A few questions about RAM and a CPU

[Greeny]

Hi there,

Some of you may remember a good while ago i posted a list of parts for a new comp i was going to build, well i still havent built it, and while i get the final bits of money together just thought i'd get a few questions answered..

so first..

Which is better

A) 3.0Ghz Prescott with 1MB L2 Cache
OR
B) 3.0Ghz Northwood with 512kb Cache

I know one has a higher cache but i've heard the prescott doesnt perform as well, so which is better? - say to run on a Asus P4C800-E Deluxe

and secondly, if i buy 1Gb of DDR400 (2x512MB) which is a websites own brand will it perform just as well as say some Kingston or Corsair? (bearing in mind i dont want to overclock)

Hopefully i will build the comp in a few months time.. (PS is so close )

Thanks..

EDIT: Also, which do you guys think is better, a 6800 GT or X800 Pro? bearing in mind i dont want to mod it or whatever...

[Greeny]

no replies??

[TekDragon]

Gosh.. that's a toughy. I REALLY like the Northwood's, everyone does. However, the 1mb L2 Cache is also nice.

Going from MY review experience, i'd say stick to the northwood's.

I'd like to see what other people have to say though.

[Greeny]

same dilemma i had TekDragon :/

Hopefully an answer will come soon

[TekDragon]

Try posting on Guru3d.

The only people left here are the people who want to ask questions and a few posers who think they know PC's cause they can use key hacks from Microsoft.

[HunterKiller]

1) go with Northwood it performs better and i think the prescott get hotter quicker.

2) what website?

3) X800 PRO, and i think you should mod it.

[Greeny]

i think i prefer Nvidia over ATI but i may change, but i wouldnt want to mod it..

Thanks, maybe i should wait until Rbstr comes..

oh and the website for the RAM in an english one.. www.aria.co.uk

[Sentrosi]

A great website to go look at is www.anandtech.com. Browse their forums as they have great tech advise and guides that keep most of the techy talk out of it.

I'm an AMD boy myself, so I can't really help you with the P4's.

[Greeny]

Thanks Sentrosi, I'll go and look there

[Rbstr]

Quick answer to the CPU question, get the northwood, it is much better than the Prescott in all but media encoding, and hyperthreading. The northwood offers much better performance in games. Also the Prescott is very hot and needs a big loud cooler.

It's relay hard to say on the video cards i haven't been keeping up on those benches much.

I personaly would go with Kingston or cosair. For one thing don't get Cas 3 ram no mattter who your buying it from.

[Greeny]

Ok, Thanks to all that helped out

Northwood it is..

Video Card - I still like the Nvidia

RAM - Thanks i'll go with a well-known brand of DDR400 CAS2.0

Thanks again guys

[StrangeFellow]

i suggest the corsair memory, i cant really give you a reason but it is what i put in all the systems i build so hey...

also complemts on your motherboard, good choice

from the research and benchmarking i've done you can get alot of a proformance boost with a simple overclock (and the mobo you chose is very good for it) with the P4 northwoods compared to the stock of the same speed.
ex:
P4 2.4Ghz [email protected] out proformes a stock 3.00Ghz because you have a 1000Mhz FSB instead of the stock 800Mhz (save alot of $$$ too)
but as you say you dont want to overclock but i suggest at least giving it alot of thought

-StrangeFellow

[MattxMosh]

Originally Posted by Greeny

Also, which do you guys think is better, a 6800 GT or X800 Pro? bearing in mind i dont want to mod it or whatever...

Generally they are equal. It seems the ATI runs a FEW, a measly few frames bettre in general with high res, and aa and af maxed, but not much difference between the two.

Nvidia has a leg up on the pixel shader 3.0...but remember how long it took for pixel shader 2.0 to go full force?

ATI's also requires less power, and has only one power connector, and higher clock speeds.

So far this generation comes down to this, what brand do you prefer?

[Greeny]

hmm.. well, i'd go for either ATI or Nividia it doesn't bother me..

About overclocking, this will be the first comp i have EVER built, i will be more than satisfied if the thing works in the first place, i dont really wanna go and blow something up, but i'll think about it..

about the 6800, it has been said it needs a HUGE power supply, but i've read a review where both the GT and Ultra ran perfectly well on a high quality 350W PSU, if anyone wants the link i'll fetch it for them?

The review also shows a pic of the card with only one connector for the GT?

I found it pretty interesting so if anyone wants it just leave a post and i'll fetch it out.

[Rbstr]

yeah the GT only uses one power connector. I can't say much as the cards so far have been basicaly equal. But there is a small trend the ATI seems to have a few(like max of 5frames) fewer frames at lower rezes, but a few more at higher rezes. And we also know the pro cna be modded(i know you say you don't want to but its very easy take a look: http://www.pcunleash.com/bbs/zboard....desc=asc&no=26)