allright so for the PC ive been working on forever the time has nearly come to invest in a CPU..i have an Intel board already and i can support any breed of P4, i dont want to spend a huge amount of money, and i will be running 1gb of dual-channel PC-3200 for my memory. ive pretty much narrowed it down to two processors

one is the 2.4ghz prescott core with 533fsb and a 1mb cache

the other is also 2.4ghz but with the 800fsb, hyper-threading and only a 512k cache.

so im wondering if the larger cache of the first one would make up for the slower bus speed and lack of HTing on the first one, and then the dual-channeling doubles the memory bandwith correct? does it also double the speed? which would make the memory speed 400mhz, because 3200 is rated at 200mhz...so either way the memory isnt going to be outrunning the CPU anytime soon....any thoughts?

Larger cache does absolute wonders, but you are sacrificing the FSB. I would say go for the chip with the 800 FSB. It will be much faster.

well id love to snag a prescott with the larger cache AND the 800mhz fsb, but those are somewhat pricey, a 2.8ghz prescott with the above options is at least 160, then you gotta get a heatsink/fan to cool that ****.

the 2.4 options i mentioned are about 120, i know its only 40 bucks, but if i start in with the "oh this is only x amount more than this" ill end up throwing all my money away and besides the CPU is probably the least of my worries as far as speed, so i can take the extra 40 bucks and spend it on a video card! unless i change my mind my rig is as follows:

2.4 ghz Pentium 4 with HTing and 800mhz FSB
1gb PC-3200 in dual-channel
Nvidia 6600GT
Western Digital 80gb SATA hard drive

thats the important stuff anyway, my case was cheap, looks pretty cool though IMO, everything will be cheap or snagged off other machines

Hyperthreading isn't all that good as of yet. You need programs that are developed around that processor. I believe there are a few games like that, but there aren't a whole lot of average apps that'll take advantage of it. Remember the FSB is only as fast as the stuff you have that can run on it. I say go for the 1mb cache. Sol is right, the cache makes a big difference in speed.


-justin