**Update** $132 P4-1.6a (shipped) @ Newegg and Mainboard comparision to go with.

[Expandable]

**New Update**:

The $132 P4-1.6a (shipped) @ Newegg.

Mainboard comparision to go with the P4-1.6a Northwood.

The Intel I845D and SiS645 chipset is king to go with 1.6a. The VIAP4X266a is a no go.

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Dear ****,

Thank you for placing your recent order with the Gateway Accessory Store. We regret that our supply of the PENTIUM 4 1.6A GHZ PGA2-478 W/512K CACHE has been depleted, and we are unable to replenish our stock at this time. Consequently, this item has been removed from our inventory list and cancelled from your order #***. This item is no longer available from the manufacturer and will not be listed on our site in the future.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and look forward to serving you again. Our site has a full compliment of products. Return to our site at http://www.necxdirect.com to find a suitable substitute.

Sincerely,
Client Relations
Gateway Accessory Store
______________

And the good new is they gave me $15 credit to my $70 item.


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Buy them both @ Googlegear to save on shipping.

$82.50 Asus P4S333-M
$139 1.6a Northwood

Buy.com just got the 1.6a in stock @ $154. Let keeps an eye on any coupons and free shipping.

Note: The P4S333-M has 2 DDR DIMM and Ethernet compare to a regular p4S333.

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Got my HP double sided printing module today but the 1.6a is on back order. Let see when I'm gonna get it.

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The 1.6a has never been in stock since the $50 instance coupon have been posted. I did talk to a rep. if I can still order the back order 1.6a and he told me 'fine'. Thousand is on order though. The coupon is expire on the 28 this month.

They have,

Asus P4b266 USB2.0 version @$173_Search item 0000165435
Asus P4S333 SIS645 @ $120_Item 0000165448
P4 1.6a @ $159_Item BX80532PC1600D
Link to Gateway Accessory Store.

I, myself last night, got the 1.6a (back order) and HP double sided printing module (in stock) for $180 after coupon. 'Shipment Pending' on my order status page as I just checked. Who knows!

Might ask the Bro. order for me either the P4S333 or P4B266 and I'm ready to go. Too bad that they don't have the Asus P4B266-C.

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BigJ2078 over OC forum posted this handy Site for all Northwood OC need.

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Price drop! Few bucks cheaper. $141 @ Googlegear and $150 @ Mwave.

Note:
*Members are very successful pushing the chip over 16 x 133FSB (stock Intel heatsink and fan).
*Members report they get their made in Malay chip @ Googlegear and Mwave. Some made in CostaRica @ Newegg. More Info.
*The Asus P4B266-C has USB port problem if over 150FSB otherwise beautiful board (The P4B266 does not).
*The Asus P4S333 (SIS chipset) has no problem to OC the 1.6a.

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mrVW reports Mwave has ASUS P4S333 SIS 645 CHIPSET W/ C-MEDIA AUDIO for $109.

Newegg also have this Board for about the same price.

Asus SiS 645 Chipset Review.

Note:
* Using these two boards (Asus P4B266 and Asus P4S333), users report that they are succesfully overclock the P4 1.6a over 2.2Ghz.
* Getting a good Ram is crucial!

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Darlantan report Newegg has the Northwood 1.6a for $155 Shipped.

Sum it up

P4 1.6a $155 Shipped + Asus P4B266-C OEM ($122 Shipped) = ~277 Shipped (and you have over 2.2Ghz Rig.)

Or you could get the Asus P4B266-C (Bulk) $117.25 + 1.6a Northwood $145 = $262 plus shipping at googlegear and they are in stock.

ASUS P4B266 Mainboard Review

Confirm w9design has his 1.6a and Asus P4B266 @ around 2.5Ghz.

I have a thread over Overclock Forum. Please report your result. I think it is very helpfull for other (including me) to jump on the deals. Thanks and having fun.

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Credit to Techbargain.

Overclock The P4 1.6a.

Mwave has this CPU for $157

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Although the $79.37 Asus P4B266 deal is dead, the Asus P4B266-C OEM ($122 Shipped) Overcloking Feature is the same as the P4B266. Though, it does'nt have thoses optional USB2.0, LAN, Audio onboard; and it has 2 DIMM slot (Not a big deals since the chipset only support 2 double sided Ram).

