Rookie here - what P4 processors will fit my mobo?

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bryan

I am considering buying a new Pentium 4 processor to keep my old
machine going for one more year. What's the fastest processor I can
run on my mobo? Any problems with going that fast?

Currently I am running 2GB of RDRAM. I can't afford even a $300 new PC
right now, but thought I might be able to find a processor for $60-75.

Here's what's in the Gateway tech manual for this motherboard:

This FC-PGA2 system board uses the Intel 850 chipset. The system board
supports:
* Direct RAMBUS RDRAM RIMM system memory
* IntelPentium 4 processors
* Ultra ATA 33/66/100 drives
* 100 MHz Front Side Bus (FSB) (400 MHz Data Bus)
* 4x AGP
* ACPI 1.0b power management
* Integrated Intel 802.3 10/100 Mbit/sec LAN

Is this what you need? Let me know, I can find and post more info.

Thanks! I really appreciate any help.
 
I just went to the Intel website. I was able to get the processor
specifics by the BIOS code at system startup.

Unfortunately I can only run up to 2.6 ghz...

I am already running 2 GB of RDRAM on XP.

The system chokes on newer streaming video, even with a 128MB GeForce
4...

I suppose I will just have to live with it until I can spare the bucks
for new stuff.

Thanks anyway!
 
bryan said:
I just went to the Intel website.
Click to expand...

Which is?
Unfortunately I can only run up to 2.6 ghz... I am already running
2 GB of RDRAM on XP. The system chokes on newer streaming video,
even with a 128MB GeForce 4...
Click to expand...

I would use Windows XP Performance Monitor to determine the strain
on your CPU. Also get MemStatus 2.50 or higher to determine graphics
memory used, so you can tell whether 128 MB of video memory is
enough. Then maybe consider buying a better video card. If your
system chokes on streaming video, IMO you should mention your
Internet speed.
I suppose I will just have to live with it until I can spare the
bucks for new stuff.
Click to expand...

At that time, think "multiple core CPU".
 
Which is?


I would use Windows XP Performance Monitor to determine the strain
on your CPU. Also get MemStatus 2.50 or higher to determine graphics
memory used, so you can tell whether 128 MB of video memory is
enough. Then maybe consider buying a better video card. If your
system chokes on streaming video, IMO you should mention your
Internet speed.


At that time, think "multiple core CPU".
Click to expand...


Actually, I will also have to think motherboard, RAM, video card, and
hard drives.
 
Actually, I will also have to think motherboard, RAM, video card,
and hard drives.
Click to expand...

Do you perceive some similar big leap in motherboard, RAM, video
card, or hard drive technology, bryan?
 
bryan said:
Actually, I will also have to think motherboard, RAM, video card, and
hard drives.
Click to expand...

There is a partial transition solution, if you're interested.
I'm using it right now. The Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 R2.0 is a
board with an AGP 8X connector, and two sockets for DDR memory.
It also has a (crappy) PCI Express x16 socket wired with only
four PCI Express lanes (only an issue if you were a gamer).
There are two additional RAM sockets which take DDR2. As
Core2 motherboards go, the memory bandwidth achieved is a
bit on the low side, but the benchmarks are pretty impressive.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=4CoreDual-SATA2 R2.0&s=775

My old P4 3.1GHz and AthlonXP 3200+ give SuperPI benchmarks
of around 45 to 50 seconds or so. The Core2 dual core 2.6GHz
I have in the new board, gives about 24 seconds. So it does
give an upgrade in terms of core speed. But the memory bandwidth
is relatively low (might even be same or lower than the
P4 machine).

The motherboard was $70 and the processor (an OEM) was $140.
It was the cheapest way I could find, to reuse the AGP card.

The first downside of the motherboard, is it isn't meant for
overclockers. EIST is broken (probably on purpose, to suit
Intel). You can adjust the multiplier while in Windows, using
a third party utility, so in fact the hardware works fine, and
would have supported EIST (speedstep) if they hadn't removed
BIOS support. The Vcore regulator supports D-VID (dynamic Vcore
voltage adjustment), so the Vcore voltage can be adjusted while
in Windows. EIST normally uses FID and VID to reduce power
consumption when the processor is idle in Windows.

The motherboard supports up to FSB1066 processors. I use
a Core2 E4700, which is FSB800. I did that, because I
was planning on overclocking it (cranking to FSB1066). But
seeing as it is not an overclockers motherboard, a better
purchase would be something with FSB1066. I understand people
have run a Q6600 in it, but I chose not to try that. Mine runs
pretty cool, and power consumption for the processor
section stays under 36 watts (measured) at full utilization.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/cpu.asp?Model=4CoreDual-SATA2 R2.0&s=775

Since you're using RDRAM, there isn't a good transition
for that memory type. But perhaps if you sell the memory,
you might make enough from the sale to partially pay for the
upgrade. 2GB of DDR2 RAM (2x1GB sticks) can be pretty
cheap by comparison. For example, this stuff is $24 for
2GB total.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227189

Paul
 
Paul, thanks for the excellent solution. There seems to be a small
niche for motherboards for cheap bastards like me. I will certainly
consider it.
 
Do you perceive some similar big leap in motherboard, RAM, video
card, or hard drive technology, bryan?
Click to expand...

No, it's just that I need a new mobo to run a faster processor, and
since I have RDRAM I'd need new RAM for the mobo, and since the
vidcard is AGP I couldn't reuse that... and my HDDs are IDE and
everything now looks to be SATA.

Now that Paul showed me the AGP board and processor combo for $200 I
am tempted, but it seems like a lot of work and still wind up with a
compromise.

I shouldn't complain. I bought the thing in October 2001. Might be
time to part it out. Who wants RDRAM?
 
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