400 vs 533 CPU with PC800 RDRAM?

[jeff2100]

I currently have two 256 MB sticks of Kingston PC800 RDRAM, and I want to build an inexpensive PC for less $500 using this spare RAM.

I'm looking at an Intel D850EMV2 motherboard, and I see that if I go with a Retail P4 2.4 Ghz I can get either a 400 or a 533 version for $198. Since the PC800 RDRAM is the one thing I already have, which will work better with it - the 400 or the 533 bus processor?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Toymaker]

My suggestion to you would be to get the D850EMVR board instead. It officially supports hyperthreading therefore broadening your future processor upgrade choices somewhat. Since the Intel boards don't allow overclocking of the processor it would be best to get the 533 MHZ processor. You'll get a faster 533 MHZ front side bus speed instead of just 400 MHZ. If you're interested in overclocking then there are quite a few non-Intel boards available also. The Abit TH7-II, Gigabyte 8IHXP, and Asus P4T-533-C are just a few.

 

[jeff2100]

I thought about the D850EMVR which is $163 vs the D850EMV2 at $136...

I probably won't be upgrading this one in the future too much if at all though - it will mainly be for internet sharing and as a file server (not even a heavy duty file server, but just to house a large IDE hard drive to share files between a couple other home computers and to download monthly backups to from a web server.)

I don't think I'll be putting a faster CPU in it in the future and by the time I do, they might not be available any more . I could probably even get by with a 1.8 or 2.0.

If I don't plan to upgrade this computer, and with the PC800 Kingston RAM sticks limiting the RAM bandwidth to 100/400 mhz, is the 533 CPU the way to go regardless rather than the 400 (just for performance today rather than tommorrow?) Better to have CPU->Chipset at 533 and Chipset->Ram at 400 than to have both at 400?