Pentium 4 Purchase This summer

[subxeon]

I'm going to be building a P4 system this summer, and I am wondering if I should wait for the prices to drop? Are they going to drop that much this summer?

I have settled with a P4 system due to the fact that they run cooler, therby needing less fans and QUIET. Quiet system is what I want.

I have a t-bird 1.4ghz system and she sounds like a 747.

OK also I'm not sure which Ram to get, what types of ram are out for p4 systems and which is the fastest... I don't want too expensive of a system.

Also I'm curious on what motherboard to get, keep in mind this purchase is to be made any time this summer, so what should I get in your guy's opinions. Thank you.

 

[lambasa]

Prices will always be dropping. This is a nice time to buy a P4 system as they just release the 533 FSB P4 as well as the high performing 845G chipset. You can buy motherboards for that chipset which support DDR333 (although not supported officially by Intel).

This is also a good time to buy a P4 if you feel like overclocking. Get yourself a 1.6A or a 1.8A and crank up that FSB to 533 on a motherboard that officially supports 533. Just like the good old days of overclocking the coppermine 700's to 933.

 

[SteelCityFan]

P4 533FSB and PC1066 RDRAM would be the fastest.

DDR333 CL2 is comparable to PC800.


Get a motherboard that allows you to fix your PCI/AGP is overclocking.

P4 prices have a major drop this week. The 2.0A GHZ is down to $199 for example, but this is the old 400Mhz Bus. Prices drop a little on the older chips with each new release. The 2.4Ghz 533FSB chip should be pretty reasonable later this summer. Intel also plans on releasing 533FSB chips down to 2.26 I think.

 

[Shagga]

Have a look here.. Look for news under Thursday 23rd May 2002 to get an idea of what is likely to happen. There is a reduction on Monday 27th May 2002, this is when I intend to buy, as I doubt I can wait until October for the next reduction....

 

[erub]

I'm going to wait about 3 weeks. Intel will cut prices tomorrow, and those prices are already reflected in some vendors pricing.
Approximately:
1.6A $135
1.8A $170
2.0A $200

These prices will stabilize after a few more days at approximately these levels. Are you looking to overclock? The 1.6A and 1.8A are the best overclockers- that is, they have the most potential for growth. If you overclock a 1.6A to, for example, 2.4 GHz (which seems very common), you will have a FSB @ 150. Coupled with some RAM capable of doing DDR400, you will have a nice system.

A few recent Intel chipsets have come out for the P4 - the i845G and i850E look the most interesting to me. The i845G is a budget chipset, and includes onboard video (which most here wont use) but it has a tweaked memory controller, and is cheap. It uses DDR RAM, and will probably overclock well. The i850E uses RDRAM, and is capable of a 133FSB. With some PC1066 (that has been released recently as well) that would be a bitching system. I'm hoping to get (in about 3 weeks, once the overclocking results have started to come in, and more motherboards have been released):

P4 1.8A, 512 MB PC1066, some Asus motherboard based on i850E. If I'm lucky (note, definitely not guaranteed!) I will be able to push that system up to a ~141FSB (does that sound realistic?) - 18x141 = 2.538 GHz! The RDRAM would be slightly out of spec as well, running at PC1128 speeds. I'll see how the results come in.

The other common possibility (which seems to be fairly easy to do at the moment) is to take a P4 1.6A, overclock to 150FSB, boost the DDR to 400 and run the chip at 2.4GHz. But I think that the other system would smoke the 1.6A.

 

[subxeon]

Well I don't plan on overclocking mainly because it will require more cooling thus creating more sound. Seeing that the P4 2.0 ghz will be around 193 $. I will probably go with that.

Now for the question of purchasing a motherboard, I stand confused. I really don't know which RAM, Chipset or FSB I should get. I definatly don't want to spend a whole bunch on the ram, could someone list the Ram/Mobo/FSB/Chipset options noting their speed, price and performance issues?

Also what is the diff between the 2.0A and the 2.0 P4's ?

 

[subxeon]

Shagga - i'm curious on what you are going to be ordering for your new P4 system. Please list what all you are getting

 

[subxeon]

Also could someone list the RAM prices / Types

 

[Shagga]

Me, like you are not really going to overclock. Now I do want a quick system and I believe that the P4 and RDRAM is the way to go for me. However, I still have a few unanswered questions, but this is my intended system.

Mobo - ASUS P4T533 - I'm not interested in onboard LAN, Audio but an onboard IDE RAID controller would be nice.
CPU - Intel Pentium 4 2.4(B)GHz 533FSB
RAM - 1GB PC800 RDRAM. I'm really want PC1066 RDRAM but I'm a little unsure at this stage. PC800 is 16Bit as standard but apparently you will be able to get PC1066 in both 16bit and 32bit and I need this clarifying before I commit myself.

So, as soon as I can get hold of the right Mobo, Intel drop their prices and the reduction is reflected in the UK and the CPU is available I will buy. I suspect in the next couple of weeks will be D-Day.

 

[MadRat]

I'd put off on a new Pentium4 until we can get the model numbers to verify the new "B" steppings.

It'll mean the difference between a 2.4GHz overclock and a 3GHz overclock.

Once you cross the 2GHz threshold its apparent that anything less than DDR400 is less than satisfactory. By summer we should see yet another price drop on all of these PC1066 sticks, possibly even 32-bit RIMMs where you'd only need one RIMM for the system. PC1066, PC800, or DDR400 is the way to go for your new Pentium4.

 

[XMan]

Question . . .

In the chart on Xbit, they say Intel will drop the prices of the 2.53 down to $433 after the 2.66/2.6 P4 launch. When will those new chips be launched?

