Got a free P4 1.5GHz today

Raduque

Lifer
Aug 22, 2004
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Got a working-pull P4 1.5GHz (Willamette, SL5TJ 1.5/256/400/1.75) from a machine at my dad's work (the mobo had dead PCI slots, so it was tossed). Is it worth it to build a small box around this chip?

I was thinking of using this mobo MSI PM8M-V mATX for $44 and a $35 stick of 512MB DDR400.

Thanks


 
Feb 17, 2005
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a processor like that is plenty for everyday usage and considerably light gaming. the gf4 mx for $10 from geeks.com wont be a bad addon if you want to play some oldschool games.
 

Firsttime

Platinum Member
Mar 31, 2005
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Free stuff is always worth it ;). I would build a mATX box. With just a 300 watt Forton, 512MB of cheap RAM, a 9200 or something for a video card, and the best value for features motherboard I could find. Check the FS/FT forums here if you really want to save money. You could get everything for under $125 total if you shop around. :)
 

Raduque

Lifer
Aug 22, 2004
13,140
138
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Originally posted by: Firsttime
Free stuff is always worth it ;). I would build a mATX box. With just a 300 watt Forton, 512MB of cheap RAM, a 9200 or something for a video card, and the best value for features motherboard I could find. Check the FS/FT forums here if you really want to save money. You could get everything for under $125 total if you shop around. :)

Well, $80 for the mobo and ram is all I need. I've got cases, PSUs and low-end vidcards out the wazoo, so...

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Originally posted by: Raduque
worth it?

:confused:

Originally posted by: Raduque
free

...

:confused:

- M4H


The CPU was free, but I'm wondering if it's worth building a rig around it.
 

F1shF4t

Golden Member
Oct 18, 2005
1,583
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Check my sig, got that xp 1700 for free, the comp will be a gaming and file sharing server later on, and it was really cheap to get it running, so if u need some old comp running in the background for file sharing or internet etc, that p4 1.5ghz will do that just fine. Plus it wont heat up like this crap xp 1700 (had a p4 1.7ghz and that thing idled about 3C above ambient with a cheap aluminium heatsink with fan at 7V, which was not good enough to cool a pentium 4 2.8ghz with the fan full load)
 

Larcher

Member
Jan 19, 2005
32
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Are you sure that's a socket 478?

Because as far as I know most first gen Pentium 4's were socket 423. Just something to check if you haven't already.

 

imported_Imp

Diamond Member
Dec 20, 2005
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I just dumped my old P4 1.7 which has been killing me for the past 2 years. I'm not sure about P4s much, but do all P4 (1Ghz range) boards use Rambus? If the answer is yes, that alone kills the deal...
 

ciproxr

Senior member
Mar 26, 2005
770
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i got a 2ghz celeron from my friend that came with a motherboard, i have a extra power supply and hardrive , it has onboard audio and video all i need is ram and a new case, i was actually thinking of throwing in a tv tuner and making it into a tivo, that would be awesome but not sure, im kinda seeing this chick and i need to save my money lol, women.
 

Fullmetal Chocobo

Moderator<br>Distributed Computing
Moderator
May 13, 2003
13,704
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That is the exact kind of stuff I'm looking for to put in my crack rack. :) BOINC could really use a few additions like that. :) I've got a few P3s and a P2 in the process of being put online now. P4's would be great!
 

OvErHeAtInG

Senior member
Jun 25, 2002
770
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Originally posted by: Imp
I just dumped my old P4 1.7 which has been killing me for the past 2 years. I'm not sure about P4s much, but do all P4 (1Ghz range) boards use Rambus? If the answer is yes, that alone kills the deal...

Good question, when they came out with the chipset which supported SDRAM, was it introduced also for the 423 Wilamettes... or only just the 478?
 

Twsmit

Senior member
Nov 30, 2003
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SDRAM was made for both 423 and 478, but mostly for 478. Almost all 423 boards are RDRAM, with a few rare exceptions being SDRAM and even rarer being DDR.
 

Conky

Lifer
May 9, 2001
10,709
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I did something similar with a P4 1.9GHz Willamette I got for free. I put it on an old Epox motherboard(SiS645 chip), in an old Antec case(300w P/S) with a 27gig 7200rpmHD, Soundblaster Live! value, Liteon dvd burner, ATI 9800Pro, and 768mb of RAM and it makes a surprisingly decent backup rig. :thumbsup:
 

obeseotron

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,910
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For free it's hard to turn down, however the williamette was an awful chip, under ideal circumstances a p3 1Ghz was about as fast as a williamette 1.5ghz with rdram, using realistic ram the williamette was even worse.
 

Maximilian

Lifer
Feb 8, 2004
12,604
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Nah, sell it and make a profit. Or add it to a collection if you have one. The whole RDRAM and socket 423 being dead just makes it unfeasible.
 

imported_fx

Senior member
Feb 4, 2006
290
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Originally posted by: Raduque
Got a working-pull P4 1.5GHz (Willamette, SL5TJ 1.5/256/400/1.75) from a machine at my dad's work (the mobo had dead PCI slots, so it was tossed). Is it worth it to build a small box around this chip?

I was thinking of using this mobo MSI PM8M-V mATX for $44 and a $35 stick of 512MB DDR400.

Thanks


Raduque, I was the owner of Willamette (Dell Dimension 4300). Williamette is 423/478 socket, 400MHz FSB and SDRAM PC133 RAM.

There's fewer motherboard that support 400MHz FSB for that processor today and SDRAM PC133 512mb RAM is little expensive than DDR RAM which I was surprised.
 

bluestrobe

Platinum Member
Aug 15, 2004
2,033
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I would definitely use it. The board would work great. Some people are too good to use older equipment. Personally I would be happy with a processor that fast. Most of my DC computers are P3's and P2's.
 

Raduque

Lifer
Aug 22, 2004
13,140
138
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Thanks for the input, everybody.

FX, according to Intel, the CPU is 478 not 423. Also, the CPU doesn't dictate the ram; An AthlonXP is just as happy with DDR as it is with SDR (albiet, much slower on SDR). I'm betting that mobo will work fine with this CPU. I'm going to use this as my backup computer (going to hand down to it either my 9700pro, or my 6800NU, whichever I decide not to use in my HTPC).