Northwood to Prescott

[Ages]

I have been running an overclocked Northwood 2.4c @ 3.0 for the last few years. My system runs great. I am considering upgrading the processor to a Prescott 3.2e, hoping to push the system to at least 3.7 (air cooled).

My motherboard is an ABIT IC-7 MAX 3, 2GB of XMS PC 3200 (going to 2GB), with stock air cooling.

Do you think the mobo will handle the Prescott and if so which air cooling solution would you recommend for this cpu? Will I see a performance increase in my games & apps?

This motherboad has been a great performer for years. Maybe I ought to just max out my memory and stick with the overclocked 2.4c, what do you think? Does this upgrade make sense to you?

 

[Arkaign]

Prescott on s478 was a disaster.

Find someone who needs a decent PC, then sell EVERYTHING that you have.

The cheapest C2D will annihilate any P4. Start fresh, it's not that $$$.

 

[waffleironhead]

Unless you get the chip for free, then no.

 

[narreth]

Yea you can get an E2180 for $80
DS3L mobo for $90
and 2GB G.Skill DDR2 ram for $50

there. upgrade is done @ $220

 

[Burrich]

Only problem with the DS3L and IP35-E is the fact that it has 1 IDE port. Someone updating from an older computer could easily have over 2 PATA items.

*Edit* Could always buy an add-in card to handle your PATA drives. Above comment is just something to consider.

 

[BladeVenom]

Or use an IDE to SATA adapter.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

or throw those old (probably small IDE drives) away and get a cheap 250gb $50 drive, or 160gb SATA drive

 

[LOUISSSSS]

and no, its not worth putting any money into that old system unless its free and ur time isn't worth much. remember time (to install) = money also, a complete upgrade would be $$ much better spent if u had to pay for that chip

 

[Ages]

I'll be building a screaming gaming rig soon and I have an Athlon system already running as well. So I was going to try to keep this one going so my two kids and I could play some old multiplayer games here at the house (Descent 3, BF2 etc...)

Its old but still runs pretty good, I was just trying to squeeze as much as I can out of it. If I build another system I'll need more than just a mobo, ram and cpu. I just wonder if 700Mhz more plus more lvl2 cache and an additional 2GBs of Ram will make any noticible improvement.

 

[happy medium]

2gigs of ram is plenty.
Mabe you can grab a 3.0 Northwood and get to 3.6 cheap. Yes it will improve performance as long as your video card is decent.

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: Ages
I have been running an overclocked Northwood 2.4c @ 3.0 for the last few years. My system runs great. I am considering upgrading the processor to a Prescott 3.2e, hoping to push the system to at least 3.7 (air cooled).

Are you expecting a cold winter in the next few months? If your system "runs great", then the main difference you'll experience is the extra heat.

 

[Xpoc]

I remember selling my Prescott soon after I got it. Man they run hot.
I then bought an AMD 3500.

 

[Ages]

Originally posted by: happy medium
2gigs of ram is plenty.
Mabe you can grab a 3.0 Northwood and get to 3.6 cheap. Yes it will improve performance as long as your video card is decent.

I have an ATI X850XT in this system.

 

[Sylvanas]

I wouldn't bother putting a Prescott in...it won't make much of a difference and if it aint broke don't fix it....yet .

 

[jjmIII]

Ahhh, the 2.4c.....great chip. Keep it until you do a mobo/memory/cpu upgrade.

BTW, mine did 3.2 all day long .

 

[Ages]

Originally posted by: jjmIII
Ahhh, the 2.4c.....great chip. Keep it until you do a mobo/memory/cpu upgrade.

BTW, mine did 3.2 all day long .

What cooler did you use?

 

[fire400]

Originally posted by: Ages

Originally posted by: jjmIII
Ahhh, the 2.4c.....great chip. Keep it until you do a mobo/memory/cpu upgrade.

BTW, mine did 3.2 all day long .

What cooler did you use?

mines was 2.8 with 1mb/HT

used a huge artic cooling unit... mines still ran insanely hot!! did like +58 celcius. I was like, omg...

 

[Arcanedeath]

At this point in your systems life its not worth the effort for the performance you'd gain. at 3.2 Ghz Prescott performed the same as Northwood, IPC wise, higher that 3.2 Prescott beat nortwood clock for clock but it does run much hotter so you'll also need a good HSF to push a Prescott that high. If you have spare time, the Presscott is very very cheap or free and the HSF you have will handle it by all means go ahead and upgrade but if all that stuff is not true its prolly not worth it even if you plan to keep the system for your kids.