Want to upgrade my Northwood...

[MadTom]

Hi,

having a P4 1.6A on a Gigabyte 8IGX (845G chipset) overclocked to 2.14 GHz at stock voltage (134 FSB). Since I couldn't get it to run at 166-167 FSB (maxed out around 150 FSB) I'm now thinking about an CPU upgrade. The problem with the mobo is that there is no AGP/PCI lock.

My idea was to go with a 2.4B and overclock it to 166FSB, bundled with an Alpha 8942T cooler. Of course it should be a C1, which are a little bit longer on the market now.

What's your opinion - can I be 90% sure to reach the 166FSB (with a C1)? Would a 1.8A (C1) or 2.53 be a better choice? Will my generic 400W PSU be enough (Everpower)? If not, would a Enermax 350W be good enough or should I go with a 431W one? Of course, I don't want to throw money away.

Thanks for any ideas.

 

[JSSheridan]

There are no guarantees in overclocking, so getting to 166MHz FSB isn't a slam dunk. I wouldn't buy a cpu betting on it personally. Also, your memory will need to run at 166MHz, are you sure it can? Of course, make sure that the new CPU is a 2.4B w/ a 4x133MHz=533MHz FSB. If your PSU is working well now, it's worth a shot in your new system. The enermax 350 would be fine if you want to buy it though. Good luck. Peace.

 

[MadTom]

Originally posted by: JSSheridan
There are no guarantees in overclocking, so getting to 166MHz FSB isn't a slam dunk. I wouldn't buy a cpu betting on it personally. Also, your memory will need to run at 166MHz, are you sure it can? Of course, make sure that the new CPU is a 2.4B w/ a 4x133MHz=533MHz FSB. If your PSU is working well now, it's worth a shot in your new system. The enermax 350 would be fine if you want to buy it though. Good luck. Peace.

Well, I'm sure my memory will run at 166MHz, since it's now at 178MHz (2-3-3-5). BTW it's a Samsung PC2700 DDR333 512MB chip. Yeah, I was thinking about a 2.4B.

Thanks anyway.