Need major Intel Advice!

Hey all!
Feels a little weird being in the Intel forum as I'm a big AMD fan, but hey, we all gotta dabble in the dark side a little, eh?

Anyway, a friend is a die-hard Intel fan and wants an upgrade. Looking at his current Pentium Pro system, it's gonna be a total gutting/overhaul.

I'm not really up on the latest and greatest in Intel hardware, however I DO know that the Canterwood + 800FSB chips are going to be out of the price range here

I realize that Intel mobos and CPU's are typically more expensive than their AMD counterparts, but I still can't see him paying much more than $100 for a mobo and probably around the same for a CPU because he's more interested in dropping tons of cash on a CD-burner, DVD burner, etc.

If you Intel buffs could recommend a few mobos and CPU models to look at in this range, it would be VERY helpful!

Or maybe I'll be able to convince him to go AMD and just be done with it, lol

Muchas Gracias!

CHECK PRICEWATCH.COM, NOT GOING TO GET MUCH FOR 100$ IN A CPU UNLESS YOU BUY A COMBO BOARD AND CPU, BASICLY THEY THROW IN THE MOTHER BOARD FOR ABOUT 30$ BUT THE CPU WILL COST ABOUT 160$ TO GET INTHE 2ghz RANGE.

Lord_MiL said:

Hey all!
Feels a little weird being in the Intel forum as I'm a big AMD fan, but hey, we all gotta dabble in the dark side a little, eh?

Click to expand...

I thought you were already on the dark side

I'm not really up on the latest and greatest in Intel hardware, however I DO know that the Canterwood + 800FSB chips are going to be out of the price range here

Click to expand...

You can get an Abit IS7-E for $99 shipped from Newegg.com. That board will support 400/533/800 fsb procs. It's a Springdale chipset (865p) and very close to Canterwood speeds. 845 boards are about the same, if not more than this board. You can buy a cheap proc now and upgrade later when he gets more cash.

I realize that Intel mobos and CPU's are typically more expensive than their AMD counterparts, but I still can't see him paying much more than $100 for a mobo and probably around the same for a CPU because he's more interested in dropping tons of cash on a CD-burner, DVD burner, etc.

Click to expand...

The cheapest Intel cpu would be a 400 fsb northwood for ~$135 (1.8ghz, you don't want a 1.8 willamette). For ~$160, you get a 2.4b (533fsb) which is a good o/c'er.

If you Intel buffs could recommend a few mobos and CPU models to look at in this range, it would be VERY helpful!

Click to expand...

That's not a lot to work with. What's his total budget and what does he want/need? Memory? HD? Case? PS? Video card?

I don't think a dvd burner is such a good idea for someone that's on a budget. It's not even standardized yet and expensive as hell for the drive and media. CD-RW's are ~$50.

Or maybe I'll be able to convince him to go AMD and just be done with it, lol

Muchas Gracias!

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I just went thru upgrading and I spent probably $500 for cpu, mobo, ram, hsf and other bits and pieces.

-Bobby

Being one cheap *******, let me pass along the low buck P4 setups that work.

First would be an i845pe (single channel) board. You can get a refurb Asus P4PE for $39, or an Abit BH7 for $49. The very nice Abit IT7Max2v2 is available as a refurb for $69 from newegg. I wouldn't spend any more on a 845pe board.

Second would be affordable dual channel stuff. Newegg has refurb Asus P5G8Xs (granite bay) for $65. And the above mentioned Abit 865pe board at $99 offers great value.

P4-1.8s are a hit or miss affair. Most have 2.7GHz in them, really good ones like mine hit 3.2-3.4GHz. I ordered one for a friend counting on 2.7GHz and it only did 2.25GHz, and took lots of voltage to do that. So the extra money to get a 2.4b is a smart move. The late model 2.53b's are also good. The user named Terry sells a lot of really nice 2.53s and 2.66s in the classifieds here, they are some of the best deals I've seen. New 2.4bs are good values as well.

Bear in mind that the dual channel boards are not that compelling for use with the b chips. You won't exceed 200MHz with a b chip, with 160-180 much more likely. As I understand it the async modes that run the ram faster than the fsb don't work on 865/875s at present. 845pe can run 4:5 or 3:4 ratios and really crank the ram clock up, narrowing the gap between single and dual channel boards for use with 533fsb cpus. C series P4's tolerate and depend on really high fsb's, and as such generally need to run the memory slower than the fsb, rather than faster. the 1:1, 3:2, and 5:4 modes work well and are of great use to the C chip users.

New intel chip will be comming the last week of june. 3.2ghz or whatever the heck they are up to now. you may want to wait until then.

Not for you to buy one mind you, about a week later you should start seeing the others come down some more. Just bringing it up because I know how much it sux to buy hardware and see a pricecut not even 2 weeks later.