Help- pentium 4 2.4ghz- RDRAM or DDR?

[NewSc2]

Hi everybody,

I'm looking to get a new cpu/mobo system right now, and i've been researching my share on several hardware sites, but i've been
getting pretty confused.

I found a good deal for a P4 2.4ghz processor through a friend, and now i'm trying to pair it up with a good mobo/ram (right now i'm running on an intel 845 mobo (sdram), so not much room for upgrading there)

What's the deal with P4's and RDRAM? I've read reports pitting P4 DDR systems and P4 RDRAM systems, with the RDRAM systems always coming out on top. However, with all the new Northwood overclocking, everybody's using DDR RAM. I know RDRAM's run hot, so i'm assuming if i got a Northwood/RDRAM system, i wouldn't be able to overclock it much at all? If I got an Asus p4s333 motherboard, would it be able to perform about as well at stock speeds with say an Asus P4T-E? (with PC2700 DDR). If this were overclocked, would it reach P4T-E speeds? I use my computer for mainly gaming and some graphics editing (but not too often).

 

[BD231]

The reason why people are buying DDR is because they can buy it at 133mhz+ spec. A P4 on a 133mhz bus with DDR is faster than a P4 on a 100 mhz fsb with RDRam, once RDRam comes out in the 133 flavor(pc1066), DDR wont be able to compete. But there is NO WAY you will get a 2.4ghz P4 to run at 133mhz fsb, so go with RDRam, it'll be much faster.

 

[NewSc2]

Hm. So if i got a 1.8A to overclock to 2.4 on a 133mhz FSB using DDR, it would be faster than a 2.4ghz running on RDRAM?

 

[DukeChestnut]

isn't the northwood "B" that has 133 mhz just about to come out???? like in 10 days???

 

[NewSc2]

yeah, but i'm trying to capitalize on this deal. p4 2.4ghz, AsusP4S333, 512MB DDR PC2700 for about $500

 

[Geoffrey]

I would go with the RDRAM. I know some people who have been having troubles with their DDR memory in their P4 machines. I have heard that the P4 was designed primarily for RDRAM, although I don't know why it would make a big difference. But from what I have heard, I'd go with the RDRAM to stay out of trouble.

 

[dexvx]

The only RDRam boards that overclock well (133 FSB) are modded Abit TH7II's and a revision of an Asus P4t-E with 600Mhz ICS clock generators... you would have to actually look at the physical chip to see if yours can overclock. Although i hear a handful of online stores sell the P4t-E with the 600Mhz generators at a small price premium.

 

[Diable]

Since a 2.4GHz P4 will not hit 133mhz I say go with a RDRAM board for maximum performance.

 

[Fant]

take a look my 2.4 system

looking back I would go with rdram because stock rdram is still as fast as PC2700 and cheaper too. Although once intel releases dual channel ddr333 chipset things may change.

 

[NewSc2]

Thanks for the input everybody. However, my decision's come down to just a matter of value. Through reasons beyond me, i've gotten an incredible deal:

Asus P4S333 mobo
512 MB DDR PC2700 RAM (unknown brand =X )
PNY GeForce4 Ti4600
Intel Pentium 4 2.4 ghz processor
IBM 60GB Deskstar 75gxp

All that for about $800. I'm going to bite, and buy the system. I'll probably sell the Intel P4 2.4 ghz on eBay (unless somebody wants to take it off my hands?) for around $500 (hopefully), and buy a 1.6A or 1.8A and overclock that. Total system price will be around $500 and it's just too good of a deal to pass.

 

[dullard]

<< I'll probably sell the Intel P4 2.4 ghz on eBay (unless somebody wants to take it off my hands?) for around $500 (hopefully), and buy a 1.6A or 1.8A and overclock that. Total system price will be around $500 and it's just too good of a deal to pass. >>



With the release of the 533 MHz fsb processors, the 2.4 GHz will be getting a nice price cut. So your great deal will be a terrible deal when the same chips sells for $400 in 2-3 weeks.

 

[Aragorn992]

After reading these two reviews:

http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=45000300
http://www.xbitlabs.com/mainboards/sis645dx/

Which are both from respectable sources. You will see the SiS645 with PC2700 DDR-SDRAM is faster than PC800 RD-RAM.

