CPU Upgrade P4 2.53 to P4 3.0 or 3.2

[Zog]

I have the opportunity to get a deal on a new Pentium 4 3.0 CPU. I will be swapping it out of my main system which has a P4 2.53 CPU. The MoBo is an ASUS P4P800 which is compatable with both CPU's.


Is the swap as simple as removing the current CPU and installing the new one and replacing the heat sink and fan? Is there any other "software" tweaking that will be needed to be done?

I'm not expecting any huge increase in performance but the deal is hard to pass up!

 

[TStep]

Just make sure your ram is up to the task at 200mhz, PC3200. The 2.53 was a 133mhz DDR cpu so it may have only PC2100 in it if you didn't build it yourself. It will still be usable if it does via memory dividers, but it won't reap the full benefit of the 3.0s 200 bus.

Edit - Welcome

 

[Zog]

Memory is DDR-SDRAM PC2100
2@512MB

 

[TStep]

I am not familiar with the P4P800 bios, but without overclocking the memory, you'll need a divider.

The cpu will run at 15 x 200mhz for a 3.0
The memory will run at 133mhz so: 133/200 = 2:3 (or 3:2) ratio

Somewhere in the bios you should be able to select this. Someone here with a P4P800 should be able to answer this.

 

[LTC8K6]

Is it a 3.06 or a 3.0 chip? If it's a 3.06 then the mem is fine.

 

[RussianSensation]

Here is a good time to see how far your PC2100 overclocks. The other day someone posted their PC2100 chips overclocked to PC3200 speeds. If you have to stay at PC2100 speeds, your P4 3.0 will run more like a 2.8 P4 which isnt much of an upgrade I suppose. And if you have to change the RAM, might as well change the whole system and go A64 route. Personally if the RAM doesnt overclock to say 160mhz (320 effective), i'd probably keep your cpu because it's still fast enough and doesnt really warrant an upgrade just yet in my eyes. From personal experience it makes sense to upgrade when CPu speed increase at least 50%. Of course everyone is different so I am not sure how much computing power you really need. Last time I upgraded was from 1600+ XP to P4 2.6@3.2 I have now. And I cant say that I was blown away; and that was 100% increase in speed rating.

In fact I noticed a lot more difference in every day tasks going from 256mb to at least 512mb on my old XP system.

 

[TStep]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
Is it a 3.06 or a 3.0 chip? If it's a 3.06 then the mem is fine.

From the topic heading it must be a 3.0C since he is asking about a 3.0 or 3.2

 

[LTC8K6]

Yeah, but I couldn't let it go.

 

[Zog]

"Is it a 3.06 or a 3.0 chip? If it's a 3.06 then the mem is fine. "


What difference would it make?

I can get any P4 CPU.

 

[JackHawksmoor]

The 3.06 has an 533MHz bus, the 3.0 has an 800Mhz bus. It's more powerful, but you need RAM that'll run at 200MHz to get the most performance out of it (aka 400Mhz/PC3200). Are you spending a lot of money on this though? It's not REALLY that big of an upgrade IMO.

And if you can get ANY P4 CPU, get a 3.4GHz P4EE

 

[caz67]

And if you can get ANY P4 CPU, get a 3.4GHz P4EE ...LOL

 

[LTC8K6]

If it's a 3.06 then the mem is fine.

 

[sep]

Here is what I'd recommned. Sell the 2.53 and 2100RAM, purchase a 2.8c and 512MB(2x512) of 3200 ram to run in dual channel. Then you'll see a big difference.

FS: 512MB 2100 = $40
FS: P4 2.53 = $95

WTB: P4 2.8c = $170
WTB: 512MB (2x256) = $110

WTB=(newegg prices)


Eitherway get the 800fsb cpu. You can always upgrade the ram at a later time.

-JC

 

[mrSHEiK124]

well, 2.53 -> 3.0C is not much of an upgrade if you are running the memory slower than 200 (800) since the P4 is VERY bandwidth starved due to its LOOOOOOOONG pipeline, tis why the AXP did not benefit from Dual-channel much