A few questions about P4s

[Silver arrow]

Hey

I never paid much attention to P4s so I really don't know much about them. Thats why I've got a few questions to the ones that do :)

1) P3s and Celerons have locked multipliers, so you can only OC by raising FSB. But how does it work with P4s? Are they unlocked or locked somehow?

2) Any ideas what Intel's plans for the future are? When are the faster northwoods coming out? Or maybe stripped northwoods -> Celeron 3 @ 2ghz :D :D

[theflyingrat]

1) All P4s are locked multiplier, except for a few engineering samples. I heard somewhere that P4 Xeon CPUs are unlocked, but I'd take that with a grain of salt.

2) The Tualatin core Celeron will continue through 1.4 GHz, IIRC. After that, it will be a core similar to the Willamette, I believe. I don't think they'll be Northwood-cored at first...

[Silver arrow]

So basically if I were to go buy a P4 I could overclock it the same way as it is done with P3s and Celerons (changing the FSB).

[Yodums]

Originally posted by Silver arrow
So basically if I were to go buy a P4 I could overclock it the same way as it is done with P3s and Celerons (changing the FSB).

Yes but the P4 have such a high mutliplier so your increasing the FSB very little :D

Yodums

[Silver arrow]

1) What kind of multipliers and fsbs are we talking about?
For example P4 1.5GHz has what? 15x100?

2) Is it true you need a special PSU for a P4?

[batboy]

1. Yes, your multiplier example is correct.

2. Yes, you need a P-4 compliant power supply.

[Silver arrow]

1) OK so if you have a 15 × 100 MHz P4 and a DDR motherboard you can overclock it by changing the FSB up to 133? The DDR ram does go up to 266 right?

2) How is this PSU different from the normal one and how much does it cost? The same or more?

Thanks for the info

[Yodums]

I'm not too farmiliar with DDR but I know for a fact AMD machines go 2x the FSB that they set it at with DDR.

But, for the new P4 I think its tripling or doubling I forgot because the DDR is keeping up with RDram and its 4x the FSB.

The PSU sometimes matters to overclockers because when overclocking your rails may not keep up to whats in spec.

IE: 5v rail is the rail used to boot the machine and into windows and if it drops too low like 4.8 then your PSU would be too weak.

Good brands that I like is Sparkle does the job no rail problems good overclocker. They do cost more but its better :D

Yodums

[batboy]

The P-4 ready power supplies are now about the same price as the previous power supplies. The P-4 requires an extra power cable to the mobo. I heard there is a mod you can do to convert an older ATX power supply to work with a P-4, but I don't know the details. Directron.com has several ATX cases with 300w P-4 power supplies for about $40 to $60. I bought my super nice Antec mid-tower SX635 with 350w PS for under $100.

[flagreen]

The Prestonias are unlocked "downwards" as are the Foster Xeons.

[Burning Phoenix]

The PSU that are P4 compliant have this extra 4 prong plug for the motherboard. By the way i have run my 1st P4 system with a regular PSU and it did work but did seem to cause problems.

http://www.phoenixhideout.com/12vatx.jpg

[Grande Juan]

Actually the ASUS P4B, does not require a PIV PSU. As it will also accept a regular 4pin plug. I don't know about the other ASUS PIV boards though. Just bought this one a couple of months ago to tide me over, until I can afford a Rambus board, early Feb.

[f155mph]

I have a few question about the P4 Northwood. From what I been reading in this thead. Does this mean you CANNOT unlock a P4 Northwood? So when someone o/c it, you just basically change the FSB and the core V? I read from a couple of reviews, the testers were able to o/c a 2.2 to 2.6 and 1.8 to 2.2. That seem very impressive to me.

Thanks

[Al Capone]

My 1.8 Northwood is overclocked to 2.4ghz with just two extra fans in the case which costed me $5 each. The Northwoods are really good at overclocking.
In the news in the main page at - www.overclockers.com down the page a little - the guy there also overclocked 1.8 to 2.4ghz with the Intel Heatsink

[f155mph]

Al,

What setup are you running? Board, memory, fsb setting, and etc. How hot does your get? I got H2O setup and waiting to get either 1.8 northwood or 2200+ when it come out.

[batboy]

All Intel CPUs beginning from the early days of the P-II's have locked multiplier. The only exceptions are a few "engineering sample" CPUs that are not allowed to be sold to the general public. Yes, I have seen a couple articles where the reviewers were testing the unlocked version. But, these special unlocked versions are not, and I repeat, are NOT available to the general public.

[Silver arrow]

OK I have one more really lame question:

Whats the difference between P4s that fit into a 423 pin socket and those that fit into a 478 pin socket?

[Grande Juan]

About 55 pins.

[Al Capone]

I have:
pentium 4/1.8ghz 512kb 400mhz 0.13u overclocked to 2.45
Abit TH7II-RAID - this motherboard is the best for overclocking - lets me overclock the CPU and graphics card seperately using SoftBios II, can't remember exact settings
512MB RDRAM
two case fans and using retail intel cpu fan
only 33centigrade

Intel ROCK

[Silver arrow]

Grande Juan: No ***** :D :D :D

No, seriously...

[saytan]

478 is "new" and therefore better than 423, which will not get any chips after the 2.0ghz willamette stops production

[Grande Juan]

Siver, sorry could'nt resist, I don't know what the tech. diferences are I just heard the 478 pin OC's better. Plus you can stick a Northwood in the same mobo.

[batboy]

Well, the Willamette socket 423 and socket 478 are the same exact CPU core and overclock the same, just different number of pins. But, the socket 423 is already obsolete because there is no upgrade path. They are not enterchangeable. All Northwood P-4 CPUs are socket 478, thus the socket 423 is dead... rest in peace.

[Burning Phoenix]

I'm a P4 person and i recommend not buying what i curently own. A 423 pin! Definitely buy the 478 pin for like the others said the 423 are going to be outdated quick enough. Besides it seems to me the 478 pin chips are also cheaper for some reason.