Please help me pick :)

[#ball3r]

I'm going to buy a P4 in like 2 weeks and need some questions answered. Please let me know what you think would be best for a pure fps gaming system that I'd like to bench with also. It will either be water/air cooled and would like the ability to run 24/7 at overclocked speeds. I'm asking these questions not taking money into consideration and would like a cpu that I can get high fsb with so only the items I list are being considered. Thanks in advance for your help .

1) P4C 2.4, 2.6, 2.8? I'm looking for the best combination between max oc and high fsb. At least 260-270fsb and 3.5ghz if possible.

2) Abit IC7, IC7-G, IS7, IS7-G, or DFI PRO875? I'm thinking that the non G version would be better since I don't really need gigabit lan or the extra sata ports. I only plan on using 2 36gb raptors in raid0 and use 1 ide drive for backup. So if the non versions will give me the same performance or better i'll get that.

3) OCZ 3500 DC PLATINUM, OCZ 3700 DC GOLD, TWINMOS 3200 CH-5, TWINMOS 3700? Once again high fsb is a must and would like some nice timings. Does it really make a difference with the timings at say 260fsb? The best overall ram here would do.

4) 2x256, or 2x512? Whichever will give me the best performance.

5) Which brand of 9800 pro is overclocking the best on average?

[#ball3r]

Oh and am I going to notice a big difference in performance over this rig i'm using now...

1700+ dlt3c 0310 does 2.5ghz
Abit nf7-s 2.0
2x256 Twinmos 3200 Bh-5 will do 225fsb 2,2,2,3 DC sync memtest stable even at top speed
Hercules 9700 pro oem 390/350
Maxtor 40gb ata133
slk-800 w/smart fan 2 (full speed)


__________________

[saaya]

Oh and am I going to notice a big difference in performance over this rig i'm using now...

maybe if you play with 1200x1600 with aa and af ...

[felix88]

Twinmos with Winbond CH-5 chips has some issues with the tRCD set below 3. if you are looking for extremly agressive timings, you might want to stay away from these.

would you happen to be selling any of your stuff?

heads to the classified section...

[#ball3r]

only either my 1700+ or a 3000+ barton that i'm waiting to recieve will be sold. I live in Canada so a deal with someone in the states is pretty much out of the question. Can I please get some answers now reguarding the questions .

[felix88]

ah, i didn't realise you lived in Canada.

anyway, i don't know a whole lot about P4s, and i'm not too up to date on video cards, but i do know a little about that Twinmos RAM.

here are some other folks who have had a better experience than me with it.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...threadid=14440

[saaya]

i answered your question...

[Estide]

To 3 I Think the T/W 3200 doesn't make an FSB@260, then you should take the 3700OCZ (but I don't know how the are going sry)
To 4 I think 2x256MB is enoght for a game station, but if you have the money, take 2x512 its your choice

greetz estide

[#ball3r]

will I lose any overclocking ability using 2x512 over 2x256?

[Estide]

normaly 2x256MB are better to Overclock, but there are so tiny differences I think (2-5 FSB) that it is equal..

[felix88]

yeah, 2-5MHz sounds about right. i'd go with the 512MB sticks if i were you.

[#ball3r]

Yeah i'm leaning toward the ocz ram, maybe 2x512 3700 gold with the 2.4c and ic7.

[Lunatic]

Originally posted by #ball3r
Yeah i'm leaning toward the ocz ram, maybe 2x512 3700 gold with the 2.4c and ic7.

Sounds like a very nice rig. Are you gonna use Watercooling or what?

[#ball3r]

probably with blocks for cpu, vga, chipset .

[GVCryan]

I honestly doubt 260 or 270 with nearly any chip you pointed out. Honestly, the number is just a little too high, since the mult is locked on those p4's. If you did want that, I think phasechange would be your only real way for 24/7.

Other than that, it looks pretty good. I had my best luck with a Visiontek 9800pro, but I only tried 3.

[HOLLYW00D]

Originally posted by GVCryan
I honestly doubt 260 or 270 with nearly any chip you pointed out. Honestly, the number is just a little too high, since the mult is locked on those p4's. If you did want that, I think phasechange would be your only real way for 24/7.

Other than that, it looks pretty good. I had my best luck with a Visiontek 9800pro, but I only tried 3.

hmmm that's strange... majority of the review sites get to 270+ on stock voltage and stock cooling.... *shrug*

as far as the "most overclockable 9800" i'd have to say is the sapphire (9800 pro) that i've seen. and sapphire consistently clocks higher than others. you can do some research here
i've been doin "research" for a while now, cos i'm about ready to build a new box (month or 2) and so far what i've come up with is the IC7 with a 2.4C (retail) with OCZ 3700 gold (2x512) as my major components. i don't see a point in getting a 256 mb vvideo card cos by the time x-mas rolls around, there's gonna be something new that yer gonna want (at least i will). as for the rest, i'm gonna go with a vapochill pe because it is a worth while investment, and for the future, i'm thinking about the koolance unit to cool my NB and GPU. for power supply i'm goin with an enermax EG651P-VE do to it's huge amperage (36 amps on +12) and wattage (650 max 550 steady) to power the hungry vapo. if yer thinkin about a vapo, save yer cash and get a WHITE one. the black ("titanium") is 40 bux more... last i checked, "titanium" spray paint was around 5 bux at the local hardware store... i was seriously considering the Chaintech 9CJS as my mobo, but as of yet, they still haven't released a new bios (to up the vcore past 1.65 is what i'm lookin for). who knows, a month or 2 is a ways off... if Chaintech DOES put out a bios with greater vcore numbers, well then i'm all over it. the ram also, i might go with the kingstons cos most likely i'll be runnin @ 3:2 so it'd be pointless to get 3700, but we'll see, maybe the OCZ's will hold high on a 5:4 with a 300 fsb. *shrug* that's my tentative setup. my advice? do what you want, but don't jump into it, look at it from a practical view and not just the "latest and greatest" view. but hey what do i know, i'm a new guy.