ungrade to a prescott?

i have a 3.06 Northwood on a ASUS P4s800D-E Deluxe and i was wondering if the performance increase to a 3.2 pressy is worth the 220 bucks?

pacman6642 said:

i have a 3.06 Northwood on a ASUS P4s800D-E Deluxe and i was wondering if the performance increase to a 3.2 pressy is worth the 220 bucks?

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No its not.

Unless you need a new heater for Winter which is right around the corner.

not worth the 220, if you can find a used one, and sell yours, maybe for an extra 50....but even then, with the motherboard you have, not that much better

There's a very real chance your motherboard is limiting your current CPU, and it will certainly wilt under the strain of a Prescott. And while you could try a nice S478 board like an Abit IC7, I'm not sure it's really worth the money considering the age of the platform. I'd recommend saving for a LGA775 CPU and PCI Express motherboard and video.

I'm still installing windows on my new combo, a $95 Abit AG8-V i915p board and a P4-506 (LGA775 2.66GHz-533fsb 1MB L2 Prescott w/EM64T). The 506 costs a whopping $111, and I'm currently running the this one at 4GHz (200fsb) on a modest 1.44V. I'm using my Buffalo BH-5 in 1:1 at 2-2-2-5 and the retail Intel all-aluminum cooler. I have an adaptor coming to allow me to fit my Freezer 7 in UPS's hands (scary thought).

Obviously i915p is no great OC-er since the PCI Express locking is bunk. But the OC I was looking for was to take the 533fsb 506 and run it at 800fsb, and 915p can do that. And the AG8 has a mongo 4-phase PWM section well suited to driving a 4GHz Prescott CPU.

Using this ugly-duckling combo and recycling my BH5 allowed me to afford an EVGA 7800GT, something even a 4GHz super-celeron can very nearly fully exercise. This combo yields maximum 3D snap for the dollar, with pretty darn good steam in all areas. I haven't installed enough to bench this thing much, but I did run a quick 1MB SuperPi and it was 34 seconds with zero optimization. Perhaps a second off an otherwise-similar DDR2 setup, but still 4 seconds quicker than my 2.8c at 3.6GHz.

nice post ^^

those 506 chips sure are nice for the money. and that board i'm sure could do 215fsb, so there's 4300mhz for ya on air too i bet.

i want your rig

I don't think it's worth it. Be patient for another two months or so and get yourself a Cedar Mill and perhaps flip it later on for a Conroe. Your patience will be rewarded. I went from a 2.8 Northwood to my 3.2 Prescott and I've regreted it ever since. The Prescott can pull away from the Northwood at higher clock speeds, but it's hot as hell and you can kiss your silence goodbye under load.

larva said:

I have an adaptor coming to allow me to fit my Freezer 7 in UPS's hands (scary thought).

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Any reason why you need an adapter for the Freezer 7?

those 506's are getting very nice clocks for sure.

what said:

I don't think it's worth it. Be patient for another two months or so and get yourself a Cedar Mill and perhaps flip it later on for a Conroe. Your patience will be rewarded. I went from a 2.8 Northwood to my 3.2 Prescott and I've regreted it ever since. The Prescott can pull away from the Northwood at higher clock speeds, but it's hot as hell and you can kiss your silence goodbye under load.

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I don't regret getting my P4 rig just 2 months ago, but if I were in your shoes I'd wait for Cedar Mill and the new intel chipset. The holidays are coming up...maybe you can ask nicely and receive some money in place of gifts. If you don't celebrate the holidays at least tax season is coming up soon. Maybe you'll have some money then to upgrade.

Alchemy1 said:

I don't regret getting my P4 rig just 2 months ago, but if I were in your shoes I'd wait for Cedar Mill and the new intel chipset. The holidays are coming up...maybe you can ask nicely and receive some money in place of gifts. If you don't celebrate the holidays at least tax season is coming up soon. Maybe you'll have some money then to upgrade.

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If your talking about a 775 Prescott then the story is a little different but I still wouldn't get one of the current Prescotts with Cedar Mill so close to coming out. I do know that budget is an issue/factor for many, though.

With a socket478 Prescott you'll get longer pipelines (less work done per clock), more heat, more strain on your mobo and PSU, and the extra 512kB L2 isn't worth the extra bucks either. You would have to OC it to 3.6Ghz-ish or above to notice any real difference compared to a Northwood, and with a SiS chipset that's highly unlikely. I would take the others' advise and save up for an entire new platform...

Know Nuttin said:

Any reason why you need an adapter for the Freezer 7?

those 506's are getting very nice clocks for sure.

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Whoops, should have said Freezer 4. The one from my S478 setup. I'm going to use the Thermalright LGA775 adaptor with it, and if the heatsink won't cut it (with a 92mm fan fitted) I'll order an SI-120.

larva said:

Whoops, should have said Freezer 4. The one from my S478 setup. I'm going to use the Thermalright LGA775 adaptor with it, and if the heatsink won't cut it (with a 92mm fan fitted) I'll order an SI-120.

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I see. That makes sense.

To answer the OP, it's not worth it.