Advise needed on potential mobo/cpu upgrade

[G. Constantine]

At the moment I'm running an Asus P4B533-E mobo with a P4-2Ghz and a
gig of PC2700 mem (2x256, 1x512) which I've had for about 2 years now.
I'm looking to upgrade the CPU to a 3.4Ghz P4, which of course would
necessitate a motherboard upgrade as well.

I've been VERY happy with the P4B533-E with it's relative stability
and would like to continue my relationship with Asus, however I have
not kept up and don't know out of the newer crop of mobo's what's good
and what's not. If anyone has any recommendations they can throw my
way the input would be greatly appreciated!

I mainly use the PC for gaming and some light graphic work. I don't
overclock at all so it's not that important to me how easy or not it
is to o/c a certain mobo. Thanks!

Current system:
2Ghz P4
Asus P4B533-E
1gig PC2700 RAM (3 chips)
ATI Raedon 9800Pro 128 (running @ 4xAGP and fast writes enabled. Not
o/c'd)
SB Audigy 2
Winblows XP Home

 

[Paul]

At the moment I'm running an Asus P4B533-E mobo with a P4-2Ghz and a
gig of PC2700 mem (2x256, 1x512) which I've had for about 2 years now.
I'm looking to upgrade the CPU to a 3.4Ghz P4, which of course would
necessitate a motherboard upgrade as well.

I've been VERY happy with the P4B533-E with it's relative stability
and would like to continue my relationship with Asus, however I have
not kept up and don't know out of the newer crop of mobo's what's good
and what's not. If anyone has any recommendations they can throw my
way the input would be greatly appreciated!

I mainly use the PC for gaming and some light graphic work. I don't
overclock at all so it's not that important to me how easy or not it
is to o/c a certain mobo. Thanks!

Current system:
2Ghz P4
Asus P4B533-E
1gig PC2700 RAM (3 chips)
ATI Raedon 9800Pro 128 (running @ 4xAGP and fast writes enabled. Not
o/c'd)
SB Audigy 2
Winblows XP Home

http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/mbindex.htm

Look for a board with the 875P or the 865PE. These will be dual
channel boards, and give you a little extra memory bandwidth.
Buy a matched pair of 512MB PC3200 modules and you'll be in
business. You could use your old ram, but that 3.4Ghz chip will
starve

HTH,
Paul

 

[G. Constantine]

http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/mbindex.htm

Look for a board with the 875P or the 865PE. These will be dual
channel boards, and give you a little extra memory bandwidth.
Buy a matched pair of 512MB PC3200 modules and you'll be in
business. You could use your old ram, but that 3.4Ghz chip will
starve

HTH,
Paul

Thanks a million! I just ordered a P4C800-E Deluxe (875P) and a 1Gb
stick of PC3700 memory to go with it. I'll make Solitare run fast now
make no mistake! ;>

 

[Philip Callan]

Thanks a million! I just ordered a P4C800-E Deluxe (875P) and a 1Gb
stick of PC3700 memory to go with it. I'll make Solitare run fast now
make no mistake! ;>

Then you have just shot yourself in the foot.

Intel based chipsets require 2 sticks of RAM to run Dual Channel, phone them
back and change it to 2x512MB sticks.

And PC3700 is only if you intend to Overclock, as the best RAM:CPU ratio you
can run is 1:1, there's no point in having a
faster memory system than the CPU i dont think....

For the cost of 1x1024MB PC3700, I'd recommend you pickup 2x512 PC3500
CAS2.5 which will give you a little room for
overclocking, without paying the premium on fast memory, or large single
chips.

just my 2 cents...

 

[G. Constantine]

Then you have just shot yourself in the foot.

Intel based chipsets require 2 sticks of RAM to run Dual Channel, phone them
back and change it to 2x512MB sticks.

And PC3700 is only if you intend to Overclock, as the best RAM:CPU ratio you
can run is 1:1, there's no point in having a
faster memory system than the CPU i dont think....

For the cost of 1x1024MB PC3700, I'd recommend you pickup 2x512 PC3500
CAS2.5 which will give you a little room for
overclocking, without paying the premium on fast memory, or large single
chips.

just my 2 cents...

Thanks for the tips as it is very good info! I found the mem online
for around $130, so getting another stick (for a total of 2Gb) won't
be too much of a financial burden. Also, as I'll have the proper
equipment for it, I may dabble in overclocking at some point in the
near future...