**Update** $132 P4-1.6a (shipped) @ Newegg and Mainboard comparision to go with.

[BigJ]

<< I say go with the MSI Ultra 645 it Outperforms them both and is only $73 at New Egg. >>



If you're going to overclock very little, the MSI Ultra 645 board is great, but if you want to get past the voltage limitations of it and overclock higher, definitely go with the Asus over the MSI.

 

[mrVW]

BigJ2078 - I bet it "will worK", but stability will suffer (big time). DDR just doesn't scale well in terms of the number of interconnects it requires. Notice how almost all DDR boards have only two slots? This is one of the FEW boards that has 3, and even it says not to use all 3 at highest speed....

That said... Mine is running at 150Mhz without problem... and I'm doing 1.5GB! However, I'm running stock CAS 2.5, as I understand it - CAS2 really pushes the RAM (bye bye stability). Crucial memory may not be the fastest, but it rocks for stability. I use it in all my servers...

I'm still yelling at the folks at VMWare, as the main reason I spent the bucks to get 1.5GB was so I could run "two systems" at the same time. But they have a bug that it won't start up correctly on P4's greater than 2.4Ghz. Who knows how they are going to deal with my 150Mhz FSB... which makes my little P1.6 run like a 2.8Ghz or so...

 

[ZimZum]

<<

<< I say go with the MSI Ultra 645 it Outperforms them both and is only $73 at New Egg. >>



If you're going to overclock very little, the MSI Ultra 645 board is great, but if you want to get past the voltage limitations of it and overclock higher, definitely go with the Asus over the MSI. >>


If you use the Wire Trick you can up the voltage all the way up to 2.2V

 

[mrVW]

ZimZum: After reading your link, I decided I was being a wimp.

Anyway - I pushed voltage up to 1.7 in the BIOS and FSB up to 158Mhz. Now I'm running at 2528Mhz! Reliably so far. After 30 minutes of RC5 crackinn with a DVD playing at the same time (over the network, running NIC + Audio + Video all at same time).... Asus Probe reports my CPU at 57 degrees peak. My 12v power supply is a little low, so the 1.7volt actually measures at 1.616 under full load. So there might be even more out of this system...

FYI: The P4S333 BIOS setting maxes out at 1.7 volt on the stock 1.6a, you would need to do the wire trick to go over (or is there a jumper?).

P.S. Is there any simple way to see if the P4 "throttle back" feature is happening while running Windows XP?

 

[fornax]

CNETPC.COM has the MSI Ultra for $67 + $12 FedEx 3-day shipping. Shipping is more than Newegg's, but no taxes in CA (they are in NJ).

 

[rgowen]

mrVW, are you running your P4S333 with all 3 slots filled with Crucial PC2100?

 

[fishie74]

OK, I'm a newbie so sorry for any ignorance I display.

I'm very interested in this offer and it would be my first attempt at building a PC. I have read several threads about power supplies, processors (esp. Athlons), etc, etc. If I was to get this P4, I would stick to overclocking it to around 2.4 and would have the FSB running at 150 - these are safe numbers from what I have read. My question is, what would be the best value motherboard for these figures and what power supply would I need (300,350,400(!))- I'd be running CD-ROM/DVD drive/CDR drive/2 HD drives/geforce GTS V card,SB live card? I'm also looking at getting a new case...I like the look of the new Alienware case (can't remember the brand name, but saw it posted on here for around $40)- is this a good choice? Is there a place I can get the p4/motherboard/psu and case for a decent price shipped?

Any replies would be very helpful as I would like to at least purchase the p4 chip/motherboard combo this week.

The Fish.

 

[BigJ]

<< OK, I'm a newbie so sorry for any ignorance I display.

