Socket 478...did I make a mistake?

[ManyVoicesOfMe]

Hey, I just bought a P4 Socket 478 3.2E Ghz CPU. 800mhz bus, 1mb cache...etc..

Anyways I was just wondering, did I make a mistake? Should I have gone with Socket 775? And what is the difference between socket 478 and 775? I have only bought the PCU for my new system, so I am at the point where I could probably return it and get something else. Any advice would be great...thanks!

 

[zephead]

said processor should be all right for most things but if you plan to do really demanding things with your machine an LGA 775 based system would be your best choice. you'd better have a full wallet if you choose the latter. intel is ending production of it's 865/875 line so if you'd rather stick to socket 478 i advise you get a good board soon.

 

[fishhookz]

s775 boards are more expensive. The CPU prices are down.

Mistake? Depends on what you do with the PC.

 

[Justin]

Hey, I just bought a P4 Socket 478 3.2E Ghz CPU. 800mhz bus, 1mb cache...etc..

Anyways I was just wondering, did I make a mistake? Should I have gone with Socket 775? And what is the difference between socket 478 and 775? I have only bought the PCU for my new system, so I am at the point where I could probably return it and get something else. Any advice would be great...thanks!

Personally, I despise the 775 motherboards. BTX is the worst form factor in the history of history. However, that's another topic(which, coincidentally, I posted in a few months ago all about!). However, it is the future for Intel.

What you want to ask yourself is, "Do I plan on upgrading this machine?" If the answer is no, you did the right thing in getting a 478 motherboard. You saved a good chunk of change and no 775 board with a 3.2 single core CPU is going to outshine yours by any noticeable margin. If you REALLY DO plan on getting a faster processor in the future, you may want to consider returning the motherboard and CPU for a 775.

One thing to keep in mind: With any 775 board, KEEP THE PLASTIC MOTHERBOARD SHIM FOR THE SOCKET. Yes, it's a cheap half-cent piece of plastic, but without it your warranty on the board will not be honored should it break.

 

[ManyVoicesOfMe]

Thanks for the advice. I plan on doing video-editing. But I don't plan on upgrading this computer once I get it. I am going to spend all this cash as a one time thing. I don't plan on upgrading everytime some faster chip gets released. If I ever upgrade though, I wouldn't mind buying just a new chip and motherboard. So is a 3.2E socket 478 chip gonna be fine for my needs still?

 

[zephead]

moving from 478 to 775 won't be just a new board and cpu. you've got to buy DDR2 ram and a pci express card (for MOST 925/915 boards).

I plan on doing video-editing.

the large(er) L2 cache on the pentium 6xx (LGA 775) series would make significant differences for said task.

 

[bwchato]

stick with the 478 and the 3.2 P4.it will do just fine.The only thing wrong is you bought the Prescott core.Right now the Northwood is still faster,but Pentium has a habit of bringing out slower chips when thay are new.

 

[ManyVoicesOfMe]

yeah what's with the Prescott. I heard they are slower and to top that off they seem to get quite hot. I guess I'll stick with my chip. I recently just purchased a ThermalTake Polo heatsync/fan for it, cus Intel stock fans no longer cut it. Thanks for all of your help people.

 

[bwchato]

I just checked out the bench marks on the Prescott,the Northwood,and a 3200+ AMD.The prescott has a longer pipeline and it is slower than the Northwood.To stick with what you have soundsa like a good idea.Good luck.

 

[ManyVoicesOfMe]

how much slower than the Northwood is it?

 

[fishhookz]

I'd pick Northwood for its coolness. Prescott is hooot!

 

[bwchato]

there were a lot of bench mark tests,but in most of the tests the Northwood came out ahead of the Prescott.

 

[zephead]

ive got a northwood and excellent airflow in my case and mu cpu usually runs at about 88 degrees farenheit (about 30 celcius). very nice overclocking headroom.
however, the current generation prescotts come faster and with more cache than the northwoods, which are an older technology.