Here's a part I ripped from the Asus P4b266-C manual over Asus website.

The P4B266-C overclocking features:

* Adjustable CPU frequency multiple in BIOS using the Asus JumperFree solution. (This fiel is for unlocked procesors only. If your processor frequency multiple is locked, you cannot acces this field).
* Adujustable CPU FSB/memory frequency ratio
* Stepless Frequency (SFS) for fine-tuning System bus frequency from 100MHz up to 200MHz at 1MHz increments
* Optimized system perfrormance through BIOS built-in Turbo Mode
* Adjustable CPU Vcore and DDR memory voltage.

More Info.
Specification from Asus.
Manual. Look for page 15, 78, and 79.

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Update: $79.37 Asus board deal is DEAD.
$79.37 for Asus P4B266

 

[Scootin159]

I imagine with a unlocked multiplier this would be the next 300a. Too bad Intel locks their multipliers though .

 

[NeoV]

yes, but you can change your bus speed to 133, and there is your overclock......this should be the next 300a!

 

[Crump]

There will NEVER be another 300A. Hell, mine is still running smooth all these years. Think about it, that is a 150% increase with the overclock (to 450mhz).

The 300A will live forever in our hearts!

 

[Lucky]

thats a 50% increase.

 

[ICantAffordIt]

I agree with Luckster

 

[mawg]

Well, I remember that those 450's were a bundle when I bought my 300A from PCNut. It'll actually run stable at 500 if I bump the voltage to 2.2. It runs at 450 at 1.9, below rated voltage. IIRC it was $69 or something like that. Still have it running Solaris/Intel, never a burp. Whatta deal that was. Think anybody will be bumping a 1600 to 2400? Yikes.

 

[ICantAffordIt]

Well, I bit it... ordered one of these today.... now I have to get a motherboard and some ddr dang it... I'll let you all know my OC results in a couple weeks if this post is still floating around

 

[Glenn]

I had two of the 300s running 504 for a couple of years. Yesterday I put one of them in an old micron computer and it will live the rest of it's life running at a ho hum 300!

 

[golfreak]

Actually the 1.6A is a better deal than the 300A back then.

With the 300A, you either get to 450 or you don't.
You can't go in between. Bx boards back then didn't have FSB in the 90s so you can hit 400, 425 or so incase you couldn't hit 450.

At least with the 1.6A, if you can't get a 50% increase to 2.4, the minimal you should get is 2.2 thus makes it a better bargain.
And I've seen plenty of people getting to 2.4 with te 1.6A.

Think about it. You're pretty much guaranteed 2.2 with a 1.6A which is a 38% increase.
The only guaranty you get with the 300A is 375(83 FSB) which is only a 25% increase. Plus don't forget HDs back then didn't like the 41.5 PCI speed too much when you're running at 83fsb.

The 1.6A I've seen so far is a better bargain, period.

 

[kyutip]

I'm not much into oc'ing.
But this is really hot deal if it does oc easily.
I'm about to upgrade in a couple of weeks.
I really like a round number (2 ghz) but still kinda expensive (about $370ish for Northwood).
How easy is it to oc this ?
just punch up the fsb with regular heatsink provided by retail box?
Don't need to adjust any PCI clock/speed ?
I'm not shooting for something high. 2 Ghz would be nice enough.

 

[ericlp]

Also what the diffrence between the NewEgg 1.6 $145 With only 256K Cache
INTEL PENTIUM 4 1.6GHz 400MHz SOCKET 478 PROCESSOR - RETAIL W/Fan. 256K. W/O RAMBUS RAM Model#: BX80531NK160G Special FedEx Saver Shipping $6.95

And the one linked for $157 With 512K Cache
INTEL PENTIUM 4 1.6A GHZ (BX80532PC1600D) W/512K CACHE 400FSB 478-PIN RETAILED (3 YEARS WARRANTY)

Other then NewEgg is cheaper.

Also, when over clocking this past 1.6 to 2Gig, do you think one would need to chuck the fan for a better one? Or will the boxed fan work? I suppose removing the fan from the chip would void the warranty. Whoo Hoo! If you are getting a better fan. Any recomendations? Dunno, I guess I am not up on this chip. What does W/O Rambus RAM mean? Is there a L3 cache or somthing that can plug in on the MOBO to improve performance? OR is it just somthing that is required? Would you need to purchase more cache if you bought the one from newegg? So many questions... So little time...

