System advice

lozcs · 2004-10-21, 19:57

I'm about to upgrade my home PC, it's main function is to occasionaly serve music and videos on the network but mainly to run Prime95 24/7.

Can anyone advise on these two?

540 Intel Pentium® 4 LGA 775 CPU (3.20 Ghz 800FSB) HT 1MB Cache OEM
3.2GHz Intel Pentium® 4 "Northwood" CPU 512k Cache OEM

The first would be using DDR2 memory - Is this good for Prime95? - I did notice that the Cache Latency is 4 on these sticks opposed to 2 on the DDR memory.

Lawrence......

eydolic · 2004-10-21, 20:17

Quote:

540 Intel Pentium® 4 LGA 775 CPU (3.20 Ghz 800FSB) HT 1MB Cache OEM

Quote:

3.2GHz Intel Pentium® 4 "Northwood" CPU 512k Cache OEM

I would definitely go with the Northwood for the time being. It is currently faster than the Prescott in most benchmarks, and the 31 stage pipeline for the Prescott is slowly appearing as a mistake on Intel's behalf. The extra cache dose not make hardly any difference at all, unlike the L3 cache on the P4EE (Which is still, in all reality, and NorthWood for very good reasons)

I wouldn't be too quick to go OEM now days, although that is what I have in my system at the moment. The warranties on them suck, and if you can get the retail box for only $20 more, I'd go for it. You also get a nice little junk fan as an incentive.

The only real advantage to the Prescott is the disabled 64-bit instruction set that can be re-enabled in theory (I'm not sure if it has been successfully accomplished yet.) The Prescott is the beginning of the P4-based 64-bit arena, just not in the United States.

lozcs · 2004-10-21, 22:13

So the first one is a 775pin Prescott?

Because the Prescott is listed again as...

3.2GHz Intel Pentium® 4 CPU "Prescott" (800FSB) HT 1MB Cache *Retail*

I've read here the downfalls of the presscot chips and had tried to avoid them!

Lawrence......

Quote:

Originally Posted by eydolic

I would definitely go with the Northwood for the time being. It is currently faster than the Prescott in most benchmarks, and the 31 stage pipeline for the Prescott is slowly appearing as a mistake on Intel's behalf. The extra cache dose not make hardly any difference at all, unlike the L3 cache on the P4EE (Which is still, in all reality, and NorthWood for very good reasons)

I wouldn't be too quick to go OEM now days, although that is what I have in my system at the moment. The warranties on them suck, and if you can get the retail box for only $20 more, I'd go for it. You also get a nice little junk fan as an incentive.

The only real advantage to the Prescott is the disabled 64-bit instruction set that can be re-enabled in theory (I'm not sure if it has been successfully accomplished yet.) The Prescott is the beginning of the P4-based 64-bit arena, just not in the United States.

lozcs · 2004-10-21, 22:16

Here are all the details - it has the same cache as a prescott - but is it??? DDDR2 Memory sounded like it could be good for Prime95......

Manufacturer: Intel

Processor: Intel Pentium 540 ( 3.2 GHz )

sSpec Number: SL7KL / SL7J7

Core Frequency: 3.2 GHz

Core Stepping: D0

Platform Compatibility Guide: 04A

Bus Speed: 800 MHz

Manufacturing Technology: 90 nm platform

L2 Cache Size: 1 MB

L2 Cache Speed: 3.2 GHz

Thermal Output: 84 W

eydolic · 2004-10-21, 22:31

Unless you need PCI-e, I would stay away from the LG775 offerings. The Intel 915/925 chipsets have locks on them (unless you get a hacked board- I think Abit makes one) that keep you from overclocking above a certain percentile. DDR2 doesn't pay for itself yet, as the CPU is still restricted to the old 200x4FSB, or the limitations of DDR400 running in dual channel. (6,400MB/S) The Prescott, even with DDR2 doesn't make sense in comparison to the Northwood at speeds less than 4Ghz. And yes, in Prime95, lower latencies will yeild a better result than higher bandwidth in most cases. At least, in my overclocking experience on two AMD XP (TB-a 1700+@133, 2-2-2-5 vs 161 2.5-3-3-8 and Barton 2500+@3200+ 200fsb@2-2-2-5 vs 233fsb@3-4-4-11) systems.

s478 Northwood P4C is the way to go.

eydolic · 2004-10-21, 22:38

Quote:

Intel Pentium 540 ( 3.2 GHz )
sSpec Number: SL7KL / SL7J7

The SL7KL and SL7J7 sSpec's are both LG775.

lozcs · 2004-10-22, 00:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by eydolic

s478 Northwood P4C is the way to go.

Thanks,

Lawrence......

lozcs · 2004-11-02, 18:17

OK,

I ordered a system from www.scan.co.uk with a 3.2 Northwood CPU - they were showing in stock but after they took the money from my account I receive an emailto say they are now out of stock.....

Does anyone know where I might still find a Northwood CPU @3.2Ghz in the UK?

Thanks,

Lawrence......

2004-10-21, 19:57	#1
lozcs May 2004 birmingham & manchester 29 Posts	System advice I'm about to upgrade my home PC, it's main function is to occasionaly serve music and videos on the network but mainly to run Prime95 24/7. Can anyone advise on these two? 540 Intel Pentium® 4 LGA 775 CPU (3.20 Ghz 800FSB) HT 1MB Cache OEM 3.2GHz Intel Pentium® 4 "Northwood" CPU 512k Cache OEM The first would be using DDR2 memory - Is this good for Prime95? - I did notice that the Cache Latency is 4 on these sticks opposed to 2 on the DDR memory. Lawrence......

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2004-10-21, 22:16	#4
lozcs May 2004 birmingham & manchester 35₈ Posts	Here are all the details - it has the same cache as a prescott - but is it??? DDDR2 Memory sounded like it could be good for Prime95...... Manufacturer: Intel Processor: Intel Pentium 540 ( 3.2 GHz ) sSpec Number: SL7KL / SL7J7 Core Frequency: 3.2 GHz Core Stepping: D0 Platform Compatibility Guide: 04A Bus Speed: 800 MHz Manufacturing Technology: 90 nm platform L2 Cache Size: 1 MB L2 Cache Speed: 3.2 GHz Thermal Output: 84 W

2004-10-21, 22:31	#5
eydolic Oct 2004 Longview, Texas 2×5 Posts	Unless you need PCI-e, I would stay away from the LG775 offerings. The Intel 915/925 chipsets have locks on them (unless you get a hacked board- I think Abit makes one) that keep you from overclocking above a certain percentile. DDR2 doesn't pay for itself yet, as the CPU is still restricted to the old 200x4FSB, or the limitations of DDR400 running in dual channel. (6,400MB/S) The Prescott, even with DDR2 doesn't make sense in comparison to the Northwood at speeds less than 4Ghz. And yes, in Prime95, lower latencies will yeild a better result than higher bandwidth in most cases. At least, in my overclocking experience on two AMD XP (TB-a 1700+@133, 2-2-2-5 vs 161 2.5-3-3-8 and Barton 2500+@3200+ 200fsb@2-2-2-5 vs 233fsb@3-4-4-11) systems. s478 Northwood P4C is the way to go.

2004-11-02, 18:17	#8
lozcs May 2004 birmingham & manchester 29 Posts	OK, I ordered a system from www.scan.co.uk with a 3.2 Northwood CPU - they were showing in stock but after they took the money from my account I receive an emailto say they are now out of stock..... Does anyone know where I might still find a Northwood CPU @3.2Ghz in the UK? Thanks, Lawrence......