2.8ghz P4

[Peter-griffin]

P4 2.8GHZ NorthWood:

What do I have to worry about? Which motherboard should I go with (Mobo + p4 cost can't go over $700)? And how well does this baby overclock with stock cooling? I don't have a clue how to overclock, either; I've had virtually no practice thanks to the lack of jumpers on my computer's ASUSTek P4B mainboard setup, so consider a newbie's mistakes.

And is it worth the hefty price?

I'll be using it for gaming, mostly. I don't have a clue how to rip DVD's and I'm opting not to get a DVD-R in my new rig. Maybe a little 3D rendering, but mostly just games (BF1942, HalfLife: Counter Strike, Starcraft Brood Wars...WC3).

I've got $1700 to put into a system without a monitor or speakers, build me a good one if you have the time (just find where I can get the parts and whatnot, I'll do the actual building).

Thx for the help!!

 

[runsalone]

What do I have to worry about? Which motherboard should I go with (Mobo + p4 cost can't go over $700)? And how well does this baby overclock with stock cooling? I don't have a clue how to overclock, either; I've had virtually no practice thanks to the lack of jumpers on my computer's ASUSTek P4B mainboard setup, so consider a newbie's mistakes.

You'll have to worry about temps/voltages in an overclocking system. Also the 2.8 wont be giving you a huge overclock, they generally reach a stable ceiling of somewhere below 3.2 ghz. I've never really tried overclocking it with the stock heatsink, i dont think it's a smart thing to do with such an expensive chip. You'd overclock a P4 northwood by increasing the front side bus frequency in the bios. Because of this, you will want to choose a motherboard with the option to lock the PCI/AGP frequency. I have no problems with my Abit IT7-Max 2 motherboard, and have heard a lot of good things about Asus motherboards. It would come down to what you want on your motherboard, such as RAID and PS/2 ports, firewire ports ETC. Biggest newbie mistake in my opinion is the correct installation of the cpu and heatsink. You will want to apply the thermal compound correctly (thin layer evenly spread) and also will want to use something like Arctic Silver III.

And is it worth the hefty price?

Depends on what you will be using it for. Pair it with a great video card, and it will be an EXCELLENT gaming rig because of the hefty front side bus (but dont forget memory bandwidth is the biggest performance increase for intensive gaming)

I'd suggest looking for a good overclocking motherboard with a chipset that supports DDR333 or has 3:4 memory divider. You will definately want to put in a stick of Corsair PC3200 CL 2.0 or PC3500 CL 2.0 if you are aiming for great memory speeds with good timings.

As for where to get the parts, I have had really good luck with googlegear.com and newegg.com.

Here's what I would suggest to you:
2.8 chip
~150$ motherboard (depends on what features you want.)
Radeon 9700 Pro (dont bother with OEM cards)
Western digital hard disk with 8 mb cache
Enermax or Antec PSU with at least 450 watts
Alpha 8942 heatsink for socket 478 with a 80 mm fan (could either use high performance fan for overclocking, or silent fan for everyday stock usage.)

 

[Peter-griffin]

I don't know the slightest thing about RAID or PS/2, either than RAID has something to do with the hard drive and PS/2 is a game console.

I just want a motherboard with kickass transfer bandwidth that'll let me overclock. I can put 50 or 60 bucks into cooling.

I thought the P4 2.8ghz overclocked excellently to 3.6ghz...I guess I was wrong(?).

I don't know what parts to get, thats why I'm asking. I don't need FireWire, I don't do digital cameras and if I did I have my Sony VAIO to handle it (it's a digital studio anyways).

About Radeon- I thought the NVIDIA cards were far superior?

And what about the Alienware-modded Antec cases- I want to overclock the video card, and the KoolMaxx video cooling on the case is supposed to be 5 star. Any comments on it?

Does anyone know if Alienware will sell me just a case/power supply? I don't want their computer, but I wanna be able to say I bought one ^_^.

Thx for the help!!

 

[runsalone]

I don't know the slightest thing about RAID or PS/2, either than RAID has something to do with the hard drive and PS/2 is a game console.

RAID is a system for backing up data across multiple hard disks or increasing performance by using 2 hard disks to act as a single disk. If you're that much of a newb, you dont need anything like this.

PS/2 is a format for keyboard/mice inputs. Most new mice and keyboards have usb connectors instead of outdated ps/2s.

I just want a motherboard with kickass transfer bandwidth that'll let me overclock. I can put 50 or 60 bucks into cooling.

