In order to save about $100 and have a good upgrade path, I'm thinking of
building a P4P800 system with two sticks of 256K 3200 RAM and a 2GHz
Celeron. I understand that the Celeron will not be able to utilize DDR400 or
the 800MHz bus speed, but it should be plenty speedy for the work I have
initially in mind. Later, when the price of the 2.6 to 3.2 P4 comes way
down, I could simply swap out the Celeron in favor of the P4 (the memory is
already DDR400 capable so I should not need to change that). Does this
budget saving approach make sense? Will the Celeron work OK with the setup
I'm thinking of?
-Jack
You could overclock the 2GHz Celeron to 2.66GHz, by overclocking the
FSB to 533. This will give you a bit more performance, and perhaps avoid
the need to upgrade.
A second option, is to buy a 2.4GHz/800/512KB and overclock the FSB
from FSB800 to FSB1000. Setting the CPU:Memory ratio to 5:4 would allow
DDR400 (PC3200) ram to be used to its full spec. If you have money to
burn, you can buy DDR500 (PC4000) memory, which allows the CPU:Memory
ratio to be set to 1:1. This gives better memory benchmarks, but only
a slight improvement in typical tasks.
3.0GHz/800/512KB $417 (Rich guy's processor...)
2.4GHz/800/512KB $178 (Overclock to 3.0GHz and be happy)
2.0GHz/400/128KB <$69 (Overclock to 2.66GHz and avoid another upgrade)
These prices were taken from the Intel pricelist, and retail prices
will differ.
To determine how overclockable a processor is, consult this database:
http://www.cpudatabase.com/CPUdb/
Note that you aren't placing more stress on the processor than it
can handle, if you do the following:
1) Avoid overvolting. Only push the processor to its "natural limits",
as by doing this, the currents flowing in the transistors will
remain normal.
2) Avoid pushing the core frequency past the limits of the family.
For example, Celerons currently range from 2.1GHz to 2.7GHz, which
means overclocking to 2.7Ghz is fair game. The same silicon is
used for all the processors, so they can all take it. The
electromigration design rules are gauged for the 2.7Ghz processor.
3) Ensure you have sufficient cooling. For small overclocks, the
retail Intel HSF may be enough, but due to the thermal controls
it has built in, it might be a little louder than it would be
at nominal speed settings.
Have fun,
Paul
