Northwood or Prescott

[Crosshairs]

I have both a 3.2 Northwood, and a 3.2 Prescott.
I mainly game....
The Prescott runs hot...We all know that.
Would I see any real difference if I used the Northwood instead ????? The only difference is the cache......does it even matter in gaming??

I wanna stick the Northwood in to lower my temps.
So do you think that there is any noticible difference??

 

[n64man120]

I heard a while back, the age old rule was if its 3.2 or up, Presshot will be faster, if its under that then go Northwood. This was a rule of thumb however so maybe someone else has more real world advice.

 

[Stugots]

Are you doing any overclocking?

 

[Crosshairs]

Are you doing any overclocking?

The presott is at 3.6...Just a mild overclock....I would assume the Northwood would run about the same.

EDIT: Its on an Abit IC 7 with 2 GIGS of Corsair XMS PC 3500

 

[pxc]

The Prescott runs hot...We all know that.

It depends on the stepping/sSpec. An 82W NW 3.2GHz (SL6WE/SL6WG/SL792) is only slightly cooler than an 89W Prescott 3.2GHz (SL78K/SL7KC/SL7E5). But unfortunately there are 3 Prescott 3.2GHz steppings that are 103W versions: (SL79M/SL7B8/SL7PN). (all in S478)

The LGA775 Prescott 3.2GHz chips are better, most are 84W (SL7KL/SL7J7/SL7PW/SL7PX) and only one early model is 103W (SL7LA). Both of my Prescott 3.4GHz CPUs were 84W models: SL7PY (regular 550) and SL7PZ (551 w/ EM64T).

So I wouldn't really say "we all know that." Most modern (E0) "hot" Prescott 1MB L2 chips up to 3.4GHz speed are 84W in LGA775 and 89W in S478 vs the "cool" NW that run at 82W up to 3.2GHz and 89W at 3.4GHz. The data looks a little different if you actually look at the specs.

The reputation is deserved for 3.6GHz and 3.8GHz. Almost all are 115W chips.

http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/list.asp?ProcFam=483&CorSpd=ALL&SysBusSpd=ALL&PkgType=ALL

 

[Crosshairs]

It depends on the stepping/sSpec. An 82W NW 3.2GHz (SL6WE/SL6WG/SL792) is only slightly cooler than an 89W Prescott 3.2GHz (SL78K/SL7KC/SL7E5). But unfortunately there are 3 steppings that are 103W versions: SL79M/SL7B8/SL7PN 103W. (all in S478)

The LGA775 Prescott 3.2GHz chips are better, most are 84W (SL7KL/SL7J7/SL7PW/SL7PX) and only one early model is 103W (SL7LA). Both of my Prescott 3.4GHz CPUs were 84W models: SL7PY (regular 550) and SL7PZ (551 w/ EM64T).

So I wouldn't really say "we all know that." Most modern (E0) "hot" Prescott 1MB L2 chips up to 3.4GHz speed are 84W in LGA775 and 89W in S478 vs the "cool" NW that run at 82W up to 3.2GHz and 89W at 3.4GHz. The data looks a little different if you actually look at the specs.

The reputation is deserved for 3.6GHz and 3.8GHz. Almost all are 115W chips.

http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/list.asp?ProcFam=483&CorSpd=ALL&SysBusSpd=ALL&PkgType=ALL

Point well taken......But how about my original question?

 

[pxc]

Point well taken......But how about my original question?

You have to compare the sSpec from the CPU. If you have an 89W E0 stepping Prescott and you want to overclock, you'll probably get a higher overclock with it than with the Northwood.

If you have a 103W Prescott 3.2GHz and air cooling, stick with the Northwood.

 

[Crosshairs]

Ok thanks...Ill have to pull the Prescott and look at it......I need to clean up in there anyway

But will there be any difference in the 2.....???for playing games.....????

Provided thay are clocked about the same......

 

[SirKenin]

Ok thanks...Ill have to pull the Prescott and look at it......I need to clean up in there anyway

But will there be any difference in the 2.....???for playing games.....????

Provided thay are clocked about the same......

There really isn't any difference in performance. For fun I benched an identical NW and PC to see if there was any difference, and it was so small that you would never EVER notice the difference in the real world. Just choose whichever one suits your fancy. The Northwoods have been said to overclock better in the lower clock speeds though. I don't know how accurate that is as I'm not an O/C guru, so take it for what it's worth.

 

[Crosshairs]

Thanks for the reply.....I think Im gonna put the Northwood in there today, and just see how it goes...

 

[Crosshairs]

Well I swapped them, and the only noticable difference is it runs a lot cooler

10c cooler ....

 

[lithium726]

It depends on the stepping/sSpec. An 82W NW 3.2GHz (SL6WE/SL6WG/SL792) is only slightly cooler than an 89W Prescott 3.2GHz (SL78K/SL7KC/SL7E5). But unfortunately there are 3 Prescott 3.2GHz steppings that are 103W versions: (SL79M/SL7B8/SL7PN). (all in S478)

The LGA775 Prescott 3.2GHz chips are better, most are 84W (SL7KL/SL7J7/SL7PW/SL7PX) and only one early model is 103W (SL7LA). Both of my Prescott 3.4GHz CPUs were 84W models: SL7PY (regular 550) and SL7PZ (551 w/ EM64T).

So I wouldn't really say "we all know that." Most modern (E0) "hot" Prescott 1MB L2 chips up to 3.4GHz speed are 84W in LGA775 and 89W in S478 vs the "cool" NW that run at 82W up to 3.2GHz and 89W at 3.4GHz. The data looks a little different if you actually look at the specs.

The reputation is deserved for 3.6GHz and 3.8GHz. Almost all are 115W chips.

http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/list.asp?ProcFam=483&CorSpd=ALL&SysBusSpd=ALL&PkgType=ALL

well, you also have to consider that the the prescott 1M die *is* smaller than the northwood die, which means less surface area to dissapate heat from which causes the prescott to run hotter than the northwood, even with the minimal increases in TDP.

that would likely explain the 10C difference... i would stick with the northwood meself.