CPU dilemma

[YoYoBabyYo]

i am working on a new computer and i have two processors to choose. i know nothing about overclocking, but i heard the overclocking potential for the 2.4A was a monster The mobo will be an abit ai7 and i will be using some good ole kingston pc3200 valuerams I also got some of those thermalright heatsink with a panaflo fan. which CPU will give me the best performance and the best overclock? the 2.4A or the 2.8 HT cpu? any comment is greatly appreciated!

 

[AristoV300]

Best overclocking cpu would be the 2.4a, should get you over 1 ghz oc. Higher clock speed would go to the 2.8, depends if you are looking for the northwood or prescott. Northwood make sure to get M0 stepping. Both should get you normally 3.5~3.6 area.

 

[Mingon]

Originally posted by: AristoV300
Best overclocking cpu would be the 2.4a, should get you over 1 ghz oc. Higher clock speed would go to the 2.8, depends if you are looking for the northwood or prescott. Northwood make sure to get M0 stepping. Both should get you normally 3.5~3.6 area.

If the 2.8 is a nortwood go with that

 

[YoYoBabyYo]

if i am to use the 2.8, it will be from the dell computer i just bought. it seems like it would most likely be a prescott. should i opt for the 2.4A instead if that is the case? does hyperthreading really boost performance?

 

[MichaelZ]

depends.

if u run a software firewall, got a P2P program downloading in the background, nortan, other misc software and you are playing UT2004 with winamp playing MP3s in the background and occasionally alt tabbing out to reply to a msg on MSN messenger... yes HT does boost performance.

 

[LTC8K6]

Keep in mind that a 2.4A Prescott is 533mhz fsb whereas the 2.8C Northwood and the 2.8E Prescott are 800mhz fsb.

HT is good to have.

 

[Gamingphreek]

There are 2 A revisions.

The first one was for 2.0 and below and that gave the P4 the ability to do asynchronous caching.

The second one is a prescott core with a FSB of 533.

I would go with a northwood right now. The only real reason to get a prescott is if you are OCing. If you were to get some exotic cooling and some awesome memory you could probably get a prescott around 5Ghz.

-Kevin

 

[PhoenixOrion]

no brainer: 2.8HT for performance.

1. higher clock
2. HT real world benefit
3. northwood "c" are very overclockable on air at default vcore

 

[LTC8K6]

Just for further confusion there is also a 2.8A Prescott with 533/1MB/no HT.

 

[dennisjai215]

but but but.. theres no reason to not go amd for the price you are paying for the p4

 

[LTC8K6]

Brand familiarity & loyalty is worth a hell of a lot. If only AMD's ad department understood that.

 

[elkinm]

2.8C, it will probably will overclock at least as high as a 2.4a (I think) but HT is more then worth the price difference.

Maybee 2.8E for overclocking?

 

[AsiLuc]

I back dennisjai215 up.
What about AMD?
Get a Athlon 64 2800+ (Winchester). It'll clock too. But, only if you're a gamer.