Intel P4 CPUs 2.4 and up- Please sort out the confusion for me

[nagibbs]

I am getting ready to upgrade my old P3 1GHZ and plan on using an ABIT IC7 or IS7 motherboard in the upgrade. I am very confused about all of the Intel processors from 2.4 ghz and up as to bus speeds differnces, Ram requirements etc. A link or two where I could learn the differences would be very helpful and what would a good value versus performance processor to start with? Thanks

r.gibbs@insightbb.com

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Originally posted by: nagibbs
I am getting ready to upgrade my old P3 1GHZ and plan on using an ABIT IC7 or IS7 motherboard in the upgrade. I am very confused about all of the Intel processors from 2.4 ghz and up as to bus speeds differnces, Ram requirements etc. A link or two where I could learn the differences would be very helpful and what would a good value versus performance processor to start with? Thanks

r.gibbs@insightbb.com

Not hard to answer this for best performance overclocking and price go with a 2.4C 800 mhz HT CPU. The new chips are based on a 200 FSB quad pumped to = 800 mhz.

As for RAM if you want to overclock big then you want to go with DDR3500 or higher depending on what FSB you would like to reach. Some are getting DDR4000 now but they run more relaxed timings but still do perform well even with 3 4 4 8 which alot of the DDR4000 say to run at.

If you want to save money on the RAM then no need to go higher then DDR3200 cause even that can overclock a bit at 1:1 timings and to gain more FSB with that you can run 5:4 and run higher FSB on your CPU to bring the memory back up to speed.

The difference in the P4 CPU's is simple 400 mhz are 100FSB quad pumped 533 are 133 quad pumped and 800 is what I said above. So right now the 800 are the fastest out of the box due to the higher FSB they start at.

 

[bgeh]

there are currently 3 variants of the 2.4GHz chip
the 2.4A(100MHz), 2.4B(133MHz) and 2.4C(200MHz)
the numbers in brackets denote FSB
the A and B variants are quite rare compared to the C variants nowadays

since you're getting a IC7 or IS7, i recommend you to get the C version......
you'll need 2 sticks of DDR400 to enable Dual Channel DDR400 which will maximise performance

just remember, A denotes 100Mhz FSB, B-133, C-200

 

[Budman]

2.4a = 400fsb
2.4b = 533 fsb
2.4c = 800 fsb

With an Abit IC7/IS7 you want the "C" 800fsb processor.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Pfft I was first to tell him all this. 😀

 

[Wingznut]

Actually, there is no 2.4a... The a designation is there to differentiate between Willamette and Northwood cpu's of the same speed. Since there is no 2.4ghz Willamette, there is no need for the official a designation. 🙂

 

[Shimmishim]

18 x 133 = 2400 --> 2.4B
12 x 200 = 2400 --> 2.4C

if you get a 2.4B, pc3200 will be more than enough for you...

18 x 200 = 3.6 ghz which isn't impossible to do but pretty rare... only person i've heard of doing this is thugsrook and he is using hyperx pc3000 and running with GAT enabled and all the good stuff...

when running 12 x 250 with the 5:4 divider you can't use GAT settings or they have to be set to auto...