Looking for P4 Northwood 800 FSB for New Build

[teknowbabble]

I just got my Lian-Li Black pc-6077 case. Its everything I thought it
might be. Sweet!

Im waiting for a Antec TP-II 550 and a stick of Crucial 512 MB memory.

The board I have mounted is a Intel D865GBF (socket 478)- comes with

- onboard audio
- onboard video
- 6 PCI slots
- 1 AGP 8x slot
- 2 SATA plugs
- 2 IDE connectors
- 1 FDD connector
- 2 USB headers for 4 USB ports
- onboard Gigabit Lan connection.

Im having troubles finding a CPU for my build. Im looking for a 2.8 or
3.0 ghz P4 Northwood with 800 FSB.

Im on a budget, thats why I went with an older board hoping I wouldnt
have to pay higher prices for the latest-and-greatest.

Im looking to spend around $150 for the CPU give or take.

Ive seen online retailers advertising P4 Northwoods but their reseller
ratings and lack of company information give me pause to do business
with them. Also the customer feedback has been pretty horrendous.

If anyone out there knows of a respectible online retailer who sells
older P4 Northwoods with 800 FSB please let me know.

Im NOT interested in a PRESCOTT or doing Ebay.

Im trying to build a Workstation that can do,

- CAD
- Digital/Audio
- Graphics
- and is optimized for Stability and Longevity and has the flexibility
to be upgraded.

Any info is appreciated.

TIA
Teknowbabble

 

[Jim]

I just got my Lian-Li Black pc-6077 case. Its everything I thought it
might be. Sweet!

Im waiting for a Antec TP-II 550 and a stick of Crucial 512 MB memory.

The board I have mounted is a Intel D865GBF (socket 478)- comes with

- onboard audio
- onboard video
- 6 PCI slots
- 1 AGP 8x slot
- 2 SATA plugs
- 2 IDE connectors
- 1 FDD connector
- 2 USB headers for 4 USB ports
- onboard Gigabit Lan connection.

Im having troubles finding a CPU for my build. Im looking for a 2.8 or
3.0 ghz P4 Northwood with 800 FSB.

Im on a budget, thats why I went with an older board hoping I wouldnt
have to pay higher prices for the latest-and-greatest.

Im looking to spend around $150 for the CPU give or take.

Ive seen online retailers advertising P4 Northwoods but their reseller
ratings and lack of company information give me pause to do business
with them. Also the customer feedback has been pretty horrendous.

If anyone out there knows of a respectible online retailer who sells
older P4 Northwoods with 800 FSB please let me know.

Im NOT interested in a PRESCOTT or doing Ebay.

Im trying to build a Workstation that can do,

- CAD
- Digital/Audio
- Graphics
- and is optimized for Stability and Longevity and has the flexibility
to be upgraded.

Any info is appreciated.

FWIW, I'm not a big believer in this approach. The problem is that in the
long run, you don't save much of anything, in fact, you're more likely to be
a loser. If you buy older equipment, by the time you decide to upgrade, it
tends to drop so dramtically in resale value, it's almost worthless,
sometimes you can't sell ANY of it. Not to mention support problems w/
newer apps, OS's, etc. OTOH, if you buy newer equipment, by the time you
decide to sell (which should be just before prices for that generation fall
over the cliff), you can recoup a substantial portion of your original
investment. In fact, sometimes a component here and there will actually
resell for more than you paid *if* it is still in high demand. And using
this latter approach, you're always using the best or near-best equipment.
Using your proposed approach, you're always using moderate (if not mediocre
by today's standards) equipment.

IOW, with older equipment, you're dancing dangerously close to the period
when that technology's value drops dramatically in value. Worse, the apps
you propose to use (CAD, graphics, etc.) are notorious for gobbling up
resources, like the CPU and GPU. And upgradeable? In the year to come,
expect to find more and more equipment that you might find of interest being
marketed for PCIe (PCI Express). The days of PCI are numbered. Right NOW,
we're seeing a transition w/, for example, AGP and PCIe video cards, but in
order to compete, vendors will be forced to move towards to PCIe
exclusively. Granted, how long that transition will take is still
undetermined, but you're behind the eight-ball already w/ a Socket 478 mobo.

Another oddity is, why did you invest so much in the *case*, but are now
willing to compromise on the guts of the machine?! I don't get it. Yeah, I
love those Lian-Li cases too, but they're darn expensive (currently the best
price, shipped, on PriceGrabber is $137!, heck, I picked up my last case
from Fry's for $5 after rebate, WITH a power supply, ok the PSU is crap, but
still), and at the end of the day, despite some arguably nice features, it's
mostly cosmetic! Again, if I was so contrained as to consider older
technology, I'd be going w/ the cheapest case I could find. And dumping
most of my money into a quality motherboard. It's the foundation that
determines how far you can and will go in building your ideal system, and
will have a significant impact on upgradeability.

And that Antec PSU? Yeah, I like it too, use mostly Antec myself (couple of
TruePower units). But is 550W necessary for a Socket 478 machine? Here
too, about $85, shipped, currently on PriceGrabber. That's a total of $222
for a case + PSU! On black friday, I picked up a 500W Ultra XConnect PSU
for FREE, again at Fry's. Granted, I suppose it's possible you found a
deal, but even so, can't imagine you could get this combo for less than
$150-180 anywhere, not to mention sales tax if bought in-store.

Anyway, it's all up to you. But after many years of dealing w/ this issue
of when to upgrade, whether to go with older or newer equipment, do a
wholesale upgrade vs. select components, I've concluded that older equipment
only *seems* like a good idea until you look at the actual numbers. Very
hard to justify old equipment UNLESS you have no choice, iow, budgetary
constraints leave you w/ no other option. The only other time might be when
you have a minimal need, like a simple file server, gateway PC, etc. These
require only the modest of equipment anway, can be built for a song, and
last for many years. But for a primary workstation? No way, not me.

JMTC

Jim

 

[BigJim]

the northwood chipset is out of production, I when with a prescott.

 

[sbb78247]

Boy Jim, you sure spouted off a lot of crap that did not have a thing to do
with the OPs question.

The northwood core is out of production and has been for a while which makes
them a rare find. While teknowbabble is using a S478 board (dead end), the
478 Prescott is really not that bad of a processor as long as you have your
BIOS ready for it. It is not as cool running as the northwood, but with the
Lian Li, this should not be an issue. Also since he has used the 478 board,
it's a little late to suggest 775 Intels or 939 Athlons. And since
teknowbabble didn't want used, eBay, etc, then unless you have some real
luck, prescott will probably have to be what he ends up with in this board.

 

[teknowbabble]

Thanks for the Feedback!

Unfortunately $$$/Budget are my biggest constraints.

Plus I figure PCI express and Dual-Core technology is just evolving and
taking hold.

Im waiting for those 2 technologies to ripen on the vine, then I'll go
for another motherboard and CPU. Ive got the case and power supply for
next-generation stuff so it shouldnt be a problem.

Hunting down a P4 Northwood is a pain I will have to admitt.

Teknowbabble