Next upgrade should be...?

[WafflemanX]

Ok, first ill start out with a question. I have an ECS P4S5A motherboard, (yes i really do like ECS), im running a 2.4ghz p4 right now and I cant seem to figure out if the motherboard has some type of maximum processor speed. In the manual it just says that it supports intel pentuim4 processors with a maximum of 400/533 FSB. So can i assume that if my cooling system is good enough i can run a 3.4+ GHz processor, and what would be the performance difference if I just upgraded my mobo and got something with a higher FSB? And how noticeable would the difference be.

Ok so next up ide like some suggestions for a good upgrade for my compy
P4 2.4Ghz mobo listed above
1GB pc2700 ddr
(Just bought a forton 400watt PSU)
6800Ultra AGP vid

Now the problem im running into is that I just bought the video card, I really dont want to have to upgrade my motherboard for something that doesnt support AGP and have to trade or sell the card I have.

thanks alot

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

If this is for gaming, AMD is a better way to go than P4.

You could get this ASRock motherboard that supports AGP and PCI-E and get whatever 939 processor you want.

 

[GamerExpress]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
If this is for gaming, AMD is a better way to go than P4.

You could get this ASRock motherboard that supports AGP and PCI-E and get whatever 939 processor you want.

Stole the words right out of my mouth.

 

[WafflemanX]

cool, i didnt even think about going amd. Now im not familiar with the performance difference between amd and intel. Is there a big performance gap between lets say an intel 3.6ghz or a amd 2.4 ghz? because the only processor I have seen that i could afford is the 2.4ghz althon64s. I have a 2.4 pentuim now so would it be worth it to upgrade?

 

[Phluxed]

God yes. Speeds actually mean far less than people give them credit for. I mean sure a 2.4ghz pentium is slower than a 3.2ghz pentium, but a Athlon 64 3200+ is faster than the both of em !

 

[evilharp]

Originally posted by: WafflemanX
cool, i didnt even think about going amd. Now im not familiar with the performance difference between amd and intel. Is there a big performance gap between lets say an intel 3.6ghz or a amd 2.4 ghz? because the only processor I have seen that i could afford is the 2.4ghz althon64s. I have a 2.4 pentuim now so would it be worth it to upgrade?

Clock for clock, A64 always outperforms P4 (by a large margin). The chips have very different architectures, designed for different objectives.

The P4 has long pipelines, as it was designed to run at high speeds (Ghz) and to use RDRAM ( :roll: ).

The A64 has short pipelines, as it was designed to run at lower speeds and use DDR ram. Plus, it has an integrated memory controller that provides outstanding real-world performance (be wary of synthetic benchmarks).

At equivalent clock speed, the A64 does more in the same amount of time (data travels through a shorter pipe, so to speak). To match the performance, the P4 has to be ramped up to a higher clock speed (data moves faster through the pipe).

Intel hit the wall before 4ghz, and couldn't go higher without massive cooling systems (water, moster heat-pipe coolers, phase-change, etc...) due to the enormous power requirements of the P4. As a result, the next gen intel chips will feature shorter pipelines, reduced power/thermal requirements, and lower clock speeds (like the P3 and the Pentium-M).

If you are upgrading now:

-Socket 939 A64 is the best bet (single or dual core)
-For AGP there is the ASROCk board mentioned above (AGP and PCI-E), nForce3 boards (AGP only), some ULI board (AGP only) or Via boards (AGP only)