P4, yet?

[eetfunk]

Hi everybody!

I am looking to upgrade my computer to a P4 1.5ghz. However, I cannot seem to make up my mind. It seems to me that the P4 platform is not just ready yet.

Here are my concerns:

Intel 850 and Socket 423 will be dead in a month or so. I do not want to invest in a dying technology, and do not especially want to spend big bucks on RDRAM if it is going to die too!

When I first read about the Intel 845 and Socket 478, I thought this was the way to go for me. But as soon as I discovered the performance hit from PC133 Ram, I decided to not upgrade now.

My question is... will Intel ever support DDR? Is S478 really going to stay and S423 going to disappear? Is there a better solution around for me right now or I should really wait for i845/DDR? I thought of buying a non-Intel chipset but since I am really concerned about compatibility, this might not be a wise choice for me. I am using a professionnal audio interface that has had problems with non-Intel chipsets in the past.

I hope you guys can show me the light!

Have a nice day!

 

[Buz2b]

I'll give you a slight glimmer of light. If Intel has their way, there will be Intel based boards that support DDR in the first quarter of next year. However, if VIA and SIS have their way they will be putting out a P4 DDR board very soon. So yes, there will be a P4 DDR board, it's just a matter of who and when.

 

[Diable]

If you want a board with Intel's DDR chipset you will have to wait till next year. If you want a DDR board now the Shuttle AV40 which uses the VIA P4X266 DDR chipset is available now.

 

[bunny25]

hey buz,

I would like to know if i850 really has this USB problem. If i845 is so lagging in performance, why would they churn out i845 with SDRAM and DDR ???

 

[Bingo13]

eetfunk
Buy a 1.7 P4 s478, Shuttle AV40 board, good DDR memory, and you will get 1.9 in a very stable manner if you overclock the system. This is your best bang for the buck right now if you are going to the P4.

 

[eetfunk]

Thanks everybody! I didn't know about the Shuttle board...

I have never been a huge fan of Shuttle... I always owned Asus or Abit. The AV40 seems like a good board from the reviews though. But... Where the heck can I buy it from? I am in Canada and all the stores I tried (from Pricewatch) won't ship here. Any idea?

Thanks!

 

[Buz2b]

<< If i845 is so lagging in performance, why would they churn out i845 with SDRAM and DDR ??? >>

Not sure that they will but you have to ask also, Why would Intel pair up the P4 with SDRAM in the first place when the DDR technology is better and faster?

 

[bunny25]

If u had a choice of (RDRAM + i850) and (i845 + DDR), which u rather have at the same price ?
by the way, do ya know any good motherboards running on DDR + P4 at the moment ????

 

[Buz2b]

<< do ya know any good motherboards running on DDR + P4 at the moment >>

Just saw the post about the shuttle up above. I believe that SIS has a new chipset, SIS 645 that has been released and you should be seeing boards soon. It uses DDR 333. This should be even faster than the VIA chipset version until it starts supporting the DDR333. The big difference is that SIS is licensed for this by Intel, VIA is still in court. Look for the SIS versions very soon I think. You can read about the SIS chipset here. and there is an article here that compares the Intel P4 boards with the VIA chipset version. The best part of the article is at the very end where they compare Price/Performance values and then talk of the SIS chipset. Sounds like it would be worth waiting a bit before buying.

 

[DaveSimmons]

<< If u had a choice of (RDRAM + i850) and (i845 + DDR), which u rather have at the same price ?
by the way, do ya know any good motherboards running on DDR + P4 at the moment ???? >>



I'd go for RDRAM since the bandwidth will be higher. Got to keep those Q3 framerates above 200 🙂

On RDRAM, After years of upgrading I look at it this way: even if it is a dying technology, right now it is the best memory for P4 and by the time I want to buy something faster I'll most likely want a new motherboard and higher-density / higher-speed memory anyway. Yes I've been able to move my 128 MB PC100's from one motherboard to another, but since they're now work about $15 each (vs. the $115 I paid), who cares?

The only reason I can see to buy a DDR mobo right now is if you need more than 1 GB of RAM (4 x 256) since the 512 MB sticks are a huge jump in price. If you want DDR just because you hate Rambus, then why not buy AMD instead of Intel?