Please help with choice of new mobo & memory

[bumboo]

I am running a P4 1.60A 400Mhz FSB (478-pin PGA) on an older mobo (Asus P4B) which only supports PC133 SDRAM (i.e. no DDR). I am thinking of keeping the CPU and buying a new mobo and memory (DDR). I have two questions in this regard:

1) Is this a worthwhile upgrade (will I see any real performance gains)?
2) Which mobo/chipset and what speed memory would people recommend for this situation?

My budget is $400 total, but I could probably push it to $500. I would rather get more memory than a faster processor because I tend to do a lot of photo and video editing.

Thanx!!

 

[jaeger66]

An 845PE chipset board like the Abit BH7(~ $100) will allow you to OC that 1.6 to 2.2 and then you could get 1GB of PC3200 for $300 or so. Or you could wait a month and get a 865(Springdale chipset board) with the same RAM and get dual channel memory performance. I'd wait the month personally if you're in it for video, the extra memory bandwidth on the 865 will be nice.

 

[bumboo]

Thanx jaeger66.

I have been thinking about the 845PE too and trying to save some money for a possible video upgrade (I have an old beat up Geforce 2 MX).

Is there a point beyond which faster DDR memory does not help because of the CPU FSB limitation. In other words, what is the fastest memory that would be usable with my 400Mhz FSB CPU? Or does that not make sense? Maybe I am wrong but I thought that one needed the 800Mhz P4s to benefit from the 865 chipset.

 

[jaeger66]

Originally posted by: bumboo
Thanx jaeger66.

I have been thinking about the 845PE too and trying to save some money for a possible video upgrade (I have an old beat up Geforce 2 MX).

Is there a point beyond which faster DDR memory does not help because of the CPU FSB limitation. In other words, what is the fastest memory that would be usable with my 400Mhz FSB CPU? Or does that not make sense? Maybe I am wrong but I thought that one needed the 800Mhz P4s to benefit from the 865 chipset.

You'll never run into that problem with current P4/DDR chipsets. The RAM speed will always lag the fsb in real world performance. Even at the slowest fsb, 400, PC3200 would just give you enough speed to match. So I'd get the 3200, and it will likely carry you through future upgrades as well. The 865 will suppot all 478 P4s, and it's dual channel speed will give a boost on all of them.

 

[bumboo]

Excellent! That answers my question. Thanks much!!