 

[MadRat]

You do realize the P4-2.4GHz uses the new stepping and some lucky homies are running 3GHz with stock cooling.

The best way to feed a >2.4GHz P4 is with PC1066-rated RDRAM.

 

[NewSc2]

<< With the release of the 533 MHz fsb processors, the 2.4 GHz will be getting a nice price cut. So your great deal will be a terrible deal when the same chips sells for $400 in 2-3 weeks. >>



well still~ $600 for a GeForce4 Ti4600, Asus p4S333, 512MB DDR PC2700 RAM, Pentium 1.8A. good price

Also, another question: i've read reviews on the web and in forums on the 1.6a and the 1.8a, and for the most part, i've seen a lot of 1.6's overclock to 2.4. how about the 1.8a's out there? i've only read a couple reviews and they haven't gotten their 1.8a to go much higher than 2.4-2.5.

Is the 1.6A more overclockable (than the 1.8A)?

 

[MadRat]

Wow, with benchmarks flattening out using o/c'd DDR I'm surprised you choose this route. If you overclock that bad boy will be especially starved for data. Pentium 4 relies heavily on hardware prefetch. Hardware prefetch relies heavily on excess bandwidth. DDR doesn't have any bandwidth to spare, especially being that both the 845's and 645's chipsets use single-channel DDR.

 

[Fant]

You seem to forget that single channel PC2700 matches dual channel PC800 in terms of bandwidth. DDR wins in terms of latency. When a dual channel DDR chipset comes out you can reuse those ddr333 sticks to surpass both PC800 and PC1066.

 

[SteelCityFan]

2700 does not equal the 3200 you get with PC800 RDRAM.

I would go with the RDRAM. Easy choice. True DDR333 (CL2) is still expensive compared to RDRAM, and it just does not have the bandwidth that a 2.4Ghz P4 is going to want. Most benchmarks of high end P4 chips and ones OC'ed will tell you that DDR has trouble keeping up at such high speeds.

As far as RDRAM running hot? Mine is cool to the touch even slightly overclocked (PC900).

 

[MadRat]

RDRAM latency can be better than DDR depending on the location in memory. Its the worst case latency that gives RDRAM the bad name. Besides the DDR333 shuld be compared to the PC1066 RDRAM since they are similar generations. PC1200 RDRAM should be pitted against the DDR400 since both are the next step of their respective technologies.

 

[timmer]

Latency of RDRAM goes down with increase in Mhz. DDR is the opposite. RDRAM/850 chipset is still the all around performace king (for now).

 

[CoDerEd]

Is the 1.6A more overclockable (than the 1.8A)?

It's about the same, i use 1.8A on FSB 140Mhz, it runs good.

 

[LarryJoe]

Most people going with the 1.6 or 1.8 go with DDR because most likely their fsb will be greater than 125 to get to 2.2-2.5. This is where DDR makes some sense, because most PC800 RDRAM can't go much over 500 (125x4). But make no mistake (as George W would say), a system running a P4@2.4 or 2.5 with the RDRAM running at 500, will certainly blow away a DDR system at the same clock speed. So to cut to the chase, I say get a P4 2.0, you will have no problem running it at 2.5/500 and it will be much faster than a 1.8@2.4 DDR rig.

I also disagree with whoever said the TH7II is not a good overclocker unless you mod it. Mine is rock solid stable and even though my RDRAM can't go over 500, I can turn it down to 3X and run at 20x133=2.7 if I choose (purely for bragging rights as 2.5/500 is faster).

Lastly, no offense to you SiS folks, but Intel chipsets still rule in terms of compatability and stability. Spend a few extra bucks and buy a mobo that you won't need to replace in 2 months.

LJ

 

[timmer]

Buy good Samsung RDRAM and you should be able to hit 533 (133 x 4). I've done it on three different systems.

 

[LarryJoe]

Yeah, Timmer, I agree. If I could do one thing over again while building, I would have gotten genuine Samsung. I know plenty of folks that can't get genuine Samsung to 533 even with modded clock generators. The moral is YMMV.

LJ