Author Topic: Northwood or Prescott? (Read 827 times)

Blue Mako · « **on:** November 25, 2004, 09:21:34 PM »

Guys I'm thinking of a CPU upgrade.

I have a Gigabyte GA8-IPE1000 Pro M/B which is a P4 Socket 478 board.

I am looking at the 3.2GHz chip and have the choice of either the Northwood or the Prescott chips. Both have 800MHz FSB.

Which is better for AH/gaming?

ChasR · « **Reply #1 on:** November 25, 2004, 09:51:33 PM »

Northwood is a bit faster and a lot cooler.

AaronM2 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 25, 2004, 10:32:44 PM »

skuzzy runs a northwood so id say northwood to

Skuzzy · « **Reply #3 on:** November 26, 2004, 01:21:25 PM »

At the same clock rates, the Northwood will outperform the Prescott, overall. The added benefit being the Northwood consumes much less power and generates far less heat as well.

Generally, the only thing the Northwood will not do better is overclock. The Prescott overclocks pretty well, but the heat will almost aways be a problem in an ATX case. It's not that the CPU cannot stand the heat, but the surrounding components are at risk.

Grits · « **Reply #4 on:** November 27, 2004, 11:07:52 AM »

Absolutely do not get a Prescott. I made the mistake of getting a Prescott 2.8 and even at stock speed, with the side of the case open, a good heatsink, and a fan blowing in there, over time it still overheats surrounding components. Im ordering a Northwood to replace an otherwise perfectly working Prescott.

Blue Mako · « **Reply #5 on:** January 04, 2005, 05:26:22 PM »

Thanks for the replies guys, sorry it took me so long to say so.

I'm just waiting on the finances to sort out so I can go and get myself a Northwood 3.2 GHz CPU. Anyone want to buy a perfectly serviceable 2.4 GHZ chip?

Skuzzy · « **Reply #6 on:** January 04, 2005, 05:31:30 PM »

Blue, dunt bust a gutt trying to get a 3.2Ghz Northwood.

Get a 3.0Ghz Northwood (without HSF i.e. OEM model). You can safely overclock it to 3.4Ghz with a ThermalRight XP-90 heat sink and 92mm fan attached.
You will need some good ram to make the overclock (227Mhz FSB). I would go for the Crucial Ballistix PC3200 ram, as it will make that overclock with a little headroom available.

Basically, you end up with a very quick system, which will run much cooler and quieter most.

boxboy28 · « **Reply #7 on:** January 04, 2005, 08:33:56 PM »

Hey Skuzzy you must be drinking! now your gonna have to give him OC-ing advice for the next 2 months!:lol

Blue Mako · « **Reply #8 on:** January 05, 2005, 04:10:43 PM »

Thanks for the advice Skuzzy but I'm loathe to overclock. My understanding of the whole o'c'ing thing is about nil so I don't want to risk frying anything. That said I do have a nice big aftermarket Thermalright heatsink and super size fan sitting on top of the current CPU (gets over 40 deg C regularly here in Australia so you need the extra cooling grunt whether you o'clock or not). I've got Kingston PC3200 RAM installed so I prolly wouldn't need to worry about extra hardware but then again, going fom 3.0 to 3.4 is only a 13% jump in speed so would I bother? Probably not...

Here the 3.0 chip is only about $30 cheaper than the 3.2 so it's a pretty close run thing anyway.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #9 on:** January 05, 2005, 04:50:37 PM »

Oh, its not about the gain CPU speed, as much as it is about the increase in RAM access speed. That is where the big win is.

But I completely understand where you are coming from. It is not something everyone should jump into.

maxt · « **Reply #10 on:** January 05, 2005, 05:24:28 PM »

blue mako is your 2.4ghz chip a 800fsb chip? if so it should overclock to 3.4ghz with no problems :~] (aslong as you have some decent ram) infact i think the 2.4's would overclock to 3.4ghz on stock volts.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #11 on:** January 05, 2005, 05:34:54 PM »

Maxt, he would have to push the FSB too high for it to be reliable, without manually setting RAM timings so it would work at all.

The only way to reliably push the 2.4 that far would be if you managed to get one with the clock multiplier unlocked. They are rare.

wombatt · « **Reply #12 on:** January 05, 2005, 05:54:03 PM »

I pushed My 2.4 to 3.4 on air but it proved to be to unstable for my taste.
I have it at 3.0 now at she runs wonderfull.
Using a Thermalight XP-120 heatsink with a 120mm fan.
And right now with windows media player playing a dvd
while i am downloading another DVD off the usergroups
and typing this my temp is at.30c.

maxt · « **Reply #13 on:** January 06, 2005, 01:13:45 AM »

i always wanted one of those "special" 1.6 northwood's which would clock to 2.8ghz without a prob. had to settle with a 1.8 northwood. does 2.4 stable, but as my mobo doesn't support ddr333 and i wanted to have that speed ram i had to settle with 125 / 3*4 (2.25ghz). Runs at 30-32°C Idle, and around 40-42c full load with the P4 Retail HSF and thermal pad, also its prime stable for 18 hours or so (stopped the test manually - got bored) and my systems uptime is; Uptime ( 13wks 3days 21hrs 36mins 40secs ).

Pollock · « **Reply #14 on:** January 08, 2005, 03:41:32 PM »

I have one of those P4 1.6 GHZ northwoods. I have been running it for 2 years and have taken it as far as my current motherboard will allow, here are the specs.

System Info Version:   2.2
Operating System:      Microsoft Windows XP
Processor:      Intel Pentium® 4 @ 2.40 GHz
Graphics Card:      RADEON 9700 PRO
Total Physical Memory:   1 GB
Free Physical Memory:   687.52 MB
Motherboard Manufacturer:   ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Motherboard Model:      P4B266

Can anyone recommend a decent motherboard to where I can squezze it up to 800mhz fsb and maybe get it to 2.8ghz?