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  • Which P4?

    I haven't kept up with the P4 class of CPUs and MBs since I've been happy running my five year old P2B-S Piii/850. I'm now building an HTPC that will be also be used for gaming. The video processing will be the biggest hit on this platform and I'm quickly trying to get up to speed on what's gone on in recent years so I can purchase the MB tomorrow (case arrives tomorrow). I've seen some impressive results from OC'ing a P4 2.8c with 1:1 at 250 MHz FSB. Video processing takes a huge hit on memory bandwidth and L2 cache so bumping the FSB is important. Being an HTPC also means it has to be very quiet so its a careful balance in system design. I've just seen some postings about a 3.0c which looks very promising. I don't understand the 'c' designation except apparently it means Northwood core versus the dreaded Prescott core. I don't see 3.0c processors listed in my local stores but I do see 3.0 P4s and 3.0E P4s. Is the 3.0 P4 actually a P4-C or is there another core between those two? The hot (as in cool) P4-C apparently is the SL6WK. What about the P4 3.2?
    <TABLE BGCOLOR=Red><TR><TD><Font-weight="+1"><font COLOR=Black>The world just changed, Sep. 11, 2001</font></Font-weight></TR></TD></TABLE>

  • #2
    the E varient is the prescott core which get very hot when o/clocked compared to the northwood C variety.
    intel is supposedly going to put out a new stepping prescott very soon which will run cooler.

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    • #3
      Maybe you're asking the wrong question. Why not AMD?

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      • #4
        The Prescott core spin also preforms worse clock for clock against the Northwood core from what I've seen. If you can get a northwood 3.2GHz or 3GHz if you can't find the 3.2 that woudl be the best one for performance.

        But KvH has the best point

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        • #5
          Athlon 64 3200+

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          • #6
            Nah, not for HTPC. XP mobile, so he can have a quieter machine.
            Gigabyte P35-DS3L with a Q6600, 2GB Kingston HyperX (after *3* bad pairs of Crucial Ballistix 1066), Galaxy 8800GT 512MB, SB X-Fi, some drives, and a Dell 2005fpw. Running WinXP.

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            • #7
              wait, he's going to do video processing... on his HTPC... lol

              then I'd think P4-E.

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              • #8
                The only 3GHz P4s are Es and Cs, so the plain 3.0 is probably a C.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Chrono_Wanderer

                  then I'd think P4-E.
                  That seems like the worst possible choice here. They have the worst processing/heat ratio of juat about anything he could choose.
                  Gigabyte P35-DS3L with a Q6600, 2GB Kingston HyperX (after *3* bad pairs of Crucial Ballistix 1066), Galaxy 8800GT 512MB, SB X-Fi, some drives, and a Dell 2005fpw. Running WinXP.

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                  • #10
                    I like the mobile Barton idea.. I've even heard of people being able to underclock them to 1Ghz and run them with a generic aluminum heatsink and no fan.

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                    • #11
                      Athlon 64's are cool and quiet.

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                      • #12
                        any micro-atx board based on nforce250 out yet? think couple that with a amd64 2800+ (an affordable, quiet and cool solution and should have suffiecient power to do the video encoding).

                        but if dead set on Intel, i would suggest a p4 2.8C Ghz, as price/performance/heat seems the best out there..
                        Life is a bed of roses. Everyone else sees the roses, you are the one being gored by the thorns.

                        AMD PhenomII555@B55(Quadcore-3.2GHz) Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5 Kingston 1x2GB Generic 8400GS512MB WD1.5TB LGMulti-Drive Dell2407WFP
                        ***Matrox G400DH 32MB still chugging along happily in my other pc***

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                        • #13
                          This

                          might be of interest:
                          http://www.anandtech.com/chipsets/showdoc.html?i=2043
                          ECS K7S5A Pro, Athlon XP 2100+, 512 Megs PC-3200 CAS2.5, HIS Radeon 9550/VIVO 256Meg DDR

                          Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe C Mobile Athlon 2500+ @ 2.2GHz, 1GB PC-3200 CAS2.5, Hauppauge MCE 150, Nvidia 6600 256DDR

                          Asus A8R32 MVP, Sempron 1600+ @ 2.23GHz, 1 Gig DDR2 RAM, ATI 1900GT

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                          • #14
                            I third the mobile Barton suggestion. It`s fast and cool, default voltage 1.45V, unlocked, able to do outstanding OCs, cheap. Can be run both quiet and fast at the same time, or extremely fast (2.5GHz+) and noisy.
                            Seth, are you ok? I`m peachy Kate. The world is my oyster. - Seth Gecko

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by KvHagedorn
                              Maybe you're asking the wrong question. Why not AMD?
                              Because the P4 is a better processor for my application. There has been considerable testing of AMD (including FX) versus Intel for this use and Intel is the better performer at a lower price. I also am comfortable with Intel PCs as that is what I've always used. I'd look at the AMD chips if it were the better choice but it isn't.

                              I implied in my first post that I wasn't interested in the Prescott ("E" chips). I'm simply trying to pick the best Northwood for the job. Thanks anyway and thanks bsdgeek.
                              <TABLE BGCOLOR=Red><TR><TD><Font-weight="+1"><font COLOR=Black>The world just changed, Sep. 11, 2001</font></Font-weight></TR></TD></TABLE>

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