opinions on cpu

"""""""" <vze3qtgi DeleteThis @verizon.net> wrote in message
news:hTI4d.7152$4j1.1784@trndny06...
 > building a new machine, asus mobo starting with a p4 chip that
 > will be above 3 gigahertz.(3.2 or 3.4) Goal is looking to get
 > close to 4 but stable.Which is better for ocing Norwood or
 > Prescott?

Depends what you mean by "better for overclocking", and it also depends on
whether you're after real-world performance or just a PC that gets "close to
4", irrespective of other issues.

The Prescotts tend to overclock slightly higher than the most recent
Northwoods, but they also produce a lot more heat, which you've then got to
find a way of getting rid of. The Northwoods are also quicker, clock for
clock, to the tune of between 7 and 8%, so you need to run a Prescott a
little quicker just to get the same level of real-world performance. The
Prescott's larger L2 cache doesn't make up for its longer pipeline.

So, if all you care about is getting as close to 4GHz as possible, you'll
probably have a better chance with a Prescott, although it'll cost you more
in cooling to find out.

If, however, you want the best all-round performance, without having to
spend silly money on cooling, you're probably better off with a Northwood
2.6C or 2.8C and some top bracket PC4400 memory. Overclock that combination
into the 260-275MHz FSB area, and you're able to get the benefit of higher
northbridge and memory bandwidth to go with the CPU's number crunching
power.
--


Richard Hopkins
Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
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