 

[RONType1]

notice the 'A' in 1.6A and the on-board cache 512 vs 256. BIG DIFFERENCE. The former is the 'northwood' core, the latter the old one (i ferget). You won't get the 2.2/4 GHz overclock with the older core...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[golfreak]

The new Northwood runs so cool that extra colling is not neccessary.

So far, everyone I've seen who has a 1.6A were able to OC to 2.2 with the retail hs/fan that came with the box.
Just find a good MB, and move up the FSB....thats up.

Don't have to worry much about the AGP or PCI bus cause the newer MBs of today let you adjust accordingly.

 

[AU Tiger]

If I hadn't just upgraded to XP 1800+ I would be all over this. Still tempting.

 

[Lanyap]

Mmmmm, nobody has posted their P4 1.6 Northwood results on overclockers.com.

 

[WHipLAsh13]

Wow nice. I have been waiting for an Intel processor that is actually worth the money and this just may be it.

 

[cremefilled]

Would someone post a few cheap-but-good motherboard models that could overclock this CPU? Thanks.

 

[Steelwells]

300A's were a steal... I ran mine at 600mghz with an Alpha cooler on an Abit BE6-II... mine was the PPGA variety that I picked up for $100 from Outside Loop. Now, I did run it at 2.2volts, but come on... double the speed? 133mghz FSB never felt so fine...

I am tempted to dump my current Intel rig in my LAN box and try out a P4... I was waiting for the Northwoods, and this seems like one to try... I'm sure I won't get 3.2gig out of it, but hell... over 2gig with that bus speed should rock pretty hard... better head over to the FOR SALE forums and get my gear posted!

 

[golfreak]

Sure you you want ULTRA stability, get an Intel 845D chipset that uses DDR rams.
Epox EPOX EP-4BDA, Asus P4B266 or Gigabyte GA-8IRXP

Or if you want something around $20 cheaper but just as good, get the SIS 645 chipset.
Epox EP-4SDA, ABIT SD7, P4S333, and MSI 645 Ultra.
The first three are highly recommended, I like the MSI cause of the RED PCB.

I, myself would get the 845D chipset cause stability is #1 priority.

Getting an Intel 850 chipset that uses Rambus is not recommended cause most people have trouble getting pass the ~115FSb mark.
And as you know, the purpose of getting the 1.6A is to OC the hell of of it, running at 140+++FSB.

Happy hunting.

Oh, this PLACE has it for $149+ ~$11 shipping making it $160 shipped as oppose to MW $157+$8= $165 shipped. It has a 5.1 resellerrating.
Call to make sure it has in stock.

 

[CATASTROPHY]

Mwave has BD7 and 1.6a combo for $274.00. Is this a good buy?Never seen much gain with raid and dont like onboard sound anyway.

 

[golfreak]

Heres another PLACE that has it for $149. Only $7 shipping from Cali to Fla for me.
Can't find resellerrating but looks to be alright. INSTOCK.

 

[w9design]

Any thoughts on the 1.8A? 2.4GHz doesn't seem out of the question, and ths bus stays at 133...

 

[GiGoLo]

P4's in general are good o/cers. I have my P4 1.5 ghz running at 1955mhz stable right now with just the stock heatsink/fan. The Northwood 1.6A should have no problem running 2.4.

... oh, and i still have my celery 300a running at 504mhz too

Golfreak.... I'm not tryin to flame u or anything, but on the athlon xp 2300+ VS. P4 3.0ghz review, Linky , he used a Northwood o/ced to 3.0ghz using DDR and also o/ced to 2.6ghz using RDRAM (since its harder to overclock) and the RDRAM configuration was able to do as well as, or beat the 3.0ghz DDR version in almost every test. Just goes to show once again that clock speed isn't everything

 

[douggie]

Hehe, I used to have a 300a and had it running at 450 for a year or so before I sold it. Then I found my next "300a". It's a Duron 600. It's in my gf's system now and it has been running stable at 900mhz for more than a year already.

AND me myself is also running a "next 300a". It's a AMD 1Ghz AXIA T-bird and it's runnning stable at 1.5Ghz for about a year.

Yep, so a total of 3 systems with 50% overclocks (all without extreme cooling)