New System Questions

[BlackLab]

I am getting ready to take the plunge and replace my P3 750. I'm looking at a couple of systems from ABS. My questions: should I go with PC2100 DDR ram or RAMBUS ram? How big of a difference will it make? Since I can't really afford the 533mhz CPU, I'm going to go with a 2.0 or 2.2 400mhz, and get a 533mhz board (for future CPU upgrades). Is this a sound idea? Also, what is the difference between an "A" type processor, and the Northwood processor, and the 533mhz processor?

Right now, I'm close to ordering a P4 2.2, with 256 RAMBUS 800mhz ram, an ABIT TH7II 850 ATX board, Maxtor 60 GB 7200 RPm ATA 133 HD,Pioneer 16x DVD-ROM, Lite-On CD-RW, PNY Geforce 4 TI4400 128 mb for $1179.00.

To me, this sounds like a pretty good system. I'd be interested in some opinions.

Thanks,

K Bailey

 

[microAmp]

The two P4's are Willamette and Northwood. Northwood CPU's have the 'A' attached to the GHz rating number. Also the 'A' version's have 512 L2 cache. So you really want the 'A' versions.

The older Northwoods and all Willamette CPU's run on a quad pumped 100 MHz FSB, or 400 MHz. The newer Northwoods like the 2.53 GHz have the quad pumped 133 Mhz FSB, or 533 MHz FSB, they also have the 512k L2 cache.

For DDR vs. RDRAM, if you want to o/c go with DDR, otherwise go with RDRAM.