Which 775 P4 for light OC in carputer?

[Mastiff]

I'm making a mother of a carputer, but on a certain budget. I have decided on a Asus P5RD1-V DELUXE, mainly because it has a built-in DX9 graphics card and I want to be able to play MP3 music at the same time as I output three different DVD movies (DiVX or similar formats is not going to be used) to three different monitors (not as crazy as it sounds, my Centrino 2.0 notebook manages 2 movies at the same time without any problems), so my wife can watch one movie in the front seat and the kids won't have to fight about watching Barbie (that's Lisa) or Star Wars (that's Kevin). That demands full DX9, since I have to use VMR9, not overlay for that. The computer will have one of the ATI x cards (probably a Radeon X1600PRO 256MB), so Kevin can play games with a gamepad on the computer as well. Remember that the car screens are small (12"), so we're only talking a max resolution of 1024x768, perhaps even 800x600. Pretty mean for a carputer, huh?

So what CPU should I choose for that? I basically have two options:
1. Pentium D 805 Dual Core 2.67GHz "Smithfield" For BTX2 (whatever BTX2 is!)
2. Pentium 4 630J 3.0GHz 800MHz 2M "Prescott EM64T"

The 3.0 does of course look best to me, I'm old (40) and I am used to more mHz being better. But I don't really know much about dual core. I have read that the D 805 is very easy to OC on stock voltage, quote Neoseeker: "multiplier to 18, and the FSB to 800 MHz at default Vcore - just worked. No muss, no fuss ... A core clock of 3.6 GHz with an 800MHz FSB is nothing to sneeze at... " Sounds pretty good to me.

Remember the usage: Playing DVD's and music at the same time, or playing games and music at the same time. Also power consumption does matter a bit, this is going to be powered by a 300 watt PSU. Heat matters little, the computer is going to be in a very open case.

Please help me, somebody who knows about this! I'm not totally against going AMD either, if I can get better performance for the money and power consumption.

Edit: If I'm gonna use a dual core I may have to rethink the motherboard. From Asus' CPU support webpage it seems it doesn't support any dual core CPU's, but can that be right? On the mobo page it says:
LGA775 socket for Intel® Pentium 4/Celeron CPU
Compatible with Intel 04B and 04A processors
Intel Hyper-Threading Technology ready
Supports Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology(EIST)

So a new mobo that doesn't support dual core? Am I missing something obvious here?

 

[OGkiller]

For running multiple processes at once, dual core is definitely going to be better. However, as far as the mobo goes I don't really know much about ASUS's offerings, however most people recommend if you are going to overclock go with an intel 955/975 chipset. You may be able to get away with a lower chipset on an 805 though.

 

[Mastiff]

Thanks! I was suspecting that a dual core was the answer, but unfortunately I can't find any 955/975 with a built-in graphics card. What I can find is a 945, this one: http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=703

Would that be usable?

 

[Shelnutt2]

I believe this would be your best bet. There are no 955/975 board with integrated video, because those boards are considered high end models, and for high end you do not want intergrated video.

 

[Sjaak]

Afaik, the only videocard that can handle three displays is from matrox.

 

[batboy]

The mobo that Shelnutt mentioned would be one of my recommendations too. However, I would advise against a dual core or Prescott for a carputer because of heat issues. If you are set on socket LGA775, then maybe a Cedar Mill would be the best option from a cooling point of view.

 

[Jame Gumb]

What HDD you gonna use? Where are you gonna place it?

 

[Mastiff]

Thanks for the tip! That Asus board looks very nice!
Sjaak, you can run three different screens with one dual head (most newer ATI and GeForce) card and one other card, which can be built-in or even a regular PCI card.

I must tell you guys that this is not your average carputer, so heat isn't a problem. This is for a Chevrolet Suburban, so there's room under the back seat for this case, with enough air above it: http://www.microplex.no/product.aspx?pid=pcv800b&mcat=c434 It's a Lian Li PCV800B HTPC/Desktop case with three external 5.25 (which I'm gonna use for two DVD drives and one hard drive with adapter) and room for two regular hard drives. So there will be three hard drives, all 250 gig or larger. Also the power supply (or supplies - I'll have to check if one 300 W will do) will be outside the case when this thing running in the car, I'm gonna use motherboard and hard drive extension cables so I can use one or two 12 V DC-DC power supplies in the car and a regular power supply when the thing is used in my summer house (as a multi-zone music provider, we'll use the TV to watch DVD's there).

 

[Mastiff]

By the way would buying a full ATX version of this card and using an old PCI graphics card instead of the built-in card that comes with the VM version consume about the same amount of power, or would it be more power intensive?

Oh, and do I have anything to gain by going P5WD2 Premium with the I955X chipset instead?

 

[KJSatz]

With the advent of recent Presler/Cedar Mill price cuts I recommend something like a 631 or 930.

