[nkcd]

One of my setup at home is the one in my sig.

CPU: 2.66ghz P4 (478) at 133x20 - 533mhz FSB
RAM: 1GB DDR333.

I''ll get the Abit IC7-G as a TEMPORARY Upgrade. I'm on air, and have very good air flow.

So my questions are:

1. IF I keep the current setup (CPU + RAM) with the new mobo, in order to run 1:1 ratio, I'd prolly max out at 3.33GHZ (Assuming cooling is good, my 2x512 DDR333 are good for DC, and the system stablize without any voltage mod). So I don't need new RAM, am I correct?

2. IF I want to upgrade to 3.0 or 3.2 GHZ Prescott and want to OC it to the max (4.0?) while being stable (may require to do Hipro's Mods) and Good cooling (air or water). What kind of RAM will I need to maximize the potential PC4000 or higher? My planl is ~1GB or may 2GB (4x512 at 2T or 2x1gb at 1T). Budget is ~200/(1gb set). How much slower I'd become if I run at 2T by utilizing 4 modules instead of 1T?

Thanks again everyone.

I'm still contemplating on whether should i upgrade the WHOLE system - I don't need to though since I'm working on my other socket T one - or just wait for a while and stick with option 1?

Please give me your feedbacks.

Thanks a lot.

[Sentential]

Yes I agree. At your current juncture I would suggest going for a full upgrade rather than buying expensive DDR1 during its twilight.

[Reefa_Madness]

I might be a little slower tonight than usual, but can you walk me thru to the point where you state that you'll probably max out at 3.33GHz? How is it that you expect to increase your current overclock by approximately 10% by simply changing out the mobo (by the way...what mobo are you currently using)?

Under that first scenario, your cpu and your ram would be the same as you are currently running, so unless your motherboard is now your bottleneck and limiting your overclock, what would change?

Ram under scenario #2 could be Hynix based, with either D5 or BT-D43 based stuff. These are available at very reasonable prices. With a higher spec'ed P4 you would not need high fsb in order to hit your max so even "old skool" (original) Winbond BH-5 purchased from forum members, for example, would probably give you the 250 or so that you need. Good Ballistix or TCCD based stuff will also get you where you want to be. All of these are under your $200/gig budget.

I am not one of those that has deemed DDR1 to be dead, in fact, I think that DDR2 is going to be more short-lived than DDR1.

The manufacturers are already readying for DDR3 and many users that have gotten DDR2 will find themselves in a position similar to those that went with RAMBUS. Due to the relatively small population of machines using DDR2 vs those using DDR1, the resale value of DDR2 will be far less than that of DDR1, on a relative basis (relative to what you paid for it).

Right now DDR1 is anything but expensive. You can buy DDR1 at some of the best prices that it has ever been sold at and the performance difference between a high end P4 with DDR1 and a new Intel with DDR2, while measureable in benchmarks, is very difficult to ascertain while simply using it for daily tasks. The exception would be a dual-core rig and even then, there are only certain tasks where the dual-core architecture actually improves peformance to a significant degree. The cost difference between these two systems, on the other hand, is measureable.

Having said all that...I do think that currently your real bottleneck is at the cpu level. Due to the 133 clock speed and lack of hyperthreading, you would not notice significant performance increases with a simple motherboard upgrade...you need to combine it with the cpu. Then you need new ram in order to run 1:1 as you desire, and then there is the video card...you are going to have to replace everything to get a significant improvement. It is probably not worth it. It would be different if you already had some of the components in place, whether it be ram or video card and you were only going to upgrade the rest of them. That would not be your case here.

Since you are already upgrading to a Socket T on the other machine, I wouldn't upgrade anything on the first unit until you just do it all...with whatever is new at the time (it will probably be using DDR3).

Just one man's opinion and the reasoning behind them. I'm sure there will be many more to come.

[nkcd]

My motherboard is a sucky MSI-6071 with SIS-648 chipset. So I think it's the motherboard that limits the current setup. That's why I was hoping that with the new IC7-G that I plan to get, I could squeeze it out a little bit more and have some fun with it.

I was calculating about the max out point being at 3.33ghz is because

DDR333 is running at 166mhz. So for best 1:1 ratio, I'd have 166x20 = 3.33ghz. But with the current mobo, I'm set to 2.98ghz max.

Also, I'd have a pair of DT-D43 DDR400 that I can swap in if required for better performance. As far as video card, I do have an ATI X800 Pro 256MB comming my way, so memory and video card isn't a problem. The problem may be the CPU, but if I can go ~3.2ghz on that one, I'd be happy.

By all mean, I just want to have some extra fun with this old system while it lasts.