Have the upgrade itch

Greetings Everyone!

I have the following system:
Antec 660B with 330W Truepower, 3 case fans
Asus P4S533
P4 [email protected] with Retail HSF and vcore=1.65V
Temps: Idle=40C, Load=51C
2x256 Crucial DDR333@375 (2.7V, CL2.5 3-3-6, almost stable at 2-2-6)
128MB Radeon 8500LE
Maxtor 60GB
Soundblaster Live 5.1
LG DVD
LG CDRW

I am thinking about upgrading to a i865PE mobo and a better HSF for the following reasons:
1) obtain a higher FSB with the help of locked AGP and PCI with a mind to upgrade to a P4 3.0+ when prices drop
2) take advantage of dual-channel DDR with my two sticks of Crucial that work well together (can go to DDR400)
3) various upgrade opportunities not present on my current mobo: SATA, USB2.0, AGP 8X, etc.

I have been looking at the Springdale mobos from Abit and MSI and trying to figure out if my 1.6A will work them and what HSF would work best.

Please offer me some opinions?

Cheers

youd have to do a little homework, cause some springdale boards run 400fsb...if i wuz u id sell the 1.6a setup, and get a2.4c and an abit Ic7.. the guys are having good luck with the board..

Thank you for your reply, flapperhead.

Actually I have been researching this and it seems like the IC7 is the choice for good oc'ing. The 2.4c appears to occupy a similar position as the 1.6a did a while back but I wonder what the chances are for a 50% oc? Even with the other benefits of a canterwood/springdale mobo over my current setup I think I would have to go past 3.0GHz in order to justify upgrading when I already effectively have a 2.4GHz proc. I guess I will just have to ask myself one question: Do I feel lucky? Maybe I should check what I could sell my current mobo&proc combo for.

Thanks again
Cheers

Seems like most 2.4C do at least 3.2 gig and some are running up to 3.4+ with good cooling. The IS7 and 2.4C will only cost you about $300 US and I'd think you could get $100 to $150 out of your current mobo/CPU. Remember, you are getting a nice O/C out of your PC2700 RAM right now, but dual channel is more of a challenge. At 3 gig (2.4C @ 250 FSB) you'll easily be able to use the 3:2 ratio (which is as low as you can go) and run at DDR330. I'm guessing about 3.1 gig is the max your RAM will take. So, if you really want much more than 3 gig you'll need to either upgrade your RAM or go with the 2.6C (250 FSB = 3.25 gig).

You'll also get a speed boost with the 800 fsb of the "C" chips and the dual channel memory. Getting a 2.4c to 3.0 is easy with the new 875p and 865p chipsets. I think your o/c'd 2.4 will be slower than a stock 2.4c @800 fsb.

I just upgraded to a 2.4c and a P4P800 last week but the board died on a flash so I rma'd it back and ordered a P4P800 Deluxe. I'm back on my 1.6 williamette and PC133 memory but the taste of the 2.4c was really sweet. Hopefully, I'll have the new board next tuesday.

-Bobby

...

grab a 2.4c and a p4p800, or wait for the epox 4pca3+ which seems like it will be the best mobo when it comes out in about a week. and upgrade your mem to ocz 3700el gold series when you get the chance, or if you don't want to spend that much (which is not realy alot) you could get some nice corsair 3200 with the winbond chips over at newegg.com for $59 per 256mb.

Thank you very much batboy, Bobby and gouda96

I'm sorry I have been unable to post this thank you reply earlier because my system was down due to a big screwup on my part. I am now able to consider new RAM because I ruined my crucial by doing the following:

Since as batboy noted I was getting a nice oc from the RAM I decided to buy some of those Thermaltake copper heat spreaders to try and prolong its life. Well the heat spreaders went on fine (and looked really cool, by the way) but then I went to put the sticks back on the mobo. The clips are very tight as they usually are and I did not like the way the mobo was bending so I decided to file a little off the sticks. ?!?

I really have no idea what possessed me to do this because now there is not sufficient contact in the DIMM sockets. Unless I can make some band-aid solution by maybe glueing a small piece of whatever then I will just have to accept my bonehead misadventure.

Ah well. I now have an excuse to look into some Corsair/OCZ/Kingston whatever appears most compatible with the mobo I decide on.

Thanks again. The input is much appreciated.
Cheers!

P.S. I can only reply at the moment because I am visiting my parents and using their computer. If anyone else generously offers an opinion on my setup, I will reply as soon as I am able.

I got my 256mb twinmos with CH-5 chips at memoryx.net for $56.88 ea. With shipping, it came out to $122.

-Bobby

Hi Bobby

I checked out that the link and it looks like a good deal. Have you messed around with timings or with oc'ing your twinmos? Just curious if it could do CL2.

What is the highest vcore on your P4P800? I think I read somewhere that the max setting was 1.60 but I cannot find it again.

Hope your new board works well.

Merc Zephyr,

That's the best deal I've found. It uses the newer winbond ch-5 chips rather than the bh-5 so it should o/c higher from what I've read. I'm sure it can do CL2.

I had my P4P800 for a day. When I tried to flash the bios, it died so I had to RMA it. When I reordered a new board, I went with the Deluxe version for the IDE raid.

The new bios has higher settings for the vcore. I think it goes up to 1.9v now.

-Bobby