 

[Mastiff]

I see that the 930 is down to around 300 dollars in Norway now, so maybe I could stretch the budget that far. And I guess this fast CPU would take some load of the graphics card, so I could buy a cheaper graphics card, right? I see in one review (Neoseeker) that it overclocks very well on stock speeds and coolers (even though I'm going to use something better to cool it): We've had no problem at all running it at 4.125GHz, at stock Vcore, with the stock heatsing/fan. Yes, stock everything yielded an excellent just over 1GHz overclock and was stable throughout all of our benchmarks.

They used a P5WD2 board (I955 based), and I could afford that instead of the and the P5LD2 (I945P). But what's the main advantage by that? I see that by shopping in the right Internet shop and really stretching (or overclocking) the budget I could get the P5WD2-E Premium, which has the I975X chipset. So what would the best bet be with my usage?

Thanks again, guys!

 

[greenmaji]

I havn't seen any advantage to the I975X chipset (there was a very slight chance that it would be compatible with conroe back when it came out, but we have since found it that it would take hard modification of the board to do so, the only reason to get it would to be able to run a XE pressler 955D or 965D) when overclocking so far, the I955X has done well all around for overclocking.. the main benifit from moving up from the I945X would be the lack of integrated grapics, intergrated grapics make the motherboard less capible of overclocking (even if the intgrated graphics are turned off, it still limits the motherboard just being sodered on it) I would suspect less front side bus and or stability of overclocks.

I wouldn't count on the CPU taking alot of stress off the video card, from the way applications have been written.. BUT from what Ive read it seems the NV 9600 series seems to exel at the task and those are not top of the line price wise anymore (the 9800GS being one if not the fastest is a pretty good deal now)
three monitors would be a diffent story though (if you want to not duplicate the same image if so no big deal)
ATI has a PCI card to add a couple of monitors to whatever your PCIe is able to put out (of course It would work best in conjuntion with a AIT PCIe video card), *Edit*and I can't seem to find this product anywere anymore it was advertised as a daytrader video card, so they could add a few more screens for doing their work I hope you have better luck finding this thing*/edit*

 

[Mastiff]

Thanks! If I can go down to P5WD2 instead of the P5WD2-E, that will save me around 100 dollars! Money I can spend elsewhere.

As you say, I am not planning to show the same thing on the monitors. The normal setup will be two different DVD movies on the two monitors for the back seat (so the kids shut up while we're driving...) and GPS software or NetRemote to control the music for the headunit (and the movies for the kids) on the 10.4 " screen that will be placed where the rear view mirror is now (it will be connected to a rear view camera mounted in one of the rear doors). So that probably means ATI to get that working. I have actually looked at a Sapphire Radeon 7000 PCI card that has dual monitor support. Then I can expand with a fourth monitor for my wife to watch movies on when/if I can afford that. I actually tested my 2 gig Asus Centrino notebook, and that was able to play four movies at the same time, but that was barely. Two movies at the same time was no problem at all.

The fun part will be to figure out how to handle gameplay on one monitor and other user on the other monitors. That may not be possible, I don't know yet. If it's impossible, we can use NetRemote on my cellphone to control the music.

Btw the difference between the P5WD2 and the P5WD2/Premium (both i955x) is just one more gigabit LAN and some RAID stuff, right? Which I don't need.

 

[greenmaji]

The P5WD2/Preimium just has extra features that you have noted for the mostpart, if you have checked out whats included on each you've figured it out already

And I edited my post after you posted (I didnt hit the refresh after posting and looking for that card) I can't find it right now. So Im not much help with what it is exactly other then a newer PCI card that runs more money then the standard PCI cards, almost the same price as workstation PCI cards actually (wich of corse isn't that expensive anymore LOL).

 

[Mastiff]

Well, the Sapphire Radeon 7000 PCI is like 50 bucks or so here, so I think that's the one I'm gonna get. But thanks! Those workstation cards are still hysterically expensive here! So they are out by definition. If I bought one, I'd be broke and wouldn't have money for mobo, CPU or RAM!

 

[greenmaji]

the PCI ones are 150 USD in the states.. (this thing ADDS two independent monitors to whatever your main card is putting out) but there very well could be software ways around the issue.

I personaly used to be under the impression that you could hook up as many monitors to your PCI bus and have independent monitors based on wich slot you used.. Ive been lost for a while

 

[Mastiff]

I think we're talking about just about the same thing. When used with a PCI Express or AGP card the Radeon 7000 PCI will add two monitors to what you've already have. So you can have four independent monitors. At least that's what it says. But I will of course check if it works. If not, I'll find another solution, but I'm pretty sure it will work.

 

[greenmaji]

Well then.. If that's the case it's come down in price nicely since a month ago. No wonder I couldn't find it

Definately let us know if the 4 independent monitors works. (that would be nice for alot of things)

 

[Mastiff]

So we were talking about the same card, then? Actually that's the Norwegian price, and I have seen things vary wildly. Some things are almost twice the price of what you'll pay in the US, while other things are a lot cheaper here. I have never found a logic in it either.

 

[greenmaji]

the us price looks to run high 30's to low 80's.. shopping online can make a big diffence here.. the prices most all components is hard to keep up with in the US IMHO.. LOL

that and some of our lowest prices get you a shady business that you will never see a product from most likely