Prescott vs Northwood CPUs

[xyglose]

I am currently considering upgrading my CPU. My motherboard is a Gigabyte 8PE800 socket 478 and according to the Gigabyte website this motherboard will support either the Pentium4 3.4 GHz 800 MHz FSB Prescott CPU with HT or the Pentium4 3.4 GHz 800 MHz FSB Northwood CPU with HT (in addition to numerous other CPUs). I currently have a Pentium4, running at 2.53 GHz, Northwood CPU with HT. My question is, what is the difference between the Prescott and Northwood CPUs, and if it is advisable to stick with the Northwood CPU? Does either one of these CPUs offer a decided advantage/disadvantage over the other one?

Installing a CPU is a entirely new "adventure" for me and I don't want to run the risk of damaging my motherboard or anything else in my computer by installing the wrong CPU. Installing a CPU is the only thing I haven't attempted when it comes to building computers.

Any assistance/advise will be greatly appreciated.

 

[1Tanker]

I am currently considering upgrading my CPU. My motherboard is a Gigabyte 8PE800 socket 478 and according to the Gigabyte website this motherboard will support either the Pentium4 3.4 GHz 800 MHz FSB Prescott CPU with HT or the Pentium4 3.4 GHz 800 MHz FSB Northwood CPU with HT (in addition to numerous other CPUs). I currently have a Pentium4, running at 2.53 GHz, Northwood CPU with HT. My question is, what is the difference between the Prescott and Northwood CPUs, and if it is advisable to stick with the Northwood CPU? Does either one of these CPUs offer a decided advantage/disadvantage over the other one?

Installing a CPU is a entirely new "adventure" for me and I don't want to run the risk of damaging my motherboard or anything else in my computer by installing the wrong CPU. Installing a CPU is the only thing I haven't attempted when it comes to building computers.

Any assistance/advise will be greatly appreciated.

Northwood P4:

-faster than Prescott. Prescott catches Northwood, ~3.9GHz when both are overclocked. Both 3.4's are pretty close in performance though.

- cooler than similarly clocked Northwood. Generally ~10C cooler.

Prescott P4:

-slower than Northwood, especially at lower frequencies. Each has it's advantage in certain apps. Northwood is slightly faster in gaming.

-Hot! Prescott needs good cooling/good case airflow, and eats up 20-25% more electricity. Prescott also causes capacitors/MOSFET's(VRM's) to run much hotter on your motherboard, and as such...again, good case flow is necessary.

You will notice a performance increase in part due to the 200MHz FSB vs. your current P4's 133FSB, as well as from the increased frequency. You will need DDR400 in order to take advantage of the 200MHz FSB, and in general, P4's are bandwidth starved and run better when RAM is running faster than FSB. i.e. P4 3.4/200FSB running RAM @250MHz is better than at 200MHz, and memory timings(latency) is less important than on A64's.

 

[Guest]

Everything he said.

Simple: NorthWood with 800mhz is considered the best P4 ever produced.
Prescott is considered the worst.(probably one of the biggest mistake Intel did cpu wise)

Make your choice

 

[atp777]

I would go with a 3.4GHz Northwood.

 

[Slobogob]

How much does a Northwood cost nowadays? And how much is the nostalgia premium you pay for it?

 

[Grimmy]

eWiz - P4 northwood 3.4 OEM

$ 110.21

 

[Slobogob]

Is it worth that much?

You can almost get a 939 Processor and Board for that much. Or a cheap Intel board and a Celeron 352 which clocks like a monster. :?:

 

[angry_ducky]

Northwood > Presscrap

 

[Guest]

probably not, good upgrade if you had another S478 cpu.

 

[Grimmy]

Is it worth that much?

You can almost get a 939 Processor and Board for that much. Or a cheap Intel board and a Celeron 352 which clocks like a monster. :?:

Considering the OP just wants to change out his CPU for something faster, I think it would be allot less work rather then switch to a 939 or another intel celeron setup.

I'd say it might be more worth the value to get a 3.0 ghz ($77.77@eWiz) and try to OC to 3.4, but not sure what OC potential that Gigabyte board has.

 

[chaosgs]

ive seen them run for $50 at frys and i think like $80 on newegg.com.

i keep thinking the celeron D is better than the p4 higher clock so its prob better at gaming

 

[Grimmy]

Only procs I see at NewEgg are Prescotts (3ghz).

Only Northwoods I see that they have are 2.8 ghz model.

I never shopped at Frys, but looking at the website, it doesnt list any 478 socket cpus there:

Electronic Components» Computer Components» CPU» Socket 478

 

[dasickninja]

This is your area of expertise isn't it Grimmy? *Pokes fun at the P4 user*

 

[Grimmy]

<not really, just an ordinary P4 northy user)

I'm just all in to making a current system better, without completely rebuilding the system.

So others may find another approach for making a better system, in spending the same amount of cash.

I dunno... I guess in the past after redoing OS installation just got the better of me, so I'm willing to get more performance without doing... too much :lol:

 

[dasickninja]

*Laughs and kicks the lazy P4 user*

 

[Grimmy]

Ahhhhh... I don't feel nuthin :tongue:

I found this new doohicky:

 

[dasickninja]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[atp777]

I use a P4 Northy, and I like it.

 

[Talon]

Casting my vote for Northwood. Everything the first couple posts said is true. Thank god mines a northwood

 

[1Tanker]

Is it worth that much?

You can almost get a 939 Processor and Board for that much. Or a cheap Intel board and a Celeron 352 which clocks like a monster. :?:

Well, they have (finally) dropped in price. About a year and a half ago, i was looking into getting a 3.4C, and they were commanding a price premium at $425+CAD. They were more expensive than a P4 550/650. The problem with getting a s939 or LGA775/Celeron 352 is that you'll have to update to a PCIe GPU(on most mobo's), and with the Intel....DDR2. The fastest CeleronD that you can get for s478 is the Cel. 350(3.2GHz 256KB L2, 533MHz FSB, 90nm). You would have to clock that to 4GHz+ to compete with a 3.4C. I would say that at~$80, it would be a worthwhile update to tide you over for a whole system upgrade...down the road, but at $110 it isn't such a great deal. GL

 

[gOJDO]

Northwood is faster than Prescott, clock for clock. It is better choice, but here are some good articles comparing the Northwood 3.4 vs Prescott 3.4:
http://techreport.com/reviews/2004q1/pentium4-3.4ghz/index.x?pg=1
http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=201&catid=1

 

[MU_Engineer]

I think just about all of us had a Northwood at some time or another unless you built your own on a budget, then it'd be the obligatory Athlon XP. My Woody was (heck, still is as the laptop gets used daily) a 2.20A P4-M at 35W. Not a bad CPU, but it sure does show its age running basically the same apps as my X2 4200+ desktop.