Thinking about a cheap 775 system with Hyperthreading

[robberbaron]

This is really embarassing but, I'm totally out of the loop for Intel these days. My initial reaction to buying an Intel system would be to get a DFI board and CH-5 and a 2.8E, however, that probably isn't the best course of action, haha.

So, are there any mATX boards that are worthwhile OC'ing wise? Finding reviews on mATX boards is a difficult task. Basically what I want is to spend as little as possible to get to 3.6-3.8GHz with Hyperthreading.

The lowest multi on a Prescott is 14 right? No possible way to go lower? Because, I'd really like to try high speed DDR2 at 1:1 but doing such a thing would be difficult on air cooling.

14x400 = 5600MHz. Do DDR2-800 is out of the question.

Though, if I were to run async, what performance issues would I hit if any? Are the memory cycles basically wasted or will they just improve the latency and make the system snappier still?

Bear in mind that the last Pentium 4 system I used was a 2.4 Northwood with a 400MHz FSB and RDRAM. OC'ing of things was rather out of the question since it had a Dell motherboard.

So to sum it up, I want a cheap toy and don't really give a damn about it's future (65nm can go to hell, 130nm is all I'll ever need haha.) My max price would be $300 for the system+cpu+SFF case.

Also, are VIA chipsets as bad for the Netburst as they are for the Hammer?
Because this looks interesting:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813123248

Also, this case:
Is 5A on one 12v rail and 13.5A on the other 12V rail enough for a prescott+6600GT? I know the 13.5A rail should handle the card but 5A on the 12V1 seems... yeah

Oh and it needs to have 64bit support. The 520J does not have this, correct?

 

[(cf)Eclipse]

Though, if I were to run async, what performance issues would I hit if any? Are the memory cycles basically wasted or will they just improve the latency and make the system snappier still?

i'm not really knowledged about intels too much, but i'm fairly certain that a memory divider will give a pretty decent latency hit

 

[CCUABIDExORxDIE]

Robber, from a guy who had a via, they can be awesome, and they can suck. for ocng, they will be fine until fsb 260ish, iirc, but for stock to 260, nothing could be it in benches. they are realiable. the 520j, iirc has it, cause all the 5XXj's are basically the 5XX's with 64bit support. and yes 14x is the lowest multi you can get for intels.

 

[robberbaron]

Robber, from a guy who had a via, they can be awesome, and they can suck. for ocng, they will be fine until fsb 260ish, iirc, but for stock to 260, nothing could be it in benches. they are realiable. the 520j, iirc has it, cause all the 5XXj's are basically the 5XX's with 64bit support. and yes 14x is the lowest multi you can get for intels.

Ok, because I thought the J meant XD-bit whereas "F" meant 64bit.

I'll consider it. I got about $600 for graduation and my budget is now a little larger, heh.

 

[Alpha_One]

Ok, because I thought the J meant XD-bit whereas "F" meant 64bit.

I'll consider it. I got about $600 for graduation and my budget is now a little larger, heh.

The J *does* mean xD-bit. My 530J doesn't have EM64T on it.

 

[Scali]

I don't know much about mATX boards (I always use regular ATX), but normally my brand of choice is MSI... So you might want to check their products and see if they have something that suits your needs.
As for chipsets... For me the whole point of having a Pentium 4 computer is the Intel chipset. It gives top performance, and rarely any problem. So I'd definitely not take the gamble with VIA.

The memory is not too much of a problem I suppose. The main issue is the latency. DDR2-533 already offers more bandwidth than a P4 at 800 MHz FSB can handle. I'd select memory with the lowest latency and the highest clockspeed you can find, and then run it sync with the latency timings as low as possible, and overclock the FSB if you like.

 

[lithium726]

I don't know much about mATX boards (I always use regular ATX), but normally my brand of choice is MSI... So you might want to check their products and see if they have something that suits your needs.

ive had the most horrible of luck with MSI boards, both intel and AMD based. both the boards have had to be RMA'd, the intel one twice. I'm sticking to Asus/Abit from now on, as those two have never given me a problem. They both also make some pretty awesome Intel boards.

 

[tiraides]

Originally posted by robberbaron
Oh and it needs to have 64bit support. The 520J does not have this, correct?

