new cpu time and a question

[gangster]

my p4-2.4b/400mhz crapped out. my m-board supports the newer prescott but i haven't read much good about it, mainly because of heat. i ran my 2.4b@2.8mhz for month after month after month without troubles and under 40c. i need something stable above 2.8 to replace it with that will have some headroom for the future. i can still get a 3.2c/800 northwood for $260, but a p4-3.2e prescott is only $220. $190 for a 3.0e. these 2 prescotts oc well (the 3.2c northwood less so) but there is that heat/cooling concern...

the question is: does anybody have any experience with the prescott? do i need a wind tunnel that makes alot of noise to cool one or will it run fine with average/quiet case cooling?

the "c" series is quickly vanishing so i need to act soon, the 2.8c is mostly gone now and the price is inflated on whats left because it was so good at oc'ing.

thanks in advance for any advice.

[ayoub_ibrahim]

does you board actually support 200fsb cpus ie quad pumped?

[gangster]

yes it does

[rylan]

Hrm I thought all the Prescotts are the LGA775 package while the Northwoods are socket 478?

Anyway a 3.2 Northwood will outperform a 3.2 Prescott. From what I've seen you need to get the PRescott about 200MHz higher to equal the Northwood core... but if it will overclock better then that shouldn't be a problem except for trying to keep the sucker cool. You'd definately need some more elaborate cooling if you o/c the Prescott though.

[gangster]

Originally posted by rylan
Hrm I thought all the Prescotts are the LGA775 package while the Northwoods are socket 478?

Anyway a 3.2 Northwood will outperform a 3.2 Prescott. From what I've seen you need to get the PRescott about 200MHz higher to equal the Northwood core... but if it will overclock better then that shouldn't be a problem except for trying to keep the sucker cool. You'd definately need some more elaborate cooling if you o/c the Prescott though.

thanks for the reply.

no, the prescotts are in both the 478 and now the lga packaging which i believe is to isolate them somehow from the mb. or something similar.

because i want it cool AND quiet i believe i will go with a northwood. thanks again.

[ayoub_ibrahim]

If you can get a 3GHz Northwood with a 30 capacitors instead of 12 then that would overclock very nicely.
Unfortunately if you buy a retail box there is no way of telling from the outside whether the CPU has 12 or 30 capacitors.

[gangster]

Originally posted by ayoub_ibrahim
If you can get a 3GHz Northwood with a 30 capacitors instead of 12 then that would overclock very nicely.
Unfortunately if you buy a retail box there is no way of telling from the outside whether the CPU has 12 or 30 capacitors.

yep.

because the 3.2 was only $18 more than the 3.0 i ordered it instead. i see overclocks to around 3.7-3.8 with the 3.2 which will be fine when i need it...if mine goes that high?! the 3.0 oc's about the same but i decided to play it safe.

[ayoub_ibrahim]

Can I ask what RAM you will be using?

[gangster]

i have 768meg of kingston pc3200 cas 2.5.

i'll be adding another 256 soon so i can go dual channel, a feature i didn't know the mb supported. i could have been doing it before with 2-256mb modules but wasn't familiar.