Pentium 4 OLD "423" Upgrade Problem "GATEWAY"

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T

TrECeNTeRs

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Nov 13, 2003
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Heres My Quest....

I'm trying to help out a friend. Any help with this situation is apreciated. ((( Keep in Mind A Tight Budget )))A couple years ago he purchased this computer from GATEWAY on the order he said it was a 1.8Ghz P4. w/ RAMBUS RDRAM ... If im not mistaken...

Well when he booted it up it shows 1.9 in the properties. I have no idea if gateway Over-clocked it up 100mhz or if they just put the 1.9 chip in it.

What I do know is that it is the "423" the OLD version of the P4 before they made the socket more compact.

So Probably the best thing to do sence I couldnt get to any FSB or Multiplyer options in the BIOS that GATEWAY has setup would be buy a new board.


I'm not sure of the FSB mhz of the rambus or if it can even be overclocked.

I'm also not sure if the CPU can be overclocked especially on this board.


RAM "rambus rdram 800 or 400 not sure"
I figure it would be cheaper to stick with RDRAM I hear it is fast, but I have also heard stories of it not being very compatable and the company that makes it was trying to be somewhat a monoply. This is just what I have heard true or false I don't know. I'm not sure it it is 400Mhz or 800Mhz RDRAM. I will have to look next time I'm there. Eather way its 1GB.

Video Card "Probably 2x"
It is an AGP board but im sure its not an 8x, We got him a 5200 Ultra to put in it. So its a decent machine for Gameing. I'm thinking he should wait for theese newer cards to dop prices of other cards and get a new video later when prices drop. I usually try to keep a $150. Limit on a Card Upgrade.

Hard Drive
The 7200 rpm harddrive shouldn't need replaced. I figure once A game is loaded onto the 1gb ram and the video ram the harddrive wont have to do much work. So harddrive is fine.

Power Supply
The power supply is probably 300watts my guess but eather way I use genaric PS's 550watt dual fans for like around what $18. And that supports my AMD machine with 8 fans xp2600@2.45 2x196 fsb @ 41c deg. and goes no higher in mhz cause of the nforce2 "thanks to blue on here for tellin me that" So sorry for bein off subject but Power Supply should be alright.


Ending Question
So basically IMO unless theres someway to OC this machine by unlocking "GATEWAYS" bios stuff and maybe adding a Volcano. and a few Case Fans. Ram Sinks ect... He is probably looking at trying to find a "Newer Motherboardand" and "New 478 type P4" combo that hopefully that supports RDRAM. So he dont have to spend alot on getting another gig of ram but also be able to purchase new faster ram in the future when needed.

Any suggestions? Questions? or even Opinions about GATEWAY Lol? Please feel free to post.

It will all be apreciated!
 
S

SinfulWeeper

Diamond Member
Sep 2, 2000
4,567
11
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There is a program out there, I think called SoftFSB, that is the only way he would be able to OC it. And not by much as you can 'unlock' the Gateway BIOS.
There are some 845 chipset motherboards for cheap that use RAMBUS, but they require a 478 CPU. With the added CPU cache, FSB options, and better chipset. He can do the grade for around ~$125-$200. It would be a most decent upgrade.

http://store.yahoo.com/3btech/msi85maxmpe4.html for the motherboard
http://www.starmicro.net/detail.aspx?ID=114 for the CPU.

There are less expensive ways to get the motherboard and CPU such as AT's FS/FT forums. This is a decent upgrade, for performance. But I would personally recommend a newer 865/875 chipset with DDR memory and a 800FSB CPU. But that option might cost a little more then is worthwhile over what I pointed out.
 
T

TrECeNTeRs

Member
Nov 13, 2003
159
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Ok, Thanks for the info ...


Also he would need a Board with 4 ram slots because there are 4 x 256 chips of the rambus.

I was really just thinking that the rambus was probably the fastest thing in the system and to just upgrade around it. "I believe its 800mhz" I'll have to make sure and check that out.
 
T

TrECeNTeRs

Member
Nov 13, 2003
159
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Also like I said I'm an AMD person I have no idea how theese Pentiums Chips go along with the FSB of the RAM... I don't know if the rambus is something real good or if the pc is just a lost cause for an upgrade without ditching the whole system.
 
S

SinfulWeeper

Diamond Member
Sep 2, 2000
4,567
11
81
P4's, unlike P3's. Make full proper use of RAMBUS. Dual channel DDR barely passes the performance a P4 RAMBUS equiped P4... at a 800FSB anyways. I never heard of anyone OC'ing a RAMBUS board to 200FSB. Mainly because of CPU limitations at the time. 200FSB CPU's were not even anywhere close to the market at that time. I would imagine a P4 equiped with single channel RAMBUS @ 200 FSB would stomp the hell outta a dual channel DDR system FSB for FSB.

But in that case there are these.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=44943&item=3485509267&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=44943&item=3485320033&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Those fit the 4 slots requirement.
 
MDE

MDE

Lifer
Jul 17, 2003
13,199
1
81
Don't use crappy generic PSUs, you're asking for trouble.
 
T

TrECeNTeRs

Member
Nov 13, 2003
159
0
0
3chordcharlie

3chordcharlie

Diamond Member
Mar 30, 2004
9,859
1
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I would suggest calling the whole machine a dead end myself. Tell your friend to sell it as a complete P4 system, and spec out a better system, whether AMD or intel; if the original video card is around, pull out and save the 5200 ultra so they won't need a new video card right away.

Rambus ram is fast, and works well with P4... it's also pretty much dead and gone, and rambus 800 is at least one grade slower than the last generation of rambus for the P4. It's just not worth the trouble when you can build a new system for the cost of case, PSU, and some ddr, and have a better, newer motherboard to top it off.
 
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