The 6XX series processors have 64-bit support, but you need to use either the 925-series or the 945/955-series boards to take advantage of it. (I believe that the new dual-core processors also have that, but I haven't heard much about those chips.) Currently, there is only one mATX board that can handle the 925-series chipset (I haven't seen any for the 945/955), but it costs around $200. The only processors that you can get right now under $300 are the 630 and 640. You can find DDR2 400/533 RAM at about the same price for the DDR versions of the same RAM, but a good (quality) mobo will start you around $150.

 

[lithium726]

the 915 doesnt support 64bit? i thought it did?

 

[robberbaron]

the 915 doesnt support 64bit? i thought it did?

Nope, on Intel's site, everything 925X and up has it, but no mention of it on any of the 915 series.

 

[Scali]

ive had the most horrible of luck with MSI boards, both intel and AMD based. both the boards have had to be RMA'd, the intel one twice. I'm sticking to Asus/Abit from now on, as those two have never given me a problem. They both also make some pretty awesome Intel boards.

Well I've had to RMA my Abit board 3 times, and then have it replaced by an MSI... so I have a slightly different perspective on things
I'm sure we can also find someone who has had trouble with Asus boards... etc...

 

[lithium726]

Well I've had to RMA my Abit board 3 times, and then have it replaced by an MSI... so I have a slightly different perspective on things
I'm sure we can also find someone who has had trouble with Asus boards... etc...

oh i know, but he needs to know about all the problems with all the boards, so i chimed in

 

[Big Worm]

Well I've had to RMA my Abit board 3 times, and then have it replaced by an MSI... so I have a slightly different perspective on things
I'm sure we can also find someone who has had trouble with Asus boards... etc...

Would take an Asus board over an Abit or MSI any day of the week. Some brands are notorious for being a bit more problematic, Asus is probably one of the most reliable out there.

 

[Scali]

In my opinion, Asus, Abit, MSI, Gigabyte, DFI (and probably some others) are all good. But you can just get unlucky sometimes. I've been unlucky with Asus and Abit so far (but also lucky), and I've not been unlucky with MSI yet, so I am sticking to that for the time being.

 

[Donnie27]

Nope, on Intel's site, everything 925X and up has it, but no mention of it on any of the 915 series.

There are some i915s motherboards with full support for 64bit.

http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/bl/index.htm
http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/ev/index.htm

It's really up to the motherboard maker to enable it or not. Almost half of the many Intel OEM boards list 64bit support and all i925s support it.

There aren't any Sc-478 procs with 64bit support so that's a given but more than likely if the processors were there, all that would needed is a BIOS update and drivers.

I'm looking at a 3700 San Diego but if I weren't, one of the 64bit, 5x1J (example 561) 1MB L2 Prescotts might be in the picture. OEM's have them and sooner or later, some of the VARs in this sector will get them. They should be priced just like the rest of the 5xx models.

5x1 .pdf

See pages, #18, #23 and #24. The Speculation is that these were supposed to go on sale this month. Looks like that might not be the case now.

Donnie27

 

[Big Worm]

In my opinion, Asus, Abit, MSI, Gigabyte, DFI (and probably some others) are all good. But you can just get unlucky sometimes. I've been unlucky with Asus and Abit so far (but also lucky), and I've not been unlucky with MSI yet, so I am sticking to that for the time being.

Asus still has the lowest return/rma rate of all of those boards.

 

[(cf)Eclipse]

In my opinion, Asus, Abit, MSI, Gigabyte, DFI (and probably some others) are all good. But you can just get unlucky sometimes.

i agree. i personally have had issues with gigabyte, so they're lower on the list for me, but yes. they're all good, just pick which one you like the most. the chances of problems are pretty damn slim.

 

[Donnie27]

i agree. i personally have had issues with gigabyte, so they're lower on the list for me, but yes. they're all good, just pick which one you like the most. the chances of problems are pretty damn slim.

My Gigabyte i850 doesn't like 3.06 but that's not as bad as the Gigabyte i875s. Every person I know who has bought one, had problems out the wa-zoo with it. GigaByte has had some great boards. I still have an old computer with a GA-6BXC and used my buds with an i865 that worked well (don't rememder which board). AOpen also had a crappy *first i875 but the i865 worked like a charm.

Then there's ABit, bought my worst and best boards have been ABit. I've owned at least 6 Asus Boards that go back to an AT/BX P2B, for both AMD and Intel. They've been great boards for me. Yet now I feel, they're too expensive or wayyyyy too loaded down too. much. My main use rig has an Abit IC7-G and no problems in two years of use.

Donnie27