Advice needed re: a 2.4B System vs a 2.4C System .... please help

[BEIF]

Hi all !

I am a dedicated Intel-man.

A good friend of mine builds & tests systems for me, and has offered me the following two setups.

I am confused as to which is the "best" way to go - with the exception of the board, ram and cpu, the systems are identical.

System 1

=> 2.4B @ 3.0gig [167 fsb ] + Asus P4PE + 1 x 512 Kingston PC2700 @ memory timing 1:1

System 2

=> 2.4C @ 3.24gig [ 270fsb ] + Asus P4P 800 + 512 TwinX Corsair PC3200 @ memory timing 3:2

System 2 is approx: $220US more than System 1

So ..... my questions are:-

- is System 2 "worth" the extra $220US ?

- is System 2 quicker even though it's memory is running at 3:2 as oppossed to 1:1

- will System 2 have a noticeable / major bottle-neck because of the 3:2 memory ratio ?

- any other things I should need to know / consider ?

All comments / advice / thoughts very much appreciated.

Ben Ifin
PS: Please no "for that money I would get an AMD......" posts, as I am a dedicated long-term Intel user

 

[Tom]

Seems like kind of an apples and oranges comparison if I can figure out why you have such a big price difference. The 800fsb processor is $25 more, and if you compare similar models of p4pe and p4p800 I think that's about $30 difference, so I assume the reason for your $220 difference comes from different memory prices.

If you are running 270FSB with a 3:2 ratio that's only going to be running the memory at DDR360 which I would think almost any decent pc2700 memory could do, and pc3200 memory would be underclocked, so I doubt you need such expensive memory for that system. Perhaps your friend is thinking the good memory might work at 270FSB with a 5:4 ratio, I don't know how much difference that would make.

So I would think it should cost less than a $100 more, not $220.

Even using a 3:2 memory ratio it should be faster than single channel DDR and would also have Hyperthreading. Both systems would be fast though so it's hard to say what it is worth.