Neutron

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I just purchased a MSI-NEO PT8 board. I noticed that it only supports up to 533MHz on the Prescott CPUS. Why is that? So now this has me torn between getting a Northwood P4 800MHz or a Prescott 533MHz. Which would give the better benefit, the extra FSB or the extra cache memory?
 

Spitfire_x86

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Jun 26, 2002
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Yes. Prescott is slower than Northwood "C" in most of the apps.

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pauldh

Illustrious
This could be it.
<A HREF="http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=PT8_NEO-LSR" target="_new">http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=PT8_NEO-LSR</A>

Odd it would not support 800 bus Scotties. But then again it's a Via. If priced the same (which they are not) I would chose a 800C over an 800E. As the pricing changes and prescotts are lowered in price, it gets harder to decide.


<b>Neutron:</b>
SHort version, just buy a "P4-C" (800 bus Northwood). It will cost a little more but is >= the 800 bus Prescott version in most cases. Plus it runs cooler.


ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 1GB Corsair XMS 4000 Pro Series, Radeon 9800 Pro, Santa Cruz, TruePower 430watt<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Pauldh on 09/25/04 08:06 AM.</EM></FONT></P>
 

Neutron

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That's the board all right. Would the chipset be the limitation on why I can't run an 800MHz FSB Prescott?
 

Snorkius

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A P4C is better than a prescott at 800Mhz. (a little bit lower performance and it runs much warmer) the only up side is the price.

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phial

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Oct 29, 2002
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they had to put 1mb L2 cache on the prescott, because it needs that much to perform ... even so, its still slower than the Northwood with 512k L2 cache.

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RichPLS

Champion
You know that the Pentium Pro was better than the Pentium II, but it kept getting faster...
That argument of the Prescott being hotter and worse than the Northwood is old, and only applies to the lower mhz models. Slower in a few apps by a small margin than Northy clock for clock.
If you want the fastest Intel makes, Prescott it is.
Heat is more of an theoretical problem than an actual one.
The Prescott systems run fine and stable without any heat related errors, and dissipates heat better, and will top out overclocked higer in most cases.
And the Prescott has a higher threshhole tolerance for heat.
If this was not so, the Northwood core would be Intels speed champs, comming out at 4 ghz...


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Neutron

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Sep 25, 2004
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But, would the higher cache ammount of the Prescott core outpace the Northwood's extra FSB speed? Since my board only supports Prescott at 533MHz (no 800MHz) but will do the Northwood core, and the EE to 800MHz which is better?
 

Snorkius

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If you compare a Northwood with a Prescott at the same clock, BOTH AT 800Mhz FSB, the Northwood will win.

<font color=blue>The day <font color=green>Microsoft</font color=green> will make something that doesn't suck is the day they'll start making vacuum cleaners.</font color=blue>
 

RichPLS

Champion
No questions about it, the Nthy @ 800 blows away the Pres @ 533 at the same clock speed.


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Try everything...
Do not be afraid of failure, for this is how we learn and grow...
Live life to the fullest...
Do not regret what you have not yet done!!!
 

RichPLS

Champion
Likewise, the Prescott @ 800 would burn the Nthy @ 533 clock for clock...



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Try everything...
Do not be afraid of failure, for this is how we learn and grow...
Live life to the fullest...
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Snorkius

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Sep 16, 2003
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All this is irrelevant: even if the mobo did support the 800Mhz Prescott, the Northwood would still be a better choice at equal clockspeeds.

<font color=blue>The day <font color=green>Microsoft</font color=green> will make something that doesn't suck is the day they'll start making vacuum cleaners.</font color=blue>
 

pauldh

Illustrious
Just buy a Northwood C chip. Your board will support the 2.4C, 2.6C, 2.8C, 3.0C, and 3.2C. You honsetly aren't missing a thing by not being able to run a 3.2E instead. As has been mentioned, it will cost you a bit more for the Northwood now that Intel has lowered Prescott prices. But in your case, no biggie, as you have many great performing CPU's to chose from priced from about $145-$245 in the USA for a retail box version. A 533 bus Prescott would be a big mistake IMO.



ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 1GB Corsair XMS 4000 Pro Series, Radeon 9800 Pro, Santa Cruz, TruePower 430watt
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
It's new? You haven't used it yet? Take it back and get a better board. I suggest the Abit IS7.

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