Is it worth upgrading if I get a FREE Intel P4 2.8GHz?

[Rectalfier]

Take the processor, then sell it. 😀

 

[brettjrob]

Well the P4 2.8C is well over $200, so you're definitely missing out on something big if you don't do it. It's a shame, though, that you have to buy two new sticks of PC3200 (or higher) to go with it, as that's going to make your combined bill for mobo/RAM over $200 if you go with 512MB and over $300 if you go with 1GB. Still an awesome deal, though. Too bad your friend probably wouldn't go for you taking it and immediately selling it (to me, of course) 😉

 

[pm]

He doesn't have to buy new memory. The CPU is unlocked.

I didn't bother upgrading my memory, I just kept my PC2100 and ran the CPU at 24x133 = 3.2GHz. You lose a bit of performance, but save a lot of money on memory. All I needed was a new motherboard - for some reason my old Asus P4B266 didn't like it.

Sunner, I don't know why it's called a Beta CPU. I don't think that what I got is a retail part though.

 

[Megatomic]

I'd keep the Intel chip and the 1GB of PC2100 memory and get a granite bay motherboard with the sale of the AMD stuff. That'd be about the cleanest upgrade path and would involve about $0 net being spent. If you have a wife she'll like that alot. 🙂

 

[pm]

Why choose a E7205 (Granite Bay) over a 865 (Springdale) board?

 

[SexyK]

Originally posted by: pm
Unless this Intel employee is stealing from the company, the processor is probably being made available under the employee beta processor program. Under the program Intel employees receive a processor from the company for use in a system by that employee. The idea is that Intel employees can learn more about computers and Intel's product line by putting together a system using the processor.

I picked my beta processor up today.

For what it's worth, the program rules specifically forbid selling the processor, and each beta processor has a unique ID which is assigned to the processor and recorded when the processor is picked up by the employee and this makes it trivially easy to trace back to the employee in the event that it were, for example, to be placed on Ebay.

Whether or not it's worth upgrading depends on what you use the computer for. I am trying to decide how far I want to upgrade my system to use the processor that I received under the program today.

Well maybe his friend at Intel was running a 2.8GHz system, then went and picked up his beta processor (at 3.0 or 3.2) and realized he didnt need his old 2.8 anymore so decided to give it away. I'd imagine if there's this cataloging system to keep track of the beta processors, he'd keep the beta chip for himself and give away the retail chip from his old system. Maybe i'm wrong though, just a thought. But there's a chance this chip won't be unlocked.

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: pm
Why choose a E7205 (Granite Bay) over a 865 (Springdale) board?

According to AIDA32 memory benchmark results, the E7205 memory performance with PC2100 is not that far off of i865 results, and they only use PC2100 on the e7205 board. As a matter of fact, the e7205 results are far closer to i865 than the i865 results are to i875. Plus, he can buy a used model from the FS/FT forum dirt cheap. This is not to say that the i865 isn't a good chipset, I was just trying to be logical/economical I guess.

 

[pm]

Thanks, Mega and SexyK. Both of you have good points that I hadn't considered. Although I admit that you have a point that I hand't thought of, SexyK, I would still bet that it is a beta processor, and it is unlocked. 🙂

And, I would think that if one isn't able to get an E7205 board used and had to buy one new, I would think that an 865 board would be similarly priced to an E7205 but the 865 board would have more features (SATA, faster FSB, onboard audio, better power delivery, etc.).