Where to get a 3.2 to 3.4 gig Socket 478 processor?

[sbca96]

Best buy? Buy.com? Frys?

Tom

[blind]

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid ... 78&cat=CPU

[sbca96]

Sweet. I found this one also.

http://www.buy.com/prod/intel-pentium-4 ... 87169.html

Anything to watch out for with "refurbished"?

Tom

[sbca96]

Looks like the one you found fits the ASUS spec sheet for the p4p800-vm board.

The game I want to play also says I need a 6600 or better AGP video card. I can
run an 8x card, but I know nothing about video cards. I just bought that 6200.

Tom

[blind]

which 6200 did you get, a turbocache? If so it probably won't run the game, the 'turbocache' 6200's use the system memory for the video memory past ~64mb's so they aren't as fast. Well it would run, but only be fun if you like slide shows

unfortunately the stuff you're looking for is from around 2004, so it will be hard to find outside of ebay. The best AGP video card was the ati HD4670 and those are still around $150 on ebay, might find a good deal on a used one at http://www.hardforums.com in the classifieds, I've had really good luck getting great deals on used computer parts there.


May want to think about building a new PC for that kind of money, IMO.

Fry's has a deal on a Core i5 (quad core - very fast) with motherboard for $190 right now, probably a good 20 times faster than that 3.2ghz P4, plus you'd be able to use the faster and cheaper PCI-express video cards, and faster and cheaper DDR3 memory.

http://www.frys-electronics-ads.com/ads ... otherboard

[sbca96]

I can swing the 30 bucks for the 3.2 gig, which should be noticebly faster than
the 2.2 gig Celeron I have now, but I wont be able to convince the wife to let
me dump $200+ on new everything. When I built the machines about 6 years
ago, my plan was to step up to a 3.2 gig prior to making the board/processor
leap again. Unless I find its rediculously expensive, I will have to stick with old.

I found a nice explanation I will repost here on video cards :

They are 4 digit numbers like 4200, 6250, 7600, 8400 etc.

The 1st number is the generation of the card. 4200 is 4th generation card. 7600 a 7th generation card. Newer generation means more features and abilities (example from 7 to 8th generation the newer generation got a bunch of Hi Def DVD decoding abilities).

The 2nd number is the relative speed in the lineup. So a 4200 would be 4th generation and a 2 (low) end for speed. A 7600 would be 7th generation and 6 (above middle) range for speed. An 8800 would be 8th generation and 8 (high end) for speed.

So if you compare an 8400 to a 7900.... the 8400 is a newer model with some nice Hi Def DVD add ons but isn't a very fast gaming card (low middle). The 7900 is one generation older but still top end card so awesome for games. Even a 6800 which is 2 generations old, but again high end for speed would fare well against an 8400.

The 3rd digit is usually a 0 or 5. Between a 7900 and 7950 it usually means a newer revision. Same generation, same high end speed, but the 7950 got a revision over the 7900.

GT, GS, GTX, GTS, etc are used to denote differences between fairly similar cards. Example: 8600 card. 8th generation that will be midrange speed. Faster than 8400 and slower than 8800's. Within the 8600's there are some that are a BIT slower (the GT's) and some a bit faster (the GTS). However, even though the GTS is a 'faster' card it isn't going to overtake an 8800.

Usually GT is base, GTS is better, GTX is Xtreme, and Ultra is high as they go. There have been exceptions though.

Finally if the models 2nd number is a 0 or 1 it denote slow as can be for that line and usually an onboard solution. So, if you see an Nvidia 7050 or 6100 both of those are onboard (integrated) video. Really slow and will be outpaced by any other in the line (and most from previous lines)

From the above, if I got a 6800 for cheap, it would be a much better "gaming"
card than what I have now .... at least thats how I read it.

Tom

[blind]

That applies to nvidia cards, unfortunately ATI cards generations are different, the 3650 I mentioned is about 50% faster than a 6800 nvidia, and still costs around $50. The best card you can get on AGP is the ati 4670, the best card nvidia made on AGP was the 7800GS if I recall correctly, also a good card but the ATI's are faster.

[sbca96]

I emailed a guy in Ventura tonight that has a 6800 GT for 30 bucks, sounds like a
good card from what I am reading, the "GT" is the fastest second to the "Ultra". I
dont have much experience with ATi cards, how stable are they?

Tom

[sbca96]

Nothing back on the 6800 GT card ... grrrrr.

Tom

[blind]

I emailed a guy in Ventura tonight that has a 6800 GT for 30 bucks, sounds like a
good card from what I am reading, the "GT" is the fastest second to the "Ultra". I
dont have much experience with ATi cards, how stable are they?

Tom

they're just as good as the nvidia's, I've had an ATI 4850 card in my desktop for about 2 years now, extremely fast.

[sbca96]

OK, the guy with the card for sale, the 6800 GT also has a 3.2 gig Socket 478
processor for 20 bucks. So the whole upgrade will cost me 50 dollars. He is
even coming to SB tomorrow and deliver them to me!! Cant beat that with a
stick! The only thing is, he said the processors run hot, so I would need to do
something to help that out. He says he had a big fan blowing on it all the time
and the video card is only about a year old. I have a large CPU fan on the
2.2 gig Celeron ... I assume thats not enough?

Tom

[Glenn_03Cobra]

One of my systems has a 3.2 "A" version that runs 58+ celcius while another system with a "B" version runs around 20 average. It's gonna blow someday so, I don't do anything that I can't recover on it. What is wierd, the mb with the "A" version doesn't work with the "B" version or anything >3.2. So, that mb is pretty much useless. I had hoped to put it in a super small case to run behind the TV for games and other media fun stuff.

[sbca96]

I got the board and the processor tonight. The card is actually not a GT, its an XT
which brings it down a notch or two. Its still a 256 mb though/128 bit "BioStar" by
the sticker number on the card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814141038

Not very good reviews, sounds like death is more like a "when" then an "if", but I
also realize that people rarely post about things they like. For 30 bucks it still is
worth the "risk". Sad thing is, I have been sick, and after we exchanged the cash
for the parts he says that if there is a problem he will refund my money and then
I say "that barring something that I do to them" and then somehow I dropped the
bag they were in right down to the asphalt. It landed on the edge of the board
and the chip didnt hit, but who knows that that did. Doh.

Tom

[blind]

yeah the 3.2's run real hot, I had one in an old computer and it ran around the same as Glenn's, I always had the retail intel HS/F on it in a full tower server type case, I never did anything to run it cooler though...