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P4T533 upgrade decision?

M

mawfia

n00b
Joined
Jan 20, 2005
Messages
6
I have had my P4T533-R rev 1.02 board and 2.533 GHz processor for over two years. I also have a Ti4400 from leadtek. I dont plan on making any major upgrades until this coming fall however I would like to upgrade my processor and memory. I am planning on buying some PC1200 RDRAM 2x512MB so my only decision now is in deciding which processor to buy. I have come to these two options:

Buy the XP-120, AS5, a 120mm fan, and the XFX 6600GT 128

Buy the Pentium 4 3.066 512/533 and run the FSB at 150 MHz hopefully giving me a stable system at 3.450 GHz
or
Buy the Pentium 4 3.200 512/800 and run the FSB at 200 MHz and the memory at 3xFSB instead of at 4xFSB.

I am not sure which one would be faster so i was hoping that maybe someone has already tried this that could give me some advice.

thanks in advance
 
You've hit the end of the line, as far as your i850E/RDRAM setup is concerned. RDRAM nowadays is way more expensive than even DDR2 memory -- because even Intel had ceased supporting RDRAM for over a year. Expect to pay nearly double per MB for PC1066 RDRAM as you would for DDR2/667 (PC5300) memory.

Besides, your motherboard will only accept the 32-bit RDRAM modules, which are far rarer and will be even more expensive than the 16-bit RDRAM modules. There, the one singular advantage to 32-bit RDRAM modules over the more common 16-bit versions is that you won't need to install the 32-bit RDRAM modules in pairs (though you'll still need to fill up all of the RIMM slots on your motherboard).
 
Oh i think i should clarify. I have found someone selling two 512MB RDRAM 232-pin sticks rated at 150 MHZ for a reasonable price. I was just wondering which processor setup would give me the most performance. I am not planning on buying another motherboard until fall however I want to take advantage of one of the upgrade choices posted above.
 
Since 200MHz FSB (800FSB) is beyond the capability of the i850E chipset, I don't guarantee your system to be stable at 200MHz FSB (800FSB). Furthermore, all Intel CPUs except for engineering samples are multiplier-locked; thus, you'd gain no advantage at all whatsoever by going with a 3.2C/800 instead of a 3.06/533 P4 CPU. At what I'd consider a maximum stable FSB speed for the i850E chipset of 150MHz (600FSB), that 3.2C/800 would run at only 2.4GHz -- which would be a sizable step downwards from a 3.06/533 at stock speed.

Oh, by the way, 150MHz 232-pin RDRAM would be the equivalent of only RIMM1200. That would be the equivalent of only PC300 RDRAM.

What you really mean by 232-pin RIMMs which are rated for a 150MHz CPU FSB are the RIMM4800 modules, which have an actual memory clock speed of 600MHz. (That would provide PC1200 RDRAM speeds.)
 
Hey thanks for the quick replies btw. I have seen one other person selling a board that used the newer northwoods:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=799181&highlight=p4t533

He could just be selling them as parts together but also when [H]ard|OCP reviewed the board way back when in 2002 the FSB settings went all the way up to 200.

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MzM3LDI=

Im referencing his site instead of using my own board because I RMAed it a couple of weeks ago and im still waiting on ASUS to ship it back. I know im pushing the scope of my board but being on a budget and an enthusiast I dont want to spend anymore than 400. And i think it wouold be kinda cool to see my two year old board compete with what everyone is buying now.

Also when i said the memory was rated at 150MHz I was saying the equivalent of PC1200 = 150*4*2. Just like how PC1066 is ~133*4*2.
 
Bump

I got the board back and it goes up to 200MHz with ease. Im still trying to decide which of the two configurations would give me the best performance. I play games, do simulations with PSPICE, HSPICE, Labview, Photoshop CS, Lightwave, and 3D studio max, Cadence, (basically what an EE student would use). Any information would be helpful.
 
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