older system cpu upgrade

**Sweeper** · November 8th, 2008, 01:34 PM

So I have an older system.

MSI 865PE NEO2 Platnum
Pentium 4 2.4C @ 3.2GHz
2GB Patriot Extreme @ 426MHz
etc...

What I am wanting to do is find the largest CPU that motherboard will run. I can find what the old info says about the board but I'm not sure if it will run the latest and last socket 478 CPU. I was looking at putting in a Intel Pentium 4 3.4 GHz ( 800 MHz ) - Socket 478 - L2 1 MB - OEM. But I'm not sure if that board will support it?

**RicheemxX** · November 8th, 2008, 02:44 PM

It might depend on the board revision but according to MSI it should support that chip
MSI -- MICRO-STAR INT'L CO., LTD.

**Sweeper** · November 8th, 2008, 04:12 PM

Thanks for the link!! =)

Another question: Is it worth the upgrade. I'm at 3.2GHz now but that's pushing the 2.4GHz as far as it can go and it's been that way for about 2-3yrs.... LOL.

**RicheemxX** · November 8th, 2008, 04:29 PM

IMO unless you are getting a great deal (free

) I wouldn't bother. Save the cash and start looking at a newer build

**SoloCamo** · November 8th, 2008, 04:47 PM

Agreed. I was in the same position a while back as I had a 2.8ghz p4 @ 3.1ghz...It just wasn't cost effective for a minor jump in mhz, so I kept an eye out for s939 AMD systems that were being phased out.

I ended up picking up a x2 4200+ and a S939 mobo for 120 bucks total that completely blew my old p4 out of the water.

Bottom line is, keep an eye out. There are still some s939 boards floating around that can use your DDR and still support AGP if you don't want to spend much, but they are becoming extremely rare to find, especially ones that support AGP.

Otherwise you could pick up a newer AMD board with some DDR2 and a decent graphics card for cheap as well that would smoke your current rig. I priced one out for around 300 bucks that was pretty good and would take down my current rig with zero problems. I just reused the case, optical drives and hdds.

**Sweeper** · November 8th, 2008, 06:09 PM

Well I don't use that system much anymore. I have a laptop I use almost 100% of the time. That system was given to my son. But he wants to run games on it alot (even though we have an xbox 360). The biggest worry is burning out the MB/CPU prematurely. I figured for under $100.00 if I could find a 3.2GHz or higher (new / used) I would throw that in there and not worry about that 2.4 running OC continuously. As for going for a new system I don't have the time. I'd rather pop off a HSF and throw in a CPU and be done with it.

As far as performance for the games he plays it runs very well but I hate thinking I've had the CPU overclocked for 2-3yrs now. The old MB burnt up and this MB was a replacement board. I'm not sure if having that CPU and RAM overclocked for such a long time did in the MB or not.

**EXreaction** · November 8th, 2008, 06:13 PM

Just downclock the cpu then.

For about $150 you can get a new AM2 mobo, X2 cpu, and 2GB of ram that is leagues above your P4.

**SoloCamo** · November 8th, 2008, 06:13 PM

Well if stability is your only concern...what temps are you running?

That northwood cpu, even OC'ed probably still runs a lot cooler than my p4 2.8ghz did stock speeds, let alone overclocked.

3.2ghz is the highest you will find in northwood trim and they are very rare. The highest you can go on a s478 board is 3.4ghz and that is limited only to the prescott.

The one benefit of prescott's is the extra cache (1mb vs 512k for northwoods) however in actual gaming performance, the northwoods seem to outperform the prescott's oddly enough.

If it's been stable this long, and temps are on the normal side I wouldn't worry much about it. It's a 800mhz OC yes, but obviously the chip has had zero problems with it for a very long time. Besides, those p4 2.4c's were known as one of the best, if not the best overclocking p4 you could get back in the day.

But if you insist on a new p4....here is a 3.2ghz for only 58bucks and a 3.4ghz for double the cost (I personally wouldn't drop 100 for only 200mhz, though even if stability was a factor)

**Sweeper** · November 8th, 2008, 06:18 PM

Temps:
CPU: 35-44c
MB: 33c
Case: 35c

So the extra cache isn't worth the upgrade? *sigh... man I don't want to rip all this out and throw in all new parts when it's running just fine. I just wanted a bit more security knowing I'm not throwing everything beyond it's stock limits and good performance for what it is.