 

[subxeon]

Well, what is the best motherboard for a
2.0ghz
256 mb PC800 RDRAM


I'm probably not going to overclock, I want a real stable setup, also onboard sound wouldn't be bad, not going to RAID setup either.

Thanks.

I'm thinking an ASUS board for their stability, but which ones are there that fit my configuration?

 

[Shagga]

Xerox Man

Got this also from X-Bit.

Pentium 4.

The first processors supporting 533MHz Quad Pumped Bus should appear within Q2 2002. They will work at 2.26GHz and 2.4GHz core clock (both 0.13micron Northwood mPGA478 processors). Also the company will launch Pentium 4 2.4GHz intended for mainboards with 400MHz bus. In the same quarter Intel should announce the chipsets supporting 533MHz Quad Pumped bus: i845E (Brookdale-E), i850E (Tehama-E) and i845G aka Brookdale-G (see this news story for more details).
In Q3 2002 Intel will announce the CPUs working at 2.5GHz (400MHz bus) and 2.53GHz (533MHz bus).
In Q4 2002 we will see Pentium 4 2.8GHz (533MHz bus), 2.66GHz (533MHz bus) and 2.6GHz (400MHz bus).
3GHz bar should be reached next year. Supposedly, Pentium 4 3GHz wills till be based on 0.13micron Northwood core. Later on the company plans to shift to finer 0.09micron technology. However, we have no idea where Northwood will stop.

[Edit]

subxeon

I'm guessing, but the P4T533-C with Audio might be your choice here. It supports PC800/1066.

 

[subxeon]

But why spend that much on a 533mhz FSB when i'm only using a 400mhz proc and ram


What is the difference between the pentium 4 2.0A GHz and the 2.0GHz?

Also are all the p4 2.0ghz northwood .13 micron?

 

[Athlon4all]

But why spend that much on a 533mhz FSB when i'm only using a 400mhz proc and ram

Future Upgrades.

What is the difference between the pentium 4 2.0A GHz and the 2.0GHz?

The 2.0A is the .13 Micron Northwood Core with 512k L2 Cache, the 2.0 is .18 micron Williamette with 256k L2 Cache. Avoid the 2.0.

Also are all the p4 2.0ghz northwood .13 micron?

Yes

As for the RAM, it really is gonna fall on the prices of RDRAM this summer. Right now, PC800 and PC2700 DDR are on equal grounds, while PC1066 is just barely hitting, and is $30 more than PC2700, but those prices (hopefully) will come down. And also board prices could be a factor. Really, you will need to evaluate prices when you are about the purchase. Right now, a MSi 845G board plus 256MB PC2700 will cost about $180, meanwhile a Abit TH7II along with 2 128MB sticks of PC800 costs about $220. The performance diff. between DDR333+845G and Abit Th7II+PC800 is definately there, although its not huge (usually around 5%). I would definately try to get PC800 (or PC1066) for future upgrades, although, its not gonna kill ya if you don't.

 

[subxeon]

Well I think i'll go with DDR ram mobo because of the cheaper price

I currently have a stick of pc2100 256mb in my athlon system
can i use that in the
Intel 845 DDR motherboards?

I'm thinking of getting the Gigabyte P4 Titan DDR
1 stick of 256mb pc2100 DDR ram
Pentium 4 2.0A GHz northwood

will the pc2700 ram work with this board? if so i'd prolly purchase 256mb stick of that?

 

[subxeon]

Actually No i think i'll go with RDRAM

P4 2.0A GHz $193

MSI 845G MAX 94
DDR333 256mb 52
-------------------------------------------
$146


Abit TH7II 850e mobo 130
RDRAM 256MB 74
------------------------------------------
$194

Ok now the question, What should I do on the amount of RAM? Right now i hav ea 512mb pc2100 ram in my system, i'm not sure if i use all of it... I think 256 would suffice, I play a lot of games etc.. do i really need the 512MB of RDRAM? 200 bucks for that seems pretty pricey.

Also what brand of ram is the best to get ? considering price etc..


Lastly i'm concerned with what Power supply to get? I don't want to spend alot, yet i want a good one that powers my system enough and non-faulty. I'm going to be getting the Lian Li Pc-7 case .

 

[christoph83]

Once you cross the 2GHz threshold its apparent that anything less than DDR400 is less than satisfactory.

Yes because you need those extra 20 frames in quake 3 at 640x480. Most review sites show around a 5% boost when going from PC800 to PC1066 and in anything cpu entensive like studio max or encoding, the gain from PC1066 is nil. DDR333, which is equal to PC800, is more than enough for the P4 even at higher speeds. Tom's Hardware shows here even at 2.4ghz the difference isnt THAT large to make anything less than DDR400 (pretty close to PC1066) less than satisfactory. Its definitely best to have the fastest memory combined with the P4, but saying anything less than DDR400 is less than satisfactory? Come on.

 

[RazeOrc]

Subxeon, u should easily be able to pick up PC800 RDRAM if that is your desire for much less than 200 bucks. You might want to check roadmaps though if you are someone who has to have a killer system that will upgrade far into the future, almost all motherboards are dead sticks currently as Serial ATA, USB 2.0 and Firewire support are "supposedly" going to become standards in the next few months, along with Intel switching their performance chipset from the 850 to the 845 using DDR as PC1066 is going to become a novelty in the near future. And current DDR platforms are going to be left in the dust by DDRII which is supposed to debut this fall. Hope I don't get u down but with all the future improvements just around the corner (oh i forgot XP moving it's offical FSB setting to 166!). Happy hunting...

 

[Shagga]

DDRII will reguire a Mobo change wont it. Or is it the same pin configuration?