Is a Granite Bay worth almost $100 more?

I am just about ready to upgrade my current system. I am going to go with a 2.4Ghz Sl6RZ (if I can get one). The short list for my new mobo includes the Abit IT7-Max2 rev2 or a Granite Bay board (P48GX or 8INXP).

I do not mind spending the almost $100.00 more for a Granite Bay board if I am going to get some real bang for the money. However, I do not want to spend the money if it will only result in a marginal increase in overall system performance/speed. Many threads remark about the greater bandwidth of the Granite Bay boards but I have not been able to find anything that helps quantify the issue here.

Opinions are certainly welcome.

The SINXP is a great board, well worth checking out, it offers the same overclock performance, and better memory performance, and is much cheaper, also the GB has issiues with the Radeon 9700 pro, as most people use the R9700 pro on hear with these type of boards, then thats nothing to glance over.

The answer depends on how you define bang for the hundred bucks. If getting the last megahertz out of an overclock is a top priority, or if you are a benchmark racer, then Granite Bay is the way to go...for the next six to eight weeks. Then the Springdale and Canterwood boards will kick sand in your face, take your girl and leave you looking for a Charles Atlas ad on the back of this month's X-Men.

For application performance, you really can't make a case for the Granite Bay boards. Eliminating the memory bandwidth gap only translates to a few FPS on game applications. We're talking about less than a five percent improvement over an 845PE board running at the default memory speeds. Crank up the PE memory speed as you will surely do and the gap becomes even narrower.

This is just my opinion, and others will disagree, but I could care less about having the high score in a benchmark. I overclock because I want to get over on the hardware makers. If a $500 2.4B/845PE/9500 Pro combo overclock to 95% of the speed of a $1000 3.06/GB/9700 Pro setup...I win.



BHD

Bald, thanks for that excellent response to my question. That was exactly the type of feedback I was looking for. I like having a fast machine but spending a C note to squeeze out performance that would never be noticeable except via benchmark numbers is not where my head is at (I guess this is 30 years as a practicing engingeer comming out).

You did say something that I was not expecting and really did not want to hear; "the Springdale and Canterwood boards will kick sand in your face". I thought I was on the verge of a decision of what to buy. I know nothing about these two boards/chip sets you mentioned so I guess its back to the drawing boards so i do not suffer buyers remorse in a couple months.

Thanks again.

No problem, glad I could help.

While the dice are hot, I'll toss in my thoughts on the Springdale and Canterwood. I said "kick sand in your face" just as a setup for a Charles Atlas joke because, well, how many times a day do you get to make a Charles Atlas joke?

If these boards are going to be a major breakthrough is open to debate. They will have support for the 800MHz FSB procs Intel is going to roll out at about the same time. If you're buying a new proc at the same time, that could be a compelling reason to wait. Especially if Intel follows through on the announcement for an 800MHz 2.4 chip (multiplier of twelve...mmmmmm) and they don't charge a small fortune for it.

But while the new boards will be compatable with the older Northwood chips, I don't see a clear advantage to upgrading boards with a 400 or 533 proc. Yes, the Canterwoods and Springdales might overclock as well or better than the GB's, but no one is predicting a wholesale improvement. And the new boards will have chipset support for S-ATA drives, but like the 800FSB that's only noteworthy if you're buying more new hardware.

The other possible advantage is a faster default memory speeds and lower cost compared to GB boards. The new boards are going to support DDR400, but since DDR233 has enough bandwidth to match the 533 P4's, I don't think this will help anyone with an older proc. Price is a big question mark. Intel says part of the reason GB boards cost so much is because they have to be made on a six-layer PCB. The new boards will be on a four-layer PCB so they should be cheaper, but Intel is making a big effort to keep its price per unit up so we may not see a $130 CW or SD board like we do with the PE.

We're getting close to the end of the P4 lifespan, so any increases we see from new chipsets or procs is going to be less than the shift from the 845 to the 845E chipset, or the 400 to 533 processors.

I think this is a great time to buy for value. If you're more concerned with performance, I'd wait for the 800MHz chips and new boards if I had to have a system today, or for the Prescott P5 if your current system can get you by until the end of the year.




BHD

Decision is made. I am going for the Abit IT7 Max2 rev2, Mushkin Black 512Meg PC2700, and the 2.4 Gig SL6RZ. This should be a satisfying upgrade to my current TH7II with a 2.0Ghz CPU running at 128MHz FSB(2.5 Ghz).

My only real problem now is getting the SL6RZ. There are no Fry's in South Florida so I have to take chances ordering one. My goal is to reach 3.0 Ghz with a 700 MHz Bus. Anything less and it becomes too marginal of an upgrade to warrant spending $500.00.

Thanks for your thoughts Bald.

I don't know if you have already made your purchase, but I own both of these boards. I've benchmarked both as much as I can and I will say without a doubt the IT7Max2 is better. Granite Bay only wins the memory bandwidth, but P4 only can use bandwidth up to 4.2 Ghz/sec. In all other tests they pretty even, but GB becomes unstable at a lower clockspeed than the Abit. This may be because Asus ueses 2 phase power instead of 4 phase. The P4 starts very overvolted when idle then drops below the voltage setting under load.

spending 250 ouch ,you'll be hatin life when the springdale/canterwood comes out next month.

Nooooo! There is a coupon for Mushkin DDR! Type SPRINGDDR in the coupon box at their website and you get 10% off =D. Effective until March 31.

My .02:
I thought GB was worth it, or at least my board (P4G8X). The clincher for me was AGP 8x, but it also has S-ATA RAID, Dual Channel DDR, which costs the same as Non dually (Googlegear.com). Plus price has just dropped $30-50 on the P4G8X, and at $210-$230, it is a much harder choice now. True, it has volt limitations, but I can give numerous examples of people running 170-200 FSB easy. They may have hard core cooling stuff, but it still runs that high. Plus with the BIOS mod out, its a contender I think. BTW, I was considering getting the IT7-MAX2 also ; )