Intel people only. What kind of cpu/mb setup should I get?

[zmzhang]

I'm going to get a northwood 2 gig cpu. Should I get it with Rambus or DDR? I'm going to use this machine primarly for gaming.

Thanks

 

[CStroman]

I'd go with rambus, although DDR is cheaper. It's up to you.

 

[zmzhang]

Which one would perform better? Also, if I do go with Rambus, is the 533mhz worth waiting for?

 

[CStroman]

Rambus does perform better than DDR. The higher bus speed is good, because it provides more bandwidth.

EDIT: 600th post!

 

[oldfart]

Its kind of ironic. DDR has finally come out for the P4, but Rambus prices have dropped to where its not that much more $$. I'd go the i850/RDRAM route. Every review I've seen shows it as the fastest combo.

 

[Duvie]

I don't think you should alienate or discriminate against certain ppl...I run an AMD system right now, (cause INtel's price/ performance sucks even with the northwood) but I don't think of myself as "AMD people"....I think I know quite a bit about p4 systems and definitely more then some who are even running them now...

That being said I have also read the reviews and it is apparent that the p4/i850 platform really excels with the rambus rdram and the large bandwidth it offers...

 

[boyRacer]

ddr may perform as good, if not better, in some instances than rdram now but once the northwood hits and the clockspeed starts ramping up again... ddr will suffer as rdram still offers more bandwidth. id go with 850/RDRAM.

 

[slickdude50]

DDR is great and is much cheaper than rambus. And Intel is now supporting it. Works for me.

 

[zmzhang]

Duvie, I'm not discriminating against certain people. I just don't want to turn this post into another discussion on which company is better. How long would it be until intel comes out with DDR 333? Its really weird, these days, ddr and sdr ram prices are rising, but rambus prices are remaining the same.

 

[oldfart]

256 meg Samsung PC800 RDRAM is ~ $75 a stick. That is pretty close to DDR prices.

 

[dave8311]

RAMBUS BABY

 

[apoppin]

RDRAM.

If you can wait (I CAN wait), the 533FSB Northwood will offer better performance and the prices will definitely drop on the Northwood CPUs as Intel ramps up the speed.

 

[LuciferHaze]

Those are all pretty expensive options. If you're looking for something a little more economical I'd go with a 1.2GHz (.13m) Tualitin Celeron with 256KB's of L2 cache instead of the measly 128KB's on the 1.1GHz and below Coppermines. Get an ASUS-CUSL2-C or an ABIT-VH6T or an ABIT-ST6 motherboard as these are jumperless and great for overclocking. Most people can get their 1.2GHz Tualitin Celeron to 1.6GHz with just a good heatsink-fan comobo and it compares in speed to a much more expensive 1.6GHz Pentium IV.

 

[Spikesoldier]

<< Those are all pretty expensive options. If you're looking for something a little more economical I'd go with a 1.2GHz (.13m) Tualitin Celeron with 256KB's of L2 cache instead of the measly 128KB's on the 1.1GHz and below Coppermines. Get an ASUS-CUSL2-C or an ABIT-VH6T or an ABIT-ST6 motherboard as these are jumperless and great for overclocking. Most people can get their 1.2GHz Tualitin Celeron to 1.6GHz with just a good heatsink-fan comobo and it compares in speed to a much more expensive 1.6GHz Pentium IV. >>



Remember that you are still stuck on the 133MHz bus even if you decide to overclock. With my new video card, the bottleneck in most newer games is apparent: The CPU and bus speed.

 

[o1die]

If you're looking for a good deal on a rambus board, newegg has the abit TH7-II with raid for only $135 with free shipping. Refurbished with 30 day warranty.

 

[SeSu]

Go with Rambus !! I have a P4 1.7 i850/RDRAM combine it with a GeForce 3 and all my fps are flying

 

[Diable]

Go with Rambus. DDR comes close but Rambus is king.

 

[sjankech]

get a mobo with a sis645 chipset and stick ddr 333 memory in it and that will be even faster than the 850 and rambus

 

[Athlon4all]

If u want to go Intel, then go get yourself a Asus P4S333+some DDR333. It's the fastest P4 platform avialable right now, and will go nicely with a Northwood in a few weeks. Go get it!

 

[BraeBrae]

<< get a mobo with a sis645 chipset and stick ddr 333 memory in it and that will be even faster than the 850 and rambus >>



Can you offer some URLs where the proof is viewable?

 

[sjankech]

http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2001q4/p4-chipsets/index.x?pg=1

 

[sjankech]

http://www.anandtech.com/chipsets/showdoc.html?i=1541

also here

 

[Kartman]

<< http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2001q4/p4-chipsets/index.x?pg=1 >>



Cool ...

I can see that http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2001q4/p4-chipsets/index.x?pg=6 shows the 333DDR to be lower in latency, but the 850 chipset to better in providing maximum bandwidth. And the next page shows highly comparable results between the two solutions (thats very interesting). On page '7', we can see that gamers will do better by using 333DDR memory, but this certainly is more expensive than other DDR forms and RAMBUS--but must make RAMBUS feel really small, hehe. The 3DMark 2001 test show no reason to move into a more expensive memory arena. The SPECviewperf workstation graphics and Speech recognition show no or extremely little reason for paying more for 333DDR, and the author's conclusion ...

"The 845 with DDR support is Intel's first crack at a DDR-capable chipset, and it shows. Either by lack of experience or by choice, Intel couldn't make the 845 match up to the 850's performance. I can only characterize the 845/DDR's performance as disappointing. Not terrible, but disappointing."

Maybe 6-9 months from now when 333DDR is at the price of SDRAM the offered 845 solutions will have matured themselves into something really good, but for now I cannot see the justification for spending more than what is necessay. If someone is going to upgrade to a mature solution in the timeframe I suggested, I would more than suggest sticking with the most cost-wise solution--whether that be 266/300DDR or RDRAM800 on the current 845/850 products.

Still, an interesting read that everyone should check out.

 

[Kartman]

<< http://www.anandtech.com/chipsets/showdoc.html?i=1541
also here >>



Now, this article is amusing as it only suggests something other than the current state of affairs. Lemme explain myself ...

You first post showed that the only way for a DDR/845 solution to seriously be better than a RDRAM/850 solution for P4 applications was to a) use an SiS solution that also included the more expensive DDR memory, which costs more than RDRAM. This article suggests the opposite, but considering the date of publication it pretty much invalidates itself in that it harps on comparing pricing between RDRAM and PC2100, and not RDRAM800 and 333DDR.

Maybe a revision by the author is at call?

 

[Clevor]

It's funny how a couple of months ago people were badmouthing RDRAM so bad. Maybe it was the high prices.

I am putting together a second rig with a Pentium4, this time (I am tired of installing that damn VIA 4-in-1 drivers, and they keep updating the darn thing!).

850/RDRAM is the way to go, mainly for mem bandwidth bragging rights. True, a recent review showed the 845/DDR333 to be a bit faster in some applications, but I like the >1 gig bandwidth an 850/RDRAM setup will give. You will be King of the Hill on the Sismark Sandra memory benchmark.

Just remember that with the Pentium4, it helps to have a certified power supply with the extra 4-pin connector (Asus gives you an adapter if you don't), and if you don't get a retail chip, you need a humongous heatsink, preferably with copper core.

I picked up an Asus P4T-E board (will take the Northwoods up to 2.4 gig), an Antec 400W Pentium4 power supply, and a Nidec heatsink. The latter is an absolutely gorgeous piece. I am going to run my Asus Ti 500 card which overclocks to 266/603 in this machine. QuakeIII anyone?