Go look in the intel motherboards section, you might want to wait for granite bay DDRII for intel.

To cool your cpu on air, get an alpha or swiftech with a vantec tornado.

About Radeon- I thought the NVIDIA cards were far superior?

You could wait for the Nvidia NV30 card. If you want to overclock it, you might have to put an aftermarket heatsink/fan and ramsinks on it.

And what about the Alienware-modded Antec cases- I want to overclock the video card, and the KoolMaxx video cooling on the case is supposed to be 5 star. Any comments on it?

Don't really know what you're talking about there. Just get a normal case and make sure it has a lot of airflow, ie case fans in a configuration that allows for good airflow.

 

[goatzool]

This may be a responsible opposing point of view to Runsalone. The 2.8 is the fastest Pentium processor available right now and commands an extreme premium price. I am running a 2.5 stable at 2.88. My CPU cost a few hundred dollars less. That's a big percentage of your proposed budget that could be spent on other premium components. CPU's depreciate like boats. In six months, my processor might be $150 and the 2.8 might be $180 and the fastest CPU available will be 3.3 and cost $500. When you're buying the fastest CPU on the block, you're basically paying to get there six months ahead of everyone else.

There was a time a few years ago when buying the speediest processor available ensured that your system would not be obsolete for several years.
Back then, system requirements on software products changed almost as quickly as processor capabilities. The latest games might not run on your Pentium 120 that was top of the line when you bought it. But I think the consumer market has hit a saturation point. Look at the minimum platform for Unreal Tournament 2003 - a Pentium 3 at 733 Mhz. That "cutting edge" game just came out a few months ago, yet it works on systems that were mainstream three years ago. If software designers continue to up the system requirements, they cut their markets too much.

Assuming you could overclock the 2.8 to 3.2 or 3.6, the question is why you, in particular, need that difference. You could fold proteins in 12 hours that take me 14 hours. There is no commonly available software in existence which requires a processor speed of 2.8, and very few programs that you would even notice the difference on. I agree with Runsalone that memory bandwidth may be equally or more important to performance in some apps, and a chipset that reliably supports DDR400 (but not the SiS648) may be right around the corner at virtually no greater cost than today's DDR333 chipsets.

I am not saying there is anything wrong with the 2.8 other than its price. I personally would not pay twice as much for a 12% performance edge.

 

[Peter-griffin]

The stock speeds may be the same...but I bet a 2.8ghz can get plenty higher than your 2.5ghz. I'm not buying this thing to stick with its original speeds, I wanna overclock it just to say my CPU is running at 3.6ghz. If there is another processor that can overclock higher than the 2.8ghz, for less money, I'll go with it.


Alienware cases are Antec cases with Alienware markings (www.alienware.com). I want the one that houses the Auroura DDr, though I believe they're all the same. If someone could find out if they'll sell me one with just a power supply inside...that'd be great, I have no E-Mail account and I'm grounded from the phone until January 15th.

THX!!

 

[goatzool]

If you want to be the fastest, I understand that, and its cool. You are right that the 2.8 is likely to go higher than the 2.5. Go for it. My point is that if you have a budget, there are other things to consider besides raw speed.

 

[EgeWorks]

Have a read of this thread:

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=135799

Then make up your mind on whether or not to put a lot of money into a 2.8.

just my .02A$

 

[Peter-griffin]

How about anyone who has a P4 2.8ghz....tell me if it's worth it. If I wanted to look around and decide myself, then I wouldn't come here, now would I? XD

Just some help guys...I'm making a decision transition from dual Athlon MP 2200+....and I was considering this Pentium chip, but are there any other chips out there that can outdo the 2.8's potential (while staying equal/lower price)?

THX!!

 

[runsalone]

about cases, i just go to the flea market when they have a computer show and buy the biggest, cheapest case they have. I would never spend more than 50$ on a case (always no power supply, keep your crappy PSU out of my system, thanks)

the 100$+ cases are basically the same with just a little tag that says "antec" or "enermax" on em. Maybe they have pre-cut fan holes or something.

I dont think you really need to upgrade from 2200 dually.

 

[NeoGeo]

What part of NJ are you from Family Guy? Their are usually some great computer shows in the area, Camden/Trenton, also some good one's in K.O.P, PA You can usually score a great deal on cases, and if you're looking for CPU's, you can actually find out the stepping in person b4 you buy

And to answer your question, no, the 2.8 isn't worth it, price/performance/overclocking wise. Any P4, 2.5 and up, with a Radeon 9700Pro is more than ample for the games you listed, as well as the new Direct X 8 games coming out like Doom 3. Just my thoughts, take it or leave it...