**SoloCamo** · November 8th, 2008, 06:20 PM

Yea, Prescott's were regularly outperformed by Northwoods clock for clock....although marginally. But when you factor in the major heat increase (my p4 2.8ghz at stock idles around 48-50*C on a better than stock cooler and w/ AS5) it is definitely not worth it. Especially when you haven't had any problems with your current setup.

**Sweeper** · November 8th, 2008, 06:24 PM

I might go with the 3.2GHz Northwood for $58.00. That would put it at where it is now but it wouldn't be OC'd and everything would be running stock. Right now I'm at 267MHz from 200MHz to get the CPU at 3.2GHz.

**SoloCamo** · November 8th, 2008, 06:28 PM

Originally Posted by Sweeper

I might go with the 3.2GHz Northwood for $58.00. That would put it at where it is now but it wouldn't be OC'd and everything would be running stock. Right now I'm at 267MHz from 200MHz to get the CPU at 3.2GHz.

You know, your performance will take a hit though? P4's love bandwidth and the higher FSB you are running is giving it a lot more than a stock 3.2ghz would have available.

**Sweeper** · November 8th, 2008, 07:44 PM

So it's better to OC a system than to run a CPU @ stock settings? I was just thinking running at 3.2GHz stock with the FSB @ 200 the system and motherboard wouldn't be under to much stress. Am I really putting ANY stress worth worrying about running the FSB @ 267MHz?

**SoloCamo** · November 8th, 2008, 07:56 PM

With your temperatures, I wouldn't believe so. It's usually heat that kills systems that are overclocked, not the fact that they are overclocked.

A cpu running @ 3.2ghz w/ a FSB of 267mhz will always outperform a 3.2ghz w/ a FSB of 200mhz, as long as it's stable. There are other factors, such as ram timing, but with that high of a FSB and the fact that timing plays a very mild role in the performance of P4's it is definitely the case here that the 267mhz FSB system will have a good sized gap in performance.

Effectively, you are comparing a 3.2ghz p4 w/ 800hmz FSB vs a 3.2ghz p4 w/ 1068mhz FSB

**Sweeper** · November 8th, 2008, 09:11 PM

As it is right now the CPU is @ 3.2GHz with a FSB of 267MHz.. The Ram was underclocked to 333MHz to allow the large FSB increase. With the ram set to 333MHz and the FSB increased it set the ram to 426MHz instead of 400MHz. It's also running in dual channel. Temps stay very stable between 35c-44c . The case is a Thermaltake XaserII with 4 80mm fans. Two fans in the front, 1 on the side and 1 in the back. It also has an Enermax 460w PSU with a 90mm fan in the bottom pulling air up and out the back of the PSU. The CPU is cooled with a Zalman HSF. The video card 'Radeon X800GTO 256MB' uses the stock HSF that came on it. It also has been flashed to allow all 16 pipes to be open and operative. So far there has been no stability problems at all with it. It runs as if it is a stock system. So I guess I will just keep what I have and hope I'm not pushing it with time on the OC of the CPU.

**sweeper2** · November 9th, 2008, 09:37 AM

i would keep it unless you plan on getting a new setup... like others have mentioned ... my socket 939 system running a dual core cpu and PCI-E vid card .. even though i run at 2.4ghz . i still own your system .... and i didn't pay much for my motherboard/cpu/vid card.. i kept the standard DDR memory i had.. and everything else...

**Sweeper** · November 9th, 2008, 12:27 PM

I understand that I can purchase a new MB/CPU/GPU but I don't want to go through all of that. Esp. when there is nothing wrong with what I have now. My main concern was having this 2.4C @ 3.2GHz for 2-3yrs straight now. I don't want to underclock the CPU back to 2.4GHz ... BLAH! I was just making sure that pushing the CPU/FSB for this many years wasn't the cause of the failure of the old MB (MSI 865PE NEO2 LS). The SB Burnt a hole in itself and the MB died. Kinda weird.... you would have figured it to be the NB that burnt up. Oh well...