CPU Question

[deadkenny]

Yes, it does appear that your mobo will support Northwood processors at a FSB of 533MHz. To be absolutely sure you might want to review the BIOS versions provided by the mobo manufacturer to confirm that your BIOS equals or exceeds the minimum required for support of the processor you have your eyes on. I wouldn't worry too much about the memory speed being 'insync' with the processor FSB, Intel chipsets generally handle async operation just fine. More memory might be a more effective upgrade than slightly faster memory. However, with the P4 mobo's you have to install memory in 'matching pairs', because of the dual channel memory, and it doesn't appear that you have empty memory slots. Therefore, it might not be worthwhile to upgrade your memory. Just double check the BIOS version and you should be ready to drop in your new processor.

[gunnut]

Actually the 845 chipset runs single channel memory as Intel's entry level platform. P4s really want a lot of memory bandwidth at all levels. But to upgrade that means he needs a new board.

More memory is always a more effective upgrade than to find matching "in sync" memory. Preferable, you want 2 gigs for a current system running Vista. XP will get by at 512MB, but it'll be slow like my laptop.

[deadkenny]

Yes, quite right - I was thinking about the 865G chipset when I made the comments regarding dual-channel memory. Given that, the limiting factor will likely be memory bandwidth, especially with a 533MHz FSB P4. You may want to consider sticking with a 400MHz FSB version, if it will save you a few $'s. However, it's still probably worth increasing the quantity of memory if you've got an open slot. With Windows XP I've found that there is definitely a very big benefit going up from 256MB to 512MB, some benefit going from 512MB to 1GB but not much above that. Of course, if you're on Vista you'll need yet more RAM. However, rather than upgrading my memory to accommodate Vista, I would replace Vista with Windows XP SP2.

[Ironduke]

Popped in the new processor a few minutes ago, it's working great. Running ALOT faster.

Question... on the DDR RAM. The intel 845G chipset only runs RAM at SDR, i.e., no DDR for my system?

[gunnut]

Popped in the new processor a few minutes ago, it's working great. Running ALOT faster.

Question... on the DDR RAM. The intel 845G chipset only runs RAM at SDR, i.e., no DDR for my system?

Yes, you have DDR. 845 series and above cannot use SDR memory.

What it doesn't have is "dual channel" DDR. It runs a single channel DDR memory.

The bad thing about dual channel is that you have to pop in 2 identical sticks of DDR memory to get the effect, provided that you have a board and chipset that supports it. The good thing is, of course, more bandwidth.

All dual channel chipset and board can run at single channel mode. That happens automatically if you plug in odd number of memory modules or if the modules are different capacity/speed.

[Ironduke]

Ah, you meant two slots for memory... yeah, I'd have to chuck the 256s currently in there to plug in more memory.

[gunnut]

Ah, you meant two slots for memory... yeah, I'd have to chuck the 256s currently in there to plug in more memory.

How many slots do you have? Good thing is 2x512MB of RAM in 184pin configuration is pretty cheap now. The 2x1GB configuration is more expensive because of the rarity. I would suggest using the 2x1GB rather than 4x512MB if you want 2GB of memory. That is if you have 4 slots. Certain boards using Intel 865 and possibly 845 chipsets have problem with signal path in 4 stick configuration. Besides, you want the number of occupied memory slots at 2. It's just a little bit faster than 4.