New P4 question

[notionless]

I have an HTPC running on a celeron 2.0 and want to upgrade. I want to start playing some games on my HDTV as well as use ffdshow to process dvds/videos. I'm planning on getting at least a 2.8 P4. Since noise is an issue, heat is an issue. Is there a major difference in the heat generated between a 2.8P4 and a 3.0 or 3.2? I'm going to stick with a Northwood, since I'm under the impression they run cooler than Prescotts.

Next question, I was at Fry's and saw they had a P4 3.2GHz, 512K, 800MHz for $200. I think those stats make it a Northwood, but there isn't a 'C' in the description. Plus, that price seems really good. Newegg has it for $239. Hard to believe a retail place would be under Newegg by that much. Is that a Northwood, and is that a pretty good price?

This will be going on an Asus P4P800 and in an Antec Overture case.

Thanks!

 

[mechBgon]

If it has 512kb of L2 then it's a Northwood. You can find typical and maximum thermal outputs of various CPUs at http://www.sandpile.org or also here. In brief, it appears that the Celeron 2.0 has a "thermal design power" of about 53 watts while the P4 3.2C is about 82W. So there's a difference, yeah.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

. . . And that's why I picked a 3.0C to overclock instead of a 3.2C.

In fact, I would've preferred a 2.8C as acceptable given user reviews at various sites and their claims about thermal behavior. But I couldn't find a "boxed retail" processor at that speed -- only the 3.0C.

There is some rumor -- possibly based on prevailing wisdom and real observation -- that -- at least for the 3.0C processors, there are different numbers of capacitors on the bottom of the core between the pin-rows. Some people thought it had to do with the production code -- a five-character code like "SL6WK" or "SL6WU" -- whether the processor had 12 capacitors or 30 capacitors. Supposedly the 30-cap version runs cooler. But then I discovered that one reviewer observed 12 caps for an SL6WK while my SL6WK had 30. His was manufactured in Costa Rica, and mine came from Malaysia.

But like I said -- rumors.

 

[notionless]

Thanks. It looks like the 2.8 is quite a bit cooler than the 3.0 or 3.2, which are about the same (70W to 82W Power Dissipation). 2.8 was my original target, so maybe I'll stick with that if they have it. I just thought the 3.2 price was pretty good. That's also why I wasn't sure if it's a Northwood. It's so much cheaper than online places and I'm not use to that.

I'm not missing something here am I? $200 ($212 w/ tax) for 3.2 Northwood is a really good price, right? I think the 2.8 was $185, which is more inline with online stores.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Geez! I paid $208 for my 3.0C barely a week ago, and I checked Zipzoomfly, NewEgg and SVC.

I must be getting careless. I should check five or more resellers before I spring for an item.

Yeah -- the 2.8C was selling for around $185 a week or two ago.

You did good, dude!! Pretty good. Was it a boxed processor or OEM? Shouldn't matter that much -- I've seen the spread between retail and OEM stay within $10 -- less than that, actually . . .

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Incidentally -- if I didn't already say so -- I've seen several indications from user reviews all over the place that the choice of motherboard gives a varied range of thermal performance with the same processor. In fact -- I have that experience here at home where we have five PC's -- two down here and three upstairs. The same processor runs a few degrees F hotter in an Intel D865PERL as opposed to the ASUS P4P800, and in fact, many posts I've seen seem to swear that the P4P800 is about the coolest-running board around.

Somebody may beg to differ with that, and I'm not running a motherboard test-service, but I thoroughly approve of your motherboard choice!!

 

[LTC8K6]

The differences in temps between mobos is almost certainly a reflection of the inaccuracy of the temp measurement rather than an actual difference in the temps of the chips. BIOS changes are known to give you different readings sometimes.