I'm very interested in this offer and it would be my first attempt at building a PC. I have read several threads about power supplies, processors (esp. Athlons), etc, etc. If I was to get this P4, I would stick to overclocking it to around 2.4 and would have the FSB running at 150 - these are safe numbers from what I have read. My question is, what would be the best value motherboard for these figures and what power supply would I need (300,350,400(!))- I'd be running CD-ROM/DVD drive/CDR drive/2 HD drives/geforce GTS V card,SB live card? I'm also looking at getting a new case...I like the look of the new Alienware case (can't remember the brand name, but saw it posted on here for around $40)- is this a good choice? Is there a place I can get the p4/motherboard/psu and case for a decent price shipped?

Any replies would be very helpful as I would like to at least purchase the p4 chip/motherboard combo this week.

The Fish. >>



Quote from Mwave.com with ground shipping to NY:

ASUS P4S333 Motherboard Specs BUNDLE W/ RETAILED (INTEL PENTIUM 4 1.6AG - 478; NO MEMORY; NO TESTING) $255.00 $255.00
Sub Total $255.00
S&H (Ground - Approx. 5-6 business days) APPROXIMATELY 5-6 Business days for delivery $13.10
Grand Total $268.10

Quote from Googlegear.com with ground shipping to NY:

ASUS P4S333 Motherboard Retail : $103.85
INTEL PENTIUM 4 1.6AG - 478 - Retal : $141.00
Subtotal: $244.85
UPS Ground (travel time 5-8 business days) $16.50
Total: $261.35

I would try to stay away from Newegg.com when ordering the P4 chips, seeing as they're one of the stores sending out the Costa Rican chips, which overclock well, but normally won't hit some of the higher speeds attained by the chips. Theres a thread over in the CPU/Overclocking section. But also, a lot have people like the Evercase tower from Newegg.com with a 300w power supply. It's $42 + shipping, which I believe is $15-$16, which comes to ~$60 shipped. 300w should be good enough to handle all of the hardware you got in there.

 

[MesBoogie]

I'm finally going to bite the bullet.

Since I've never built a system, I want to make sure that the P4 1.6AG (listed at mwave) is the same as the P4 1.6A. Is there any real advantage to paying them $9 to install and test the setup? They (again, mwave) offer 512MB Kingston RAM for about $20 less than the Crucial. Is Kingston decent for overclocking? Last thing, my network guy just ordered this setup but is under the impression that you can't run a single RAM chip in this board (P4B266). True? Untrue?

Thanks!

-mb

 

[BigJ]

<< just ordered this setup but is under the impression that you can't run a single RAM chip in this board (P4B266). True? Untrue?

Thanks!

-mb >>



Do you mean a single stick of RAM? The i845 chipset doesn't force you to install RAM in pairs, and most systems with most chipsets don't force you to either (with the exception of really old systems and RDRAM). So just installing say 1 256mb stick or 1 512mb stick would be fine.

 

[kevman]

<< I'm finally going to bite the bullet.

Since I've never built a system, I want to make sure that the P4 1.6AG (listed at mwave) is the same as the P4 1.6A. Is there any real advantage to paying them $9 to install and test the setup? They (again, mwave) offer 512MB Kingston RAM for about $20 less than the Crucial. Is Kingston decent for overclocking? Last thing, my network guy just ordered this setup but is under the impression that you can't run a single RAM chip in this board (P4B266). True? Untrue?

Thanks!

-mb >>



I'm not sure if the 1.6AG is the same or not, but I don't think I've ever heard of a 1.6AG anywhere else so I
m not sure. Can anyone confirm/deny?

 

[BigJ]

<<

<< I'm finally going to bite the bullet.

Since I've never built a system, I want to make sure that the P4 1.6AG (listed at mwave) is the same as the P4 1.6A. Is there any real advantage to paying them $9 to install and test the setup? They (again, mwave) offer 512MB Kingston RAM for about $20 less than the Crucial. Is Kingston decent for overclocking? Last thing, my network guy just ordered this setup but is under the impression that you can't run a single RAM chip in this board (P4B266). True? Untrue?

Thanks!

