MY new p4 System Question...

[Doofie27]

:D Hi im new to Overclockers, and i recently purchased a AOpen i850 Motherboard at 400mhz. I am looking into buying a Pentium IV 2.4 Ghz northwood, which is about as fast as u can go in the 400 fsb category. I was wondering, what would be the results if i tried to put a Northwood 533 in my motherboard. IT is a RDRAM motherboard which i intend to get maybe some samsung pc800 or corsair pc800. I still have not decided whether to get a koolance watercooling system or just a regualr fan operated cooling system. Thanks for your help!:burn:

[BaldHeadedDork]

You can put any 478 pin P4 in your mobo, including the new 533's if you choose.

You don't need to match FSB's between the proc and mobo. In your case, the motherboard will run at 400MHz and take your proc along for the ride. And the same applies for memory. If you can afford it, you can drop in PC1066 RDRAM without having a hardware conflict.

By buying a proc and memory with a higher bus speed what you are buying is a little headroom for overclocking. Choosing a 533 Woody means that your proc won't hold you back if you dial up your FSB to 533. Same with the memory.

But, that said, if you're going to overclock you might want to get the 2.4A (400) CPU anyway. That chip is one of the best overclocking performers in the P4 lineup, several of the guys here have achieved close to three gigs with aircooling. (If you want to start with a 533 chip, you're better off with the 2.26GHz model.)

When you're overclocking a Pentium 4, your main overclocking control is the front side bus. So if you start with a 400 or a 533 doesn't matter because you're going to end up over 533. (Which, by the way, isn't really 400MHz or 533MHz. Intel runs their bus on a quad data rate and these speeds are the effective speeds. The bus is actually running at a much more pedestrian 100 or 133MHz.)

About air vs. water cooling: The air cooling layout of the P4 is actually very good. With a good aftermarket cooler you can get close to three gig on a stable platform. But this is a case where more isn't much better. The design of the P4, and its locked frequency multiplier, limit the stable speed of the Northwood to about 3.5GHz no matter how you cool it. So you can get some more speed with watercooling-and a rig that looks cool-but the bang-for-the-buck falls dramatically when you get into liquid or phase-change cooling.

Hope this helped and welcome to the forums.


BHD

[Doofie27]

Thanks again BHD i really did not know that. The funny part is, i know more about compputers than a lot of my peers, and i was interested to know about the 533 bus. See i thought that it would work, it was just i wasnt sure what the after effects are. As much as i would like to go with water cooling, it just seems too expensive, and my wallet cannot afford it right now.I believe i am going to get the intel Pentium IV 2.4 Ghz 533 FSB, which i currently have found to be cheaper than the 400 FSB woody. Either way, my system will be good until i feel the need to upgrade to the pentium 5's. Whish reminds me, does anyone have any idea on whe nthe new p's are coming out? One last question; My computer that i am operating right now is a intel celeron 1.2 ghz tualatin, i belive. It is a compaq presario, and i guess the FSB is only 133. What does this turn out to really equal considering intel's quad speed architecture? Thanks!:burn:
Doofie