AMD fanboy maybe switching to Intel ... suggestions?

[Underclocker]

<now that you've boosted your post count, how about a REAL answer ... like, if i order a p4 how can i tell which one i'm getting?>

Oops I'm really sorry!
My remark must have seemed pretty snide and arrogant-I apologize for that, it wasn't meant that way!
Actually I really misread your question-thought it read

<so how do you know if i'm getting a "c" p4 and not and "a" or "b"?>

Yeah, I was burning the midnight oil...

Anyway your question has by now been answered by people who actually were awake...
Since I still have to build this system, I cannot recommend anything so far since it's still untested, but it will be:

Abit IC7 (non-G), Zalman CNPS 7000 AlCu, 2x256 Mb Kingston HyperX PC3500, Antec Truepower 430W,LianLi or Coolermaster midicase, WD SATA 36Gb 10000rpm Raptor and will inherit Gigabyte Radeon 9700 Pro + various other bits and bobs from my old system. Oh, P4C 2.4 or 2.6, still undecided.
I hope to start building it by the end of this week.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Got my IS7 setup. I ordered from newegg and it has the 3com Gigabit LAN on board as well as pretty good built in sound with SPDIF in and out (optical). SATA RAID (can double as IDE 3 and 4), Firewire, 4 USB 2.0 ports (2 more optional) and an active HSF on the motherboard chipset.

Here are my results.

P4 2.6c @ 2.75Ghz
Abit IS7 @ 210Mhz FSB
Corsair XMS3200 @ DDR420
Radeon 9700Pro
Hercules Gametheater XP

managed to boot at 220Mhz FSB but crashed when trying to open a program. Probably due to my PC3200 reaching the limit. Max temps at current speeds are 30C for system and 40C for CPU at idle. Under load with prime 95 the rise to 34C/46C respectively. This is with a Chieftec (antec clone) tower with 4 case fans and an Enermax Wisper 431 PSU which has a fan to expell hot air. Stock Intel HSF with AS3.

No issues at AGp 8x. Agressive memory timings are no go with current bios at DDR400. Needs an update.

Benchmarks at max detail and default control pannel settings at 1024x768 no AA or AF.

Quake3
no sound = 324.7fps
sound on = 250.3fps

UT2003
botmatch = 62.7fps
flyby = 193.7fps

Falcon 4 = 100fps max (my refresh) and never below 60fps

3dmark2k1se = 16252
3dmark2k3 = 5173
pcmark cpu = 6456 mem = 8107

sisoft sandra
CPU Arithmatic = 8406/ FPU 2336 iSSE2 5160
Memory = 4289/4297
CPU Multimedia = 12475/19865

 

[cmdrdredd]

Feel free to ask me any questions about my setup that will help your decision. This mobo is a great deal for all the features you get.

 

[joecool]

Ok, thanks for the all the info guys. i have two more questions:

1) looking at reviews, etc, i'm having a hard time discerning the performance differences between the intel 875 and 865 chipsets. it kind of seems like the 875 provides a minimal, if any, performance advantage over the 865, and boards are quite a bit more expensive - for instance, looking at the abit offering i can get the ic7 for $145 or the is7-e for $99. what makes the ic7 worth the premium? and on a related note, what's the difference between the is7-e at $99 and the is7 at $109?

2) i've heard where these chipsets are kind of finicky about what mem they will work with at the 400MHz DDR speed. Can anybody reommend particular mem's that they know work, or know have issues?

Thanks again,

Joe

 

[joecool]

anybody got an answer for my last question?

 

[kenshorin]

Originally posted by: joecool
Ok, thanks for the all the info guys. i have two more questions:

1) looking at reviews, etc, i'm having a hard time discerning the performance differences between the intel 875 and 865 chipsets. it kind of seems like the 875 provides a minimal, if any, performance advantage over the 865, and boards are quite a bit more expensive - for instance, looking at the abit offering i can get the ic7 for $145 or the is7-e for $99. what makes the ic7 worth the premium? and on a related note, what's the difference between the is7-e at $99 and the is7 at $109?

2) i've heard where these chipsets are kind of finicky about what mem they will work with at the 400MHz DDR speed. Can anybody reommend particular mem's that they know work, or know have issues?

Thanks again,

Joe

Answer to # 1 : The is-7 has a TI chip that controls Firewire. the is7-e doesn't have firewire. Also, the is7-e doesn't have any raid options, while the is7 has raid 0 on SATA. *I think thats the only RAID option it has, I am at work and not able to check right now... ; )*

#2 : I don't own this board (YET! I am buying it this week) but I have heard of fewer problems with Corsair ram, and I can't remember of hearing of major issues with OCZ ram. I have heard of more problems with Kingston as of the time being. Of course, for many of those issues are attributable to trying to be aggressive with the ram timings, since your friend isn't looking for crazy overclocking I have heard that more moderate settings usually work ok. Cmdrdredd would be able to answer this better tho, as he actually *has* the board.

 

[cmdrdredd]

my board died and my P4P800 will be here on friday. Anyway with the IS7 using 2.5-3-3-6 memory timings is fine. I bumped the Vdimm to 1.7 and clocked it to 250Mhz FSb and DDR400 with vcore at 1.6 and all was well. Then I took it back down to test more agressive timings on the memory and a resistor just shorted. I dunno why. Anyhow I hope my P4P800 is good. The IS7 is a great overclocker.