by: MonkeyDriveExpress

Originally posted by: jwocky
So now that I've decided on my upgrade hardware (), can anyone recommend whether I need a 350 or a 400watt power supply? Hardware will be the following: P4 2.6ghz (800mhz FSB) Asus P4P800 motherboard GeForce FX5900 Video card 1 gig DDR PC3200 RAM 1 serial ATA Hard Drive (Raptor) 1 ata hard drive 1 external hard drive 1 24x CDRW 1 dvd/cdrom player I generally don't overclock any of my components. Thanks as always.

A good quality 350 will be fine. I use <a class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-104-966&depa=1" target=blank>this PSU</A> with the computer in my sig.

I currently have the Enermax 350W (2 years old now) in my current system. Is this considered "quality" enough to just use with my new components/system?

I never understood this - what does happen if ure power supply is "underpowered" for your components? Do things get damaged? Does system not boot??

 

[SpeedFreak03]

Originally posted by: jwocky
Thanks for all the advice. Just ordered a 2.6 800mhz and Asus P4P800 mb w/ 1 gig PC3200 ram. Should be a VERY significant upgrade from my 1.4ghz

I just built the same exact system (with Kingston HyperX RAM)! Trust me, it flies! BTW I use a 350W Antec SmartPower PSU.

-Josh

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: jwocky

Originally posted by: MonkeyDriveExpress

Originally posted by: jwocky
So now that I've decided on my upgrade hardware (), can anyone recommend whether I need a 350 or a 400watt power supply? Hardware will be the following: P4 2.6ghz (800mhz FSB) Asus P4P800 motherboard GeForce FX5900 Video card 1 gig DDR PC3200 RAM 1 serial ATA Hard Drive (Raptor) 1 ata hard drive 1 external hard drive 1 24x CDRW 1 dvd/cdrom player I generally don't overclock any of my components. Thanks as always.

A good quality 350 will be fine. I use this PSU with the computer in my sig.

I currently have the Enermax 350W (2 years old now) in my current system. Is this considered "quality" enough to just use with my new components/system?

I never understood this - what does happen if ure power supply is "underpowered" for your components? Do things get damaged? Does system not boot??

Enermax has a good reputation so that one should be fine. If the PSU is underpowered, you may get random freezeups, crashes, and other weird issues (trust me, I know).