-mb >>



I'm not sure if the 1.6AG is the same or not, but I don't think I've ever heard of a 1.6AG anywhere else so I
m not sure. Can anyone confirm/deny? >>



Well, thats what everyone has been ordering and people have been getting the P4 1.6 Northwoods, so I'm pretty sure thats the Northwood reference for mwave.

 

[tigerbait]

<< Since I've never built a system, I want to make sure that the P4 1.6AG (listed at mwave) is the same as the P4 1.6A >>



in that listing on the bundle screen, it seems that the "G" is an abbreviation for Gigahertz. All the processors are followed by the G, and the northwoods have an "A" thrown in there.

 

[jcovercash]

ohh i am going to get this thanks guys

Josh

 

[Expandable]

Look at this guy, Anpaman reports his 1.6a from this Place.

His spec.
Intel P4 Northwood 1.6AGhz (Locked)
SL668
ABIT TH7II Modded
2 x PC800 64MB RDRAM 2.7V 3x mode
VCore 2.3V

LN2 -183

SCSIC390U3D

Windows ME

And WCPUID reports,

Internal Clock: 3648.83
System Bus: 912.21
System Clock: 228.05
Multiplier 16.0

System Clock: 228.05, how is this possible? Is System Clock same as FSB we've talked about? Most people get Max @ ~150FSB.

I don't know much about RDRAM can someone explain?

 

[MesBoogie]

tigerbait - Thanks for the info on the 1.6A vs. 1.6AG. Your comments make sense. What else would it be?!?

BigJ2078 - Thanks for the info on the number of chips. I'll also pass it on to our network guy.

Now...what about the Crucial vs. Kingston PC2100 RAM? Is one better than the other for overclocking?

-mb

 

[mrVW]

haha. Yha, you put "LN2" on your CPU and it will go above 150

 

[Expandable]

Since I've never built a system, I want to make sure that the P4 1.6AG (listed at mwave) is the same as the P4 1.6A. Is there any real advantage to paying them $9 to install and test the setup? They (again, mwave) offer 512MB Kingston RAM for about $20 less than the Crucial. Is Kingston decent for overclocking?

I would rather save $9 and install myself if the CPU is a "Box" version. Since you will overclock your CPU, I would sherd out a few more bucks to get Crucial Memory. As I stated at the beginning of thread, getting good Ram is crucial!

 

[MesBoogie]

<< getting good Ram is crucial! >>



he! he! he!

Thanks for the advice. I suppose the $9 saved could be used to pick up some AS3!

-mb

 

[BigJ]

I would suggest going with the Mushkin Special 512mb PC2100 ram. Its several dollars cheaper then the Crucial, and is also rated faster (2-3-3 compared to Crucials 2.5-3-3)

 

[thomsbrain]

<< There will NEVER be another 300A. Hell, mine is still running smooth all these years. Think about it, that is a 150% increase with the overclock (to 450mhz).

The 300A will live forever in our hearts! >>



What about the 566 Celermine? 850 in a heart beat, that 150% right there.

 

[MesBoogie]

BigJ2078 - does the ".5" make that much difference? Shipping is free at Crucial for 2nd day.

-mb

 

[BigJ]

<< There will NEVER be another 300A. Hell, mine is still running smooth all these years. Think about it, that is a 150% increase with the overclock (to 450mhz).

The 300A will live forever in our hearts! >>



Tell that to all the people merrily running their P4 1.6As at 2.4ghz Thats a edit : 50% increase right there too

 

[Chewy]

you guys mean 50% increase, not 150%

 

[BigJ]

<< BigJ2078 - does the ".5" make that much difference? Shipping is free at Crucial for 2nd day.

-mb >>



My guess is that since the Mushkin is rated to perform 100% stable at 2-3-3, it is capable of being pushed farther at 2.5-3-3 since it is tested to a higher standard then the Crucial which is only rated at 2.5-3-3. Also with the Crucial, I get taxed in my state (NY) which is like another $13 so it really doesn't pay for me to get the Crucial. And as for the perfomance issue, if you are doing something that really hits you for alotta memory, you can see a noticeable difference between Cas 2 and Cas 2.5