Help Please: best upgrade?

[JimGreen]

I need advice from you experts. I haven't upgraded in 4-5 years, waiting for the next technology jump "just around the corner". Well, it looks like Prescott is fried and Hammer is permantly overpriced, so a fast Northwood would be my best choice. My question: I want as fast an upgrade as is economically justified (not the very fastest I could buy), as it looks like I may not upgrade again for another 4-5 years current technology seeming to be stuck, so what is the best Northwood and motherboard to get, what speed, how fast should I try to push it, and what RAM would go with this speed? I am trying to stay with air cooling - I have a good heavy copper heatsink. Thanks in advance.

 

[Vio1]

Id suggest a 3ghz P4 with an Asus Mobo.. if you want to go value (and it still rocks) you could go for my mobo (see sig below), or you can spend an arm and a leg for a mobo that will be obsolete in a month (p4C800e dlx).

 

[donedeal123]

a abit max 3 mobo and you wil need some new memory at least 3200 512 mb stick . add a second drive.

 

[Sjaak]

an 3 Ghz / abit / asus / 1GB ram combo ought to do well (overclocked?) for at least a few years, especially if you put an X800 / 6800 videocard in it.

 

[JimGreen]

Questions:

Id suggest a 3ghz P4 with an Asus Mobo.. if you want to go value (and it still rocks) you could go for my mobo (see sig below), or you can spend an arm and a leg for a mobo that will be obsolete in a month (p4C800e dlx).

Thanks for all your replies. A few questions: What will a P4C800E be obsoleted by in a month? Is that something for a Northwood or Prescott? Also, what does "30 cap" mean when refering to a CPU? Also, where can you buy a 3.0C or 3.2C where they will tell you the chip code you will be buying? Thanks again.

 

[Sjaak]

The p4c800, will likely last out at least a year before you can declare it 'obsolete' The 30/12 cap stands for the amount of capacitors found on the bottom of the CPU. 30 caps seem to overclock slightly better.

 

[djs488]

when is the next projected price drop on these northwoods. when will the 3.0c only be 178, in other words.

 

[braze]

If you really expect to keep your next system for 4-5 years, I would wait a little longer for a board that supports DDRII and/or PCI express. (not sure when DDRII is supposed to hit, but PCI express is right around the corner and will make AGP obsolete).

 

[Sjaak]

I dont know. Theyre about the same price over here for like 3 months already. Good thing i bought mine just after the last drop. (almost 3 months ago)

 

[racpuc]

I need advice from you experts. I haven't upgraded in 4-5 years, waiting for the next technology jump "just around the corner". Well, it looks like Prescott is fried and Hammer is permantly overpriced, so a fast Northwood would be my best choice. My question: I want as fast an upgrade as is economically justified (not the very fastest I could buy), as it looks like I may not upgrade again for another 4-5 years current technology seeming to be stuck, so what is the best Northwood and motherboard to get, what speed, how fast should I try to push it, and what RAM would go with this speed? I am trying to stay with air cooling - I have a good heavy copper heatsink. Thanks in advance.

If you are planning to keep this system for the next 4-5 years you might want to consider that 64bit os will be out next year and major app companies will follow. You still can run 32bit apps on a 64bit os but you wont see improvements.

you might consider the epox

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-123-219&depa=0

with a a64 2800+ or a64 3000+

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-452&depa=1

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-424&depa=1

If you are in a tight budget, newegg has a a64+ 2800+ with a mb and FARCRY for around 224 shipped. The mb that comes with it is decent but wont compare the epox I linked above.
I know you were asking for an intel setup but it suprise me that you thought hammers were expensive compared to a p4. I would say the new amd cpus that are socket 939 are way overpriced and would never buy one but the a64 754 perform almost the same and cost half the price

 

[k_r_i_p_l_e_r]

get a good gigabyte board, with a 3.0c or 3.2c poc2700 or 3200 ram because you are right this next technology jump is somewhat of a flop and so will the next one with ddr2 - where you would need new board and cpu and the new btx form factor, bleh, there wont be any efficient tech jumps within the nextyear i don't think

 

[bojangles]

The new intel chipsets are coming out like this week with the new 775 sockets, I just haven't seen a northwood at 775, the new chipsets are VERY future proof supporting DDRII and PCI express, and some other stuff lol. It is the 915 and 925 chipsets.

 

[Sjaak]

Ye, but they have great issues regarding stability, and boot problems because of the southbridge. (only a few though). Also, the sockets they use...well they suck! you can put your cpu in it 20 times, then its 'worn out'