A few questions about moving to dual CPUs

[Orgy]

I was looking into getting the Asus NCCH-DL board but read that it required a 24 pin power connector. I've got an Antec 400W PSU from about 2001 and is plugged into a Epox 8KHA+ which uses the 20 pin connector. Now Antec's site claims that mobo's "requiring" the 24 pin connector will actually work with a 20 pin connector, mentioning the extra pins are for powering a PCIE card.

So question 1 is, will my current PSU work or do I need to upgrade?

Next up, Newegg has Intel Xeons with the following pins "604 pin FC-mPGA", "Socket 604", and "604 Pin (FC-BGA)". Some retail, some OEM. Which of these will work with a NCCH, or are they all really the same?

Thirdly, I saw that OC'ing a 2.4GHz Xeon to ~3.0GHz is the way to go, but will a 2.66 GHz get me farther, it's only a little more expensive which is why I ask.

Finally, should I get 533 FSB or 800 FSB? 800 seems the obvious choice but a lot of people are talking about 533. Does 533 OC better?

I can provide links to the places I'm getting my info from if it would help.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Dc5e]

Hey, yeah the 24pin power connector are from EPS powersupplies. I'm not sure if there are 20->24pin adapters, but i think in theory the 20pin connector will fit in the 24pin. (If i recall correctly, the 24pin just has 4 extra pins on the end). But i really don't know if you need the extra 4. I'm guessing you do, even on my PC-DL, it uses the 24pin and it doesn't have PCIE slots.
Theres also a 6pin connector that my EPS powersupply had and my asus PC-DL had. So you may have to end up getting a EPS powersupply.

As for which xeons, they should be all the same i think. As long as they're all socket 604's.

Between 800fsb and 533fsb, i think Prestonia's are mostly 533fsb chips and Noconas are 800fsb chips. Noconas are based on Prescotts and Prestonia's are based on northwoods. The Prestonia 2.4ghz 533fsb can overclock very well, but i haven't been following Nocona overclocks.

I hope that answers some of your questions.

 

[dustybyrd]

I was looking into getting the Asus NCCH-DL board but read that it required a 24 pin power connector. I've got an Antec 400W PSU from about 2001 and is plugged into a Epox 8KHA+ which uses the 20 pin connector. Now Antec's site claims that mobo's "requiring" the 24 pin connector will actually work with a 20 pin connector, mentioning the extra pins are for powering a PCIE card.

So question 1 is, will my current PSU work or do I need to upgrade?

Next up, Newegg has Intel Xeons with the following pins "604 pin FC-mPGA", "Socket 604", and "604 Pin (FC-BGA)". Some retail, some OEM. Which of these will work with a NCCH, or are they all really the same?

Thirdly, I saw that OC'ing a 2.4GHz Xeon to ~3.0GHz is the way to go, but will a 2.66 GHz get me farther, it's only a little more expensive which is why I ask.

Finally, should I get 533 FSB or 800 FSB? 800 seems the obvious choice but a lot of people are talking about 533. Does 533 OC better?

I can provide links to the places I'm getting my info from if it would help.

Thanks in advance!

that psu is probably not enough for two xeons plus the usually components in a dual system...although, you can use an ATX 20 pin psu with the 4pin connector on this board...

i use this adaptor for my ATX nonEPS pcpower and cooling 510 psu:

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/thsipusepsua.html

you'll want to get the 2.4ghz 533mhz xeons (d1 stepping or M0 stepping) to get more than 3ghz at 200mhz+fsb...the 800 mhz fsb chips cost more, are hotter and don't overclock that well...