 

[Peter-griffin]

I'm from Jackson, New Jersey (10 minutes away from Great Adventure ^_^). I've heard about flee markets and stuff, and plenty of computer expos, but I want real parts with real warantees.

I just want the Alienware case to say I have an Alienware case. They also will give me some free help on overclocking my video card.

I'm buying this machine to be absolutely, 100% overkill.

And I'm not upgrading from 2200 duals, I was deciding between a single p4 or the duals. I want the P4.


The 2.8ghz sounds ideal for me because it won't be obselete as soon as the other chips out, and since i won't be able to buy a new computer soon, I need something that won't burn out ^_^.

Any more tips?

THX!!

 

[runsalone]

I'm buying this machine to be absolutely, 100% overkill.

go get a quad Xeon board and put in four 2.8 xeon processors. Watercool all four with peltiers between the water block and cpu. Get a 10 gb solid state hard disk. Buy a 2000$ video card used for rendering animated films, also watercool that and put a peltier on the gpu. Use about 5 gigs of PC1066 RDRAM, and use a 40" LCD TFT monitor.

 

[krag]

Hey Pete, save your money and get the 2.4 "B" chip if you are gonna overclock. I own a 2.8 "B' and can only get a 350mhz oc. It looks like runsalone is in the same boat as me. I have been hearing good things about the 2.4 "B' chips and they oc well. I spent the extra cash ($480) thinking I would get the monster OC abd all i got was a monster dent in my wallet. I know I could get my current level of OC with a lesss expensive "B" chip.

 

[chop]

How about anyone who has a P4 2.8ghz....tell me if it's worth it. If I wanted to look around and decide myself, then I wouldn't come here, now would I? XD

Just some help guys...I'm making a decision transition from dual Athlon MP 2200+....and I was considering this Pentium chip, but are there any other chips out there that can outdo the 2.8's potential (while staying equal/lower price)?

THX!!

I recently purchased a 2.8 with an Abit IT7-Max 2 and love the performance. I will note that I originally purchased a 2.8 that couldn't handle a 150 fsb - (3150 MHZ) . I returned that chip and bought another that has been fabulous. The only thing holding me back is my voltage and potential temp issues. I've had it as high as 162 FSB (3400Mhz) but backed it down due to the heat of the processor. If it were me, I would do a bit more reading on the board because most of us discuss our OC results. My board does not support hyperthreading ( I think ) and that may prove to be something you want in the future. I believe the Abit IT7-MAX 2 (version 2) does support HT. The 2.8 is the fastest, but I would classify it as a risky proposition if you are looking for a large OC. It all depends on the chip you get. Let me know if you have anymore questions.

 

[Peter-griffin]

I don't have time to research around, so I really need solid opinions here.

I'm a total newb to overclocking, all I've done so far is raise the FSB on my VAIO using CPUFSB, so I need a processor that will hold steady to a newb's mistakes.

In the end, I want a solid processor/motherboard setup that will hit 3.2ghz without much of a hassle and will cost under $700. This doesn't include cooling. Note that I do not have the time, patience or knowledge to use watercooling, so if you can set my up with a good cooling system that doesnt cost over $50...that'd be great.

THX!!

 

[Creat|ve]

Picked up a 2.8

Prod Code: SL6K6
FPO Batch: 3234A367
Version No: C10671-001
Pack Date: 11th October 2002
Made in Costa Rica

Everything 2.8 ive seen has been the SL6HL and made in the Phillipines so Im keen to see how this does......Ran it for 15 mins lastnight with no pin mod and with 1.725 in bios I can get it to boot into windows at 162fsb but crashes and 160 seems ok...

Im happy for now, will do pin mod and see how it goes with more volts. Vapochill arriving next week so maybe 100-200mhz more with it than air cooling as Im only using default stock cooler atm...

Hope this helps bud, ill report back what it does...

 

[Peter-griffin]

Thx dude, certainly every bit of input does help, keep the help comin!!


THX!!!

Great avitar too ^_^

 

[oops]

check your private message, I sent you something with a good deal. I cannot post link to auction on message board, so i sent it to you as private message. note: the first link in the first message was wrong. so i sent another message with the correct link.

 

[ZubZero]

I would go for a P4 1.8 overcloked to 3GHz in a VapoChill and an ASUS P4PE - that's around 800$ I think - anyway cheaper than a 3GHz CPU alone, and a hell of a lot funnier