Will someone clear up this P4 3ghz bug-talk for me?

[xboxist]

Ok... I've been scrambling to find out what this new-found bug is all about. Here's my situation...

I priced out a computer from Dell the other night. I picked the P4 3.06 with HT tech. The very next night... I actually ordered the computer... but this time, I noticed that the description of the processor changed slightly from "P4 3.06 w/HT" to "P4 3GHZ".

Is this because of this bug that I'm hearing about? The ship date for this PC is an incredible month away from right now, whereas on that initial night of pricing the machine out, the ship date was only a week away from now.

Also, will this flat 3ghz processor have the HT ability within it?

Thanks to anyone that responds... appreciated as always.

 

[Lord Evermore]

This wouldn't be due to the bug, since the bug means that you CAN'T get a 3GHz P4 with 800MHz bus right now. Aside from that, how did the description "change" exactly? I'm sure they would specifically tout the 800MHz bus if you were now ordering that type, and the price would certain go up considerably. Possibly they just ran out of 3.06GHz P4s and now you're getting a 3GHz. (actually the only 3GHz is the new one)

You should definitely call Dell and find out what's happening rather than just asking us.

I just looked, and the Dimension 8300 is the only one coming with a 3GHz P4, and it specifically states it's an 800MHz bus one. They certainly wouldn't have changed the processor on a "saved" order you might have created, so I assume you went through and customized it again. You may have selected the new model rather than the one you'd chosen the other night.

The price difference IS significant between the newest model and even the 3.06GHz with HT (the new one does include improved HyperThreading). However, surprisingly, the new model is actually CHEAPER, at least for the top-end configurations. Below that, the 3.06GHz model gets much cheaper, so I'm assuming yours would have been noticeably more expensive.

 

[xboxist]

Ok, this is directly off of my order receipt from Dell:

CPU: P4,3.0GHZ/800FSB

? So... now I'm really confused. You say that I can't get one.... they say I'm getting one (in about a month).

The old label for the CPU (the one that I initially priced out) simply said:

CPU: P4, 3.06GHZ w/HT TECH

 

[Lord Evermore]

Not sure how exactly you ordered the system, but I'd assume you managed to select a different model on the night you ordered. You've ordered the newer P4 model, and that's why it's going to take a month. Dell is giving you a shipping date that's way off, because they don't know when they'll be able to build the system. They have to wait for Intel to tell them how to fix their bug, or send them new processors. If you killed that order and ordered one with a 3.06GHz P4, you could probably get it quickly.

 

[xboxist]

(by the way, thanks for the replies)

The thing is, when I was at the part where I could pick a processor, on each of the two nights that I "built" the computer... there was only one available P4 processor at the 3GHz level. So on night one, I picked the only one that they offered (the 3.06) and on the next night(when I actually ordered it)... the option changed to simply the 3.00...

In other words, they're not offering the 3.06 as of yesterday (at least while ordering via online). They're forcing you to get the 3.0GHz.

You call this the "newer one" - I can only hope that is a good thing? And will this one have the HT incorporated into it?

 

[Lord Evermore]

I assume you're selecting the Dimension 8300. That currently only allows the 3.06GHz, so maybe during the night they did in fact change their models so that the 8300 only uses the newer 3GHz chip (since it requires a better motherboard, they won't bother to offer it with slower 533MHz bus processors). The Dimension 8250 is still available with a 3.06GHz P4.

The "new" P4 3GHz uses the 800MHz frontside bus, and is paired with dual-channel DDR memory at 400MHz, and has improved hyperthreading. In every way, it should be better than the 3.06GHz. The new frontside bus is a whopping 266MHz faster, with a similar increase in the memory bandwidth to match.

I don't know how they manage it, but buying one of the newer machines can come out cheaper even with reasonable specs for a gamer. I priced out two machines, an 8300 and an 8250, both with 512MB of DDR. The 8300 only allows the Radeon 9800 or 9800 Pro for video, while the 8250 peaks at the 9700 Pro, so those are the ones I chose. With Office XP Small Business and WinXP Pro.

