don't know very much about pentium chips so please bear with me. What is the "sweet spot" for P4 cpu's right now? That is, which chip gives you the best bang for the buck? The user in question is not a gamer but would like a modern P4 machine. He already has 1GB DDR PC 3200 RAM to use. Also, mobo suggestions welcome.
2.4ghz Northwood. They're under $200 (Newegg lists OEM ver. @ 159), and they can overclock like a bitch (I don't know how a bitch overclocks, but something tells me it's kinda like the table Overclockers has). 2.53 would also be a good choice, still under $200, but after that you get diminishing returns, especially considering that you can probably overclock to those higher speeds for less than the price delta. Motherboard: Granite Bay anything, preferebly Gigabyte 8INXP. Assuming that your "friend" (don't worry, you can tell us) has 2 512s like a sane person would instead of 1 1GB DIMM, you can use a Granite Bay board for near-RDRAM level performance without RDRAM cost.
Never try and save money by skimping on te motherboard. In my opinion, it is the most important component, and I'd rather have a slower chip with a top of the range mobo than a top of the range chip, limited by a cheap mobo. Then throw in all the extra features you get and it's worth the money. 8-ball
It's a good point. I've got a good board with a 1.8Ghz P4 in it. With a crappy board I wouldn't be able to overclock too far and keep it stable, but I can over clock to 2.4Ghz easily.
Now it might just be me, but I would suggest you wait for a tiny bit for the new Springdale/Canterwood based mobos to be launched, they will be launched at the same time as the 800MHz FSB P4. What this means is the 2.4GHz 533MHz FSB P4 will drop rather drastically in price, plus you will have a better upgrade path. Not to mention that Springdale/Canterwood are probably both extremely quick. Not sure if you can run a 533MHz FSB (133x4) and 400MHz (200x2) memory, which would give you the maximum performance for the least price.
I have a 2.4, and I'm quite happy with it. I have run 2.84 GHz stable, with UD running at full bore in the past, no problems (stock hs). I'm running 2.6 at the mo, I was trying to lock down a hardware problem, and never jacked the speed up again. Make sure you get a good mobo, if you're looking for a good overclock. I have a Soyo P4x400, and while the board is packed with features, it doesn't overclock well. If I had gotten one with adjustible clock deviders, I would doubtless be running at better speeds Just my $0.02!
If the person in question is not a gamer I say skip the GB mobo and get a decent 845PE board ($125). For CPU though the 2.4 533 FSB P4 seems to be the sweet spot as whypick1 said from newegg $159 for OEM or $164 for retail. The $5 is worth it to get the retail HSF as it is quite good even for light OC'ing.
Im not the most experienced guy obviously, especially with amd, but in this case thats good as i know a reasonable amount about p4s A while back i got a 1.8gig p4 northwood and a abit th7-II raid mobo, as these are very good for overclocking. I can run 2.6gig with the thermalright volcano 7+ heatsink, although i could only manage 2.48 with the stock heatsink. Even so the percentage performance increase is 44% and 37% respectively. For a processor tht is on the cheap side this is a serious increase. Id like to point out though that making sure that you have a top end mobo is a must, as for high o/c u need high voltage increases, as im sure you all know. As my mobo is old and doesnt have all the easy voltage options, it only went to 1.8volts, which would stop me at around 2.2 gig. With the good old wire trick on the vid pins i could have upto 2.2volts which allowed for the stability. I wouldnt advise going to 2 volts very often though, temps are worryingly high. All this means tht with a careful bit of wiring round the vid pins you can have a cheap mobo with few volt options and get away with it. I noticed a lack of VID pin articles, does this mean that tehres no longer a need for it? All the new mobos come with high voltage options as standard, but surely theres some ppl out there with old n tired mobos like myself
