Advice for a new processor if you could

[AoD]

You can see my current specs in my signature so I am not going to say them.

Now, I have found out that I can soon go into the range of buying a new processor sometime soon. Though I will only have so much to spare into one, around $120 to $150. I am having troubles deciding on which to go for and what to look for as in the core numbers and stuff so.. Well I can either go for a 700e and hope for something like 933mhz or possibly break the 1ghz barrier. Or I could go for the 800e and almost be assured to hit the 1ghz barrier since Ram would be the most determining factor in this and I don't want to have to fork out more than $150 on any case. Hey, what can I say? Being broke these days really sucks. Now I am not against Celeron 2's and overclocking them but they just don't have the power for what I want. Now for the 800e I could hit 126FSB and have 1008mhz which I know my ram can already hold at CAS 2-2-2 but now, if I go with the 700e I would probably have alot of problems considering the fact that I doubt this ram could hold 140+@CAS 3-3-3. Now I can't afford to replace the board so these are pretty much my only two options since the 1ghz chips are over my price range by far(for me). I'm leaning towards the 800e but since I have no experience with the 700e and/or 800e I am leaving it up to you guys for facts about both processors and which would be a better choice for me to hit the 1ghz barrier that I have been dreaming about since the first 1ghz chips were released. Now will the 800e's hit 1ghz with 126fsb without to much of a problem or do they in your opinions, "suck"? Well anyways, thanks ahead of time.

-AoD

(Personal Note: *In agony* Must... Hit.... 1Ghz.... argh....!)

[[OC]_SR20DE]

Hi Aod..

and I assume you won't be upgrading the RAM at the moment, right?.. hmm.... I know that some PC100 can do some amazing job in OC'ing FSB but of course you would never know for sure. As we know, that the performance benefit would be much greater with the higher FSB than the clock speed. Another thing to consider is.. the new stepping of "cD0" on the P3 chips.. I'm not very sure if they are already out now or not.. With a cD0 stepping, not only the 700E would be good but also the 800E might have the chance to OC quite far. So... what I'm saying is that if you wait a little and go with a cD0 type, maybe 800E might be good idea investment for you since you're little limited with the other components i.e. mobo, RAM, etc. and.. that way with you should have no problem reaching 8x133= 1064 with a cD0 stepping. I'll bet you can go much much higher, but this(1064mhz) should can be done easily with your RAM.

BTW, FSB of 126mhz might be little bit hard to get because it will be out of PCI ratio spec.. but it should not be bad..

[AoD]

Well, RAm upgrading, can't afford. I hate being broke. Anyways, IU am currently running 126fsb and the PCI isn't out of spec. Soyo handles that quite well actually the PCI is underclocked at 31mhz which means, none of the PCI cards are under any risk, and all I want is 126fsb because the ram I have can only hold 126 @ CAS 2-2-2. And PC100 is actually clocked at 125mhz but one of my chips is a remarked PC66 crap so it wont go any higher, i've tried it many times hoping for 133 @ cas 2-2-2. Anyways, I gotta do this soon before bills eat my only funds.. Anyways, I want that 1ghz barrier to be broke, I've never had the oppourunity so it must happen, anyone got an 800e that they don't want? :) Anywyas, the cD0 is the .13micron right? PRobably going to be overpriced anyways for my budget so.. :\ I wish I had money like some people these days.. Ohh well... I just want that 1ghz barrier and my options are very very very very limited in this so.. :(

[DaveB]

I've got the same mobo, and here are my specs:

PIII 700 @ 994 1.95V
Soyo SY-6BA+IV BX Motherboard
Iwill Slocket II
Alpha PEP66
AOpen HX45A Mid-Tower Case with 250W PS
2x128MB Mosel Rev 1.0 PC133 SDRAM @ 2-2-2 (142 MHz)
15GB Maxtor ATA66 7200 rpm Hard Drive
Memorex 48X CD-ROM
Memorex 1622 2X/2X/6X CD-R/RW
Leadtek WinFast GeForce2 GTS 32 MB @ 245/400
SBLive! Xgamer PCI Sound Card
Actiontec 56K PCI Call-Waiting Modem
19” Proview PX982 Invar Shadow Mask Monitor - 0.26DP

I think you would do well for a reasonable price going with a PIII 700. The new cC0s should O/C at lower voltages than my old cB0. But it's been running O/C'ed since last July with no problems at all, rock stable all the time. Dunno about cD0 steppings.

BTW, ƒ~ƒ‹ƒN•²®, at 126 MHz the 1/4 PCI divider automatically kicks in on AoD's Soyo board so the PCI is at 31 MHz. Actually, you can select a 124/31 setting from the BIOS.

[[OC]_SR20DE]

Thanks Dave B. for correcting me. yes you're right.

Aod, yes, cD0 chips is 0.13u. and you're right... it is going to be more expensive. I forgot about your money spending limit.. sorry. Dave B. but.. his RAM may not be quite good bumping high fsb, i.e. 145 to 150mhz bus. so 800E with a cC0 stepping would a good solution also.. but 800E costs at least $152. that's $32 more than the 700E( $120) at pricewatch.com.