Which processor is better?

Ardent

Hi all,

I've decided to upgarde my PC. I have to make a choice between:

1) Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz PC800 1MB cache, Prescott

or

2) Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz PC800 512KB cache

Which is better? The second processor is faster but the first one has double the amount of cache.

Thanks!

jesus_thats_gre

Originally posted by Ardent
Hi all,

I've decided to upgarde my PC. I have to make a choice between:

1) Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz PC800 1MB cache, Prescott

or

2) Intel Pentium 4 3.0 GHz PC800 512KB cache

Which is better? The second processor is faster but the first one has double the amount of cache.

Thanks!

What you gonna use it for? You gonna OC it?

grimloch

how about this one solves everything

Ardent

I'm upgrading my machine so I can play Far Cry etc. As for over-clocking, I don't know, I might do.

BloodBath

Well whether your overclocking or not should affect your decision.

If your not get the Northwood. If you are get the Prescott but bear in mind you will need to get at least top air cooling which will cost about 60 euro.

The extra 512mb of cache makes very little difference. Both processors have their ups and downs. A 2.8e or a 2.8c will overclock well. The e will usually go further but you will need the top cooling but the c will overclock to a decent level on the stock cooler.

Your looking at maybe 3.6-3.8 with the Prescott with a top cooler and 3.2-3.4 with the c with the stock cooler. There is very little in it so you can't go wrong with either.


BloodBath

Ardent

Thanks for the advive Bloodbath, I think I'll go with the Prescott.

Mac daddy

The prescott gets hot hot hot

Ardent

Originally posted by Mac daddy
The prescott gets hot hot hot

Have you had personal experience of this?

astrofool

check the web.

Northwood at 2.8 beats prescott at 2.8 also. Double the cache but longer pipeline.

Col_Loki

Prescott does get very hot very easily.

The northwoods are currently a better choice IMO unless your feeling adventerous. For someone who is going to be new to overclocking then northwood, little bit more experience prescotts mabye. Getting him to fork out €60 for high end air when we dont know his setup .......

A question that should be asked, what motherboard do you have? Does it support 800mhz FSB chips?

If its a dell then he cant overclock.................

Ardent

Col: whatever motherboard I buy is going to have an 800 FSB, that much I know.

Bloodbath: you mentioned a 2.8e and a 2.8c, is the 2.8c a northwood? Also, how do I know which processors are northwood (are they all northwood unless specifically stated otherwise, e.g., celeron, prescott etc)?

Col_Loki

The Northwood has 512kb l2 cache, the Prescotts have 1mb L2 cache.

The Prescotts are the newest , they have longer pipelines and thus at simular speeds actually perform worse than the northwood's even though the prescotts have more cache. When overclocking the difference is lessened , the prescotts start to perform better with speed increase.

The prescotts run a good bit hotter than northwoods and thus very good cooling is needed for a decent overclock.

I think even with decent cooling the northwoods will do the same or better than the current prescotts in terms of overall speed.

Whats your case? PSU? Ram? <- other factors that are very important.

Woden

however even at high overclocks the north still outperforms our performs similarly to the prescott. all the prescott allows is the manufactuer to ramp up the clock speed due to the 90nm process used.

i'd go for the northwood if i was you and i'd take a look for the 2.8c chip as chances are you'll get a higher FSB out of it than the 3.0c chip

heres a 2.8ghz northwood here

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=117321&cks=PRL

data

BloodBath

i'd go for the northwood if i was you and i'd take a look for the 2.8c chip as chances are you'll get a higher FSB out of it than the 3.0c chip

Aye but remember he will need good RAM to take advantage of that. I would never run anything unless it was 1:1 ratio.


BloodBath