ASUS P4S533 vs. ABIT AB-TH7-2R

[Guest]

Let me start off by saying that I am total oc newbie and fairly newb when it comes to hardware in general. If it looks like I'm trying to stick a square peg in a round hole with any of the hardware, please let me know

I'm looking at building a new system based around a P4 2.0GHz Northwood Processor. Trying to figure out which motherboard to go with: either the ASUS P4S533 or an ABIT AB-TH7-2R.

For memory I was thinking about going with samsung pc800 and ocing it.

Which motherboard would be better for this? From reading some posts about overclocking ABIT boards seem to be easy to setup. However, the ASUS board runs with a 533 FSB, where as the ABIT lists 400. Is it simply the case that the ABIT board is listed at 400, but can do 533 with some bios adjustment? Also, can this processor work with a 533 FSB?

Now before I dive in, I plan to do some more research, but was just wondering if this setup would be a good starting point or if I'm way off base.

Thanks for any input.

 

[Crashman]

Everyone says their TH7-II is running at 133FSB without problems using the mentioned RAM. I haven't gotten mine yet so I can only tell you what others have tried.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[FatBurger]

I'd recommend some PC800A or PC1066, definitely worth the slight price increase.

And you might want to know that the P4S533 is an SiS 645DX board (in other words, DDR, not RDRAM).

<font color=blue>Hi mom!</font color=blue>

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the info guys. Well that narrows down my mb choices a bit Trying to decide if I should go with a 1.8 or a 2.0 Northwood... Read somewhere in the forums that a 1.8 on a board with 133 FSB would be running at 2.3 and a 2.0 would be at 2.6 -- I'm wondering if a 1.8 would stand a better chance of working? Also, any idea where I would find pc800a? Checked pricewatch and a few other places and can't seem to find it.

Thanks again for the help

 

[GearJammer2513]

Well, all I can add is that I helped another student at my school build a P4S333 with a boxed P4 1.6GHz. After installing the CPU and HSF, the ATX power connector was up against the HSF. Made connecting the power cord to the connector on the board kind of difficult.

Another thing, you mention using PC800 memory. I'm assuming that you are talking about DDR memory that operates at 800MHz. The only memory I know that works at that speed is Rambus. If you go with DDR RAM, look into a stick of 256 or 512MB of PC2100 or PC2700 DDR RAM. I have an AMD AthlonXP 1500+ o/c'd to 1700MHz using 256MB of PC2100 DDR. Of course with summer approaching, I think I'll back off the overclock due to the warmer temps in my room. Using a Volcano 7 HSF.

Just some ideas you can look into. And if I'm totally off with the memory thing then just disregard it.

GearJammer

qlm tera'ngan!
(Translated from Klingon: Attention Earther!)

 

[AMD_Man]

Generally, I'd recommend the TH7-II but a 1.6A at 2.4GHz, the P4S533 will most likely outperform it. The chipset is highly stable so that's not an issue as Fatburger seemed to imply.

<b><i>"A penny saved is a penny earned!"</i></b>

 

[FatBurger]

Where was I implying stability? I was making sure he didn't get a P4S533 and RDRAM.

<font color=blue>Hi mom!</font color=blue>