new system

External Since: Oct 01, 2004 Posts: 19

Hi,
I am planning to build up a new work(game)station.
Actually my compy looks like this:
Abit BD7II-RAID mobo, P4 Willamate 1.7Ghz (no HT), 1024 MB PC2100 DDR RAM
(266MHz, Kingston) and Gainward GeForce 3 Ti 200 64 MB

I think that tkats it, its time has come. Doom III and FarCry and
forthcomming titles show this clearly.

I was thinking about:
Abit IC7 or IC7-G or IC7-MAX3 (i think the original IC7 will do), P4 3.2 or
3.4 GHz (800MHz) Prescott or Northwood?, 1024 MB PC2100 DDR RAM (266MHz,
Kingston, yes this i wanted to save. Is it a good idea? Will they work in
Dual Channel Mode on the new MoBo?), and GeForce 6600 GT (AGP version when
available).

Will it be a good work(GAME)station for next years?

RAM related question: what about my old RAM sticks, will they do? I dont
want to upgrate them, RAM is expensive as hell and this 1GB is quite
sufficient.

What do you think? Thanks for any comments, ideas, corrections.
Best regards
Byru

External Since: Oct 05, 2004 Posts: 465

"byru" <mbyrczek.TakeThisOut@pf.pl> wrote in message
news:2s589kF1cue61U1@uni-berlin.de...
> Hi,
> I am planning to build up a new work(game)station.
> Actually my compy looks like this:
> Abit BD7II-RAID mobo, P4 Willamate 1.7Ghz (no HT), 1024 MB PC2100 DDR RAM
> (266MHz, Kingston) and Gainward GeForce 3 Ti 200 64 MB
>
> I think that tkats it, its time has come. Doom III and FarCry and
> forthcomming titles show this clearly.
>
> I was thinking about:
> Abit IC7 or IC7-G or IC7-MAX3 (i think the original IC7 will do), P4 3.2
> or
> 3.4 GHz (800MHz) Prescott or Northwood?, 1024 MB PC2100 DDR RAM (266MHz,
> Kingston, yes this i wanted to save. Is it a good idea? Will they work in
> Dual Channel Mode on the new MoBo?), and GeForce 6600 GT (AGP version when
> available).
>
> Will it be a good work(GAME)station for next years?
>
> RAM related question: what about my old RAM sticks, will they do? I dont
> want to upgrate them, RAM is expensive as hell and this 1GB is quite
> sufficient.
>

You need to change your plan slightly. If you want to use your current RAM,
you need a 533MHz FSB processor. This would be the solution if you want to
save money, as the 533MHz FSB processor would cost no more (less, maybe)
than the 800FSB version. This is because the Intel chipsets can't run
800FSB CPU with 266MHz RAM. Or if they can, I haven't seen a motherboard
manufacturer who has enabled that function. If you read the general
specifications of SOME motherboards, they will state 800FSB and support for
DDR400/333/266 (PC2100). However, what is mentioned only in the owner's
manual is that 800FSB CPU requires DDR400 or DDR333. And, even DDR333 is
not run at full speed with a 800FSB CPU. 533FSB for the CPU would not be
much of a compromise, especially if you got a processor with 1024MB of
CACHE. It would make for a very respectable gamer, and you could use your
DDR266.

For DDR266 RAM, you can use a 400FSB processor or 533FSB processor, but not
800FSB.

Now there is another solution. Abit makes a VT7, which is a Via PT880
chipset board. For that, you could use a *Northwood* core 800FSB P4
processor and DDR266 RAM. I say Northwood core, as I have read of stability
problems with Prescott processors on PT880 boards.

The correct solution however would be to replace the 1GB of RAM you
currently have with 512MB of high-quality, low latency DDR400. If your
motherboard supports dual channel, make that 2 sticks of 256MB. I think you
will actually notice a speed increase this way, even though you cut your
total RAM in half. 1GB of RAM is not significantly faster than 512MB, but
low latency DDR400 will be significantly faster than DDR266 RAM. You can
always sell your current RAM on ebay to recover part of the cost of new RAM.
512MB of DDR400 RAM with 800FSB processor would be the no-compromise
solution. -Dave