Spice up my rig w/ a 2.4?

Greetings sages of the Intel CPU forum!

I'm thinking of buying a 2.4 in the hopes of getting it to 3.0.

How good are my chances? I'm thinking the production process should be so refined by now that the percentage of lemons is kept to a minimum. I'm I right?

Will the Intel stock HSF do? (for most people)

Feel free to make other upgrade suggestions as well, as the main purpose of the upgrade is to prepare for HL2/DooM3 goodness!

Thanking you in advance,

MensInsana

We need more info. Do you already have a P-4 system that you're trying to upgrade or is this a new system? There are three different 2.4 P-4 CPUs (2.4A/400 bus, 2.4B/533 bus, and 2.4C/800 bus). Yes, 99% all the newer P-4s will hit 3 gig and more. For a goal of 3 gig, the stock cooler will be ok as long as you don't increase the voltage.

Thanks for replying!

Yes, this an upgrade. I meant to post details on the existing system, but obviously I had a momentary lapse of cerebral functions

System:

*BD7-ii Raid
*P4 1.8a (only stable at 2.2, much to my dismay)
*SB Audigy
*Gainward Ti4200
*1x512MB Twinmos PC2700
*2x80 WD800jb in RAID 0 + WD120jb

It has served me fairly well, but I suspect it won't really hold up against HL2/Doom3. So now I figured I'd do a processor upgrade while they're still selling the "b"-s.

Oh wait! Is it possible to run the "c" variety in an old mobo such as the BD7II?

With that mobo, you'll want the 2.4B. It "might" be possible to run a 2.4C but it might be tough just to run default speed. You really need a i865/i875 chipset mobo for the "C" CPUs. With a 2.4B and a goal of 3 gig, that will be 167 FSB. If you use the 1:1 memory ratio, that should allow you to run your PC2700 RAM at DDR334 which is what it's rated for. If you want good game performance, consider investing in a better vid card. Also, more and faster RAM might be helpful. It'll probably take PC3700 to allow use of the 3:4 mem ratio though unless you luck out with good overclockable PC3500 RAM.

Thanks batboy, exactly the kind of help I was looking for!

Greetings from Sweden where it's now 6:20 pm <--BeerTime™

/M