Need Adice on s478 Processor for my P4P800e-dlx Mobo

[mark9977]

Hello,

I am new here and this looks like a great site from the posts I have read over the past couple of days. Here is my situation.

I have an ASUS P4P800e-dlx mobo that can accomodate any P4 s478 chip.

I have been looking for a new processor and am a little overwhelmed with what is available.

Could anyone recommend the best processor for this board, I have heard numerous options, from a P4EE, Prescot, Northwood, 30capper, etc. Maybe rank them?

I plan on keeping the system I have now as a HTPC when I upgrade to an all new system in about a year. Until then I want to get the most I can out of this rig.

I use my PC for DVD encoding, and gaming, as well as countless mundane tasks like email and surfing.

Please no "throw out that board and get a s775, or AMD, or .." while that is great advice, I am keeping what I have now intact.

I just want to put the best "icing" I can on this "stale cake" of a system.

I have tried to put together the best system I can with what I have. If you need I can give you a complete list of components in my current system. Would that help?

Cheers, Mark

Also any ideas on where to get obsolete processors that are new?

[cirthix]

iirc, a ct479+dothan will work on this board. by far the fastest, most overclockable, and cool running chip you can use :)

[mark9977]

Hi, I figured I would throw my system specs into the thread. They are as follows:

P4 2.26malay, (a good overclocker so I have been told, just have never done it).

Zalman CNPS7700-Cu fan

2gb OCZ Gold EL DDR500 CL3-4-4-8 Ram

ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe S478 865PE Dual DDR AGP 5PCI SATA 1394 Sound 1000LAN Motherboard

BFG GeForce 6600 GT OC AGP8X 128MB Dual DVI-I TV-OUT Video Card

Antec True Power 2.0 550W ATX12V V2.0 SLI 120MM Fan Power Supply

1 Maxtor DiamondMax 10 200GB SATA 7200RPM 16MB Cache

1 Maxtor DiamondMax 10 200GB IDE 7200RPM 16MB Cache

1 WD Caviar 120GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache

Plextor PX-716A 16X8X16 DVD+-RW 4X DVD+R Dual Layer Drive IDE

Win XPpro w/SP2

all in a Black SILVERSTONE SST-TJ03 ALUMINUM FULL TOWER CASE EATX

using a Mitsubishi 19" Diamond Pro 930sb Monitor (brand new, just got it last week)

Thanks for your suggestions.

[cirthix]

cpu is really weak, dothan is definitely the way to go for you

[SoulGG]

I'd agree with cirthix, I'm waiting for dothan to decrease in value a bit then i'll take my ct479 + dothan. for semi decent media pc

[cirthix]

dothan is already really cheap, it's not dropping in price much.

grab a cheap 730 off of ebay and a used adapter, should cost you ~150 total.

[mark9977]

Dothan = Pentium M?

and I buy an adapter to make my mobo accept the extra pin? and that doesn't affect performance?

Is the Dothan HT?

[Miwo]

Hyperthreading is overrated..... Dothan = Pentium M yes. The adapter you are looking for is the Asus CT-479. I would do what cirthix said and grab a cheap Pentium M 730 (dont be confused with Pentium 4 M) processor on Ebay.

If you are really tight on money, grab a Celeron M. They have 1M L2 Cache vs 2M on the Pentium M. They still overclock decently and are much better than a P4 . On Ebay you'll still find them listed under Pentium M, just look for the 1M vs 2M. I think they are 1.5GHz and 1.4GHz

[Siki3d]

i got lucky and grabbed this 730 in my sig off of ebay for $45 shipped, maybe you can do the same :)
look on ebay

also, on ebay most people will search for "pentium m" and "dothan"
I find that if you search by the 5-character SSpec number or even "centrino" by itself you'll get some results that won't have many people watching them, hence lower price for you :)

[mark9977]

Hi,

I have done a little looking around and it seems that this will require another cooling solution than my Zalman, or a mod of the card to accept the cooling solution I have, so not too sure this is right for me.

Also, will this really out perform a Prescott 3.2 or 3.4 800mhz FSB? I would think the slower bus speed would be a limiting factor, from my basic reading.

Perhaps I need a less revolutionary solution from the basic plug and play s478 processors out there.

Excuse my noob Q's

Mark

[SoulGG]

dothan is already really cheap, it's not dropping in price much.

grab a cheap 730 off of ebay and a used adapter, should cost you ~150 total.


So you don't think they'll drop in price anymore say mid june? once yonah & memrom hit the scene?