The 3GHz machine, despite having a brand new CPU model, and a brand new motherboard model with new chipset, and using 400MHz memory (compared to 266MHz memory in the other machine) AND having the newer model of the Radeon, came out to $2429, while the Dimension 8250 came out to $2558.

I'd say you may want to go spec out the prices for yourself, based on what components and software you selected, and see which one would end up being cheaper. Even if the 3GHz is slightly more expensive, it should be a much much better system. However you can get the 3.06GHz delivered almost immediately.

Of course, I'm not sure I'd want to order such a system so far in advance. I don't know what sort of price changes may occur in the span of a month or however long it takes for Intel to allow shipments to continue, but I'd hate to end up losing out on a price drop.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Actually they just fixed the listing -- there is no 800 MHz FSB at 3.06 GHz (a mutliple of 533) only at 3.00 GHz (a multiple of 800).

Both the old 533 MHz / 3.06 and new 800 MHz / 3.0 have hyperthreading, but (as you can see from reading the Anandtech reviews) the 800 MHz version is a bit faster (maybe 5% as an average).

 

[xboxist]

wow... you have no idea how happy I am to hear all of that! If I would have ordered one day earlier... I would have gotten a slightly less-impressive computer for slightly more money. :Q

And yes, I should have mentioned that I ordered from the Dimension 8300 line. I didn't ever browse the lesser series. And you're right... I forgot to mention that on the 2nd day... I couldn't get the Radeon9700 pro - the option was replaced with the 9800 pro.

Looks like I came out on top during this small confusion, especially since I bought this as a gaming machine! And when you spend $3000... you'll take the every advantage in the offerings.

I really appreciate your time in this thread! *hi-five*

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: xboxist

Looks like I came out on top during this small confusion, especially since I bought this as a gaming machine! And when you spend $3000... you'll take the every advantage in the offerings.

It was the least they could do for delaying your PC indefinitely. The pushed back date is b/c of the news that the P4 3GHz 800MHz has a flaw postponing its launch (was supposed to be April 14th). If the 8300 is a Canterwood-based system, it would make sense as the P4 3GHz is paired to a 200MHz FSB and the new quad-pumped (800MHz effective CPUs.) The older P4 3.066GHz based on a 133MHz FSB (533MHz effective) probably would've shipped in a week as originally estimated.

Just curious, did Dell charge you more for each upgrade? If not, then you probably got a decent deal out of it. If they did charge you more, I'm not so sure, as you're paying more for a marginal upgrade in system platform and GPU along with an indefinite delay on your PC.

Chiz

 

[xboxist]

Originally posted by: chizow


Just curious, did Dell charge you more for each upgrade? If not, then you probably got a decent deal out of it. If they did charge you more, I'm not so sure, as you're paying more for a marginal upgrade in system platform and GPU along with an indefinite delay on your PC.

Chiz

No! When it was all said and done, the price somehow actually came out to be about $125 cheaper... even though the CPU, memory, MB, and video card were all upgraded slightly. Weird, huh? I'm not complaining...

 

[Windogg]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Actually they just fixed the listing -- there is no 800 MHz FSB at 3.06 GHz (a mutliple of 533) only at 3.00 GHz (a multiple of 800).

Both the old 533 MHz / 3.06 and new 800 MHz / 3.0 have hyperthreading, but (as you can see from reading the Anandtech reviews) the 800 MHz version is a bit faster (maybe 5% as an average).

Actually the you need to use a 133Mhz FSB and 200Mhz FSB to get the final speeds of 3.06Ghz and 3.0Ghz because of the quad pumped bus. 3.06Ghz P4 = 23.0 x 133Mhz and the 3.0Ghz P4 = 15.0 x 200Mhz.

Windogg

 

[Jeff7181]

I think if you have a question about something Dell is doing, you should call Dell and ask them.

 

[Tom]

You'll probably get a better answer here, unless you get lucky when you call Dell.
:sun: