Which is motherboard/memory is faster for a 1.6a Northwood?

[rogue1979]

The 1.6a is very affordable and overclocks extremely well. Which combo would be faster?

16 x 133 for 2133MHz on an 850 board with Rdram running 533MHz
16 x 150-160 for 2400-2560MHz on an 645 Ultra board with DDR running 150-160MHz?

The DDR set up is cheaper and can overclock higher, but I heard awesome things about RDRAM performance at 533MHz.

 

[KenAF]

rogue,

I would read more threads before buying the MSI; again, for many people, it has bios issues (random reboots, etc) at high speeds that you will not want to deal with. Look to the P4B266 or P4S333 instead.

As for RDRAM, there is no way to guarantee that you will be able to do 533FSB on current mainboards, unless you can somehow buy a P4T-E mainboard from a vendor that will guarantee it has the ICS chips (that are spec'd at 600MHz for up to PC1200 RDRAM). Only a third to a half of Abit TH7-II boards will do 533FSB for PC1066 RDRAM, as Abit uses the cheaper ICS 400Mhz clock generators, and only some of those parts will do 533.

The higher the MHz, the greater the necessity of RDRAM; I would take a P4-2400 PC1066 RDRAM system over a 2.7GHz DDR system, but I would probably go with a 2.4GHz w/ 150+MHZ DDR system over a 2.1GHz RDRAM setup. That said, it is possible to have the best of both worlds. If you could somehow find a vendor that would sell you a P4T-E with the ICS chips (and not the crap CYP parts), and you were willing to perform the voltage pin trick described in some other threads, then you could use both PC1066-PC1180 RDRAM, as well as run higher speeds.

 

[Daovonnaex]

Actually, RDRAM is in general more overclockable than DDR SDRAM, you simply have to make sure you get the right ABIT mainboard. ABIT uses a mix of ICS clock generators, some that will only go to 533, others will go to 600, and some will go farther. I personally had to return my first mainboard, as it would only go to 533. I was able to get my RDRAM on my TH7II-RAID to 1248MHz, and possibly could go higher (your goal is 1066). Anyhow, RDRAM at 1066 produces 4,264 MB/sec of bandwidth. The SiS 645 is standard with DDR 333 (166MHz DDR), which produces 2,664 MB/sec. In order to equal PC800 RDRAM, you would have to get to DDR 400, which is a no go. The 645's saving grace against the i850 is the lackluster performance of Intel's P4 chipsets. The i850 performs well only because of RDRAM. Finally, at higher clock speeds, there are some serious issues with signal integrity when using DDR SDRAM.

 

[rogue1979]

I was not gonna get the MSI, I was thinking of the Epox EP-4SDA. I am leaning toward the DDR set up for price reasons. The board and RAM are cheaper and I can take the 1.6a higher. With the RDRAM set up it will cost more and I would probably have to spring for the 1.8a to reach 2.4GHz, about an extra $125 total. The thing is I can sell one of my existing systems and build the 1.6a DDR for free, if I go RDRAM it's gonna cost me.

 

[Daovonnaex]

<< I was not gonna get the MSI, I was thinking of the Epox EP-4SDA. I am leaning toward the DDR set up for price reasons. The board and RAM are cheaper and I can take the 1.6a higher. With the RDRAM set up it will cost more and I would probably have to spring for the 1.8a to reach 2.4GHz, about an extra $125 total. The thing is I can sell one of my existing systems and build the 1.6a DDR for free, if I go RDRAM it's gonna cost me. >>

Price is a legitimate concern, but you would NOT have to purchase a 1.8A to hit 2.4GHz. My LAN box has an Asus P4T-EM (P4T-E's mATX brother) and a P4 1.6A. I hit 150MHz FSB and hence 2.4GHz without a problem, and I could probably push it farther. By the way, you may want to consider the VIA P4XB for DDR overclocking. It has solid overclocking features, and has the fastest P4 chipset available--all that is necessary is to increase memory speed to DDR 333 levels or more to be truly effective.

 

[rogue1979]

Is there any way to purchase an RDRAM motherboard and guarantee that it will have the ICS chips?