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Yes, I'm finally getting an Intel system. What's the best bang for the buck right now as far as P4's go?

Best bang-for-the-buck? AMD. I have both a 2.4GHz P4C, and an Athlon XP 2500+. The XP smokes the P4.

That said, the best value for the Pentium 4 is the 2.8GHz "C" version. Avoid the "E" (Prescott) version at that clock speed. The Prescott scales better (ie, it's faster than Northwood at >3-3.2GHz), but at the lower speeds Northwood is faster.

For motherboads, skip the 875 boards and get an 865-most of the mobo makers have a "turbo" mode which turns on PAT, making the 865 into an 875 (Intel did NOT like this and forced everyone to stop using the PAT term on the 865's).

MSI's Neo2 boards are great; plus, they have Dynamic Overclocking. This runs the CPU at stock speeds until the CPU load peaks over 90-some odd percent (98% or 99%, I think), then it cranks up the FSB a couple of MHz (you set set how much you want it to OC).

The Abit boards are also kick-butt mobos, too, and basically offer the same feature set. Stick with Abit, MSI, Asus, and Gigabyte and you should be fine. Avoid the no-name brands, and stay the hell away from ECS!

Yeah, this machine needs to be Intel. I already have AMD XP and 64 systems.

You have an Athlon 64 and you want a Pentium 4!?!

But hey...then you'd have one of each

Here's an Asus Mobo you might want to look at:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 464&depa=0

I have an Asus Mobo and its never failed me.

The mobo that ruderacer posted is the best, I have it and love it.

My friend has a 3.06 Ghz with a MSI Neo 875 motherboard with 400 Mhz Corsair RAM.The system is a beauty.We usually dont overclock,but just in case the MSI can be overclocked without any problems.

I simply love the system.I have started hating my RDRAM system since I have seen the new one.I guess its time for another upgrade.


See ya later,


::Pranav::

check my sig, same setup

hey Ian if you can hold out till like october ill be selling my 3.0Ghz p4 chip

because i'll be doing once again the intel retail training and getting the latest thing from intel

or if you want i can setup training for you, through a associate of mine at work and get you the bundle

can anyone say $199 4.0GHz P5 with mobo and win xp pro. or whatever its called at the time

No, need one now. I already have the mobo on the way (MSI Neo2-FIS2R).

nice board, i think it would compete with my p4c800-e deluxe pretty good

im lovin asus boards for intel chips

i do like the coloring of your board though

would look all to nice in the hox box

for cpus:

2.8GHz prescott w/1mb l2 cache is only $167 free shipping - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 174&depa=1

or 3.0Ghz northwood is $209, paid $280 for same processor few months ago - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 163&depa=1[/url]

The P4 2.8 Prescott that hoxlund mentioned is the best bang for the buck right now.

Ian wrote:No, need one now. I already have the mobo on the way (MSI Neo2-FIS2R).

Thats a very good motherboard.


::Pranav::

Ian wrote:No, need one now. I already have the mobo on the way (MSI Neo2-FIS2R).

I have it and I love it * like Aviationwiz said.

I had three MSI MoBos, before I liked Soyo's.

The only thing I didn't like with this one is that the HD led does not lite up with RAID configuration, but helll who cares if I got 91 MB/s of trasnfer

BTW I have a 2.8 P4, but I prefer if it was the 3.0 or the 3.2

For cpu's i would avoid prescott. They run hotter + slower clock for clock than the northwoods up to 3.2 gig. I would get a 2.8. That cpu best bang for your buck at the moment. Here i have the 3.0C. Also the 3.2 EE.

3.2 EE is very costly.I would wait for some more days and buy some other CPU instead it.Prescott would cross 3.2 Ghz in near future.


::Pranav::

Yeh i just said that i had it. I didnt recommend he get it. I got the 3.2 EE chip cheap otherwise i wouldnt have it myself

The EE is availabe in 3.2G and 3.4G variants.Also the Prescott is now available in speeds upto 3.4 Ghz.


::Pranav::

Yes i realise this and more on the way altho not for the 478 chipset. These are LGA ones

http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/06/ ... tt4_1.html

I'd say the 2.8 P4 with Hyperthreading, but not the Prescott core, is the best bang for the buck.

And I have to chime in on the MSI mainboards. Mine is an Athlon XP model, but it has been excellent, and I'm happy with other MSI models I've used for my fiancee's machine, and my mom's.

I'm still waiting for a good deal. Haven't seen too many yet.

I thought that you had the machine up and running.BTW,what are you waiting for?


::Pranav::

I got a 2.8GHz Prescott. I'm not overclocking so heat isn't an issue for me. Not to mention, I'd rather have the larger cache.

Anyway, this MSI mobo is flakey as hell. The onboard NIC doesn't work and if I disable it in BIOS, the computer won't post at all. I finally threw in a Netgear card so I could get on the internet. I was also getting randrom reboots until I turned off AC '97 in the BIOS. Sound still works for some reason though.

I don't like MSI's CoreCenter software either. The voltages are way off in it.

Any chance you can exchange the MSI mobo with another brand? I guess it all depends on which store you bought it from and if they allow such exchanges.

Well,I have never came across a MSI motherboard which has given me some problems.Have you flashed the BIOS to the latest version available on the site?The Neo motherboard at my friend's works like a beauty.As I said earlier I have started hating my RD-RAM setup.



::Pranav::

Yeah, flashing the bios was one of the first things I've tried. I've check their forum and I'm not the only one with this problem.