CPU Confusion

[computer mutt]

I thought I new where I was going with this build, but now I'm confused.

Here is what I have Mach Speed X-Caliber PT800DBP motherboard (http://www.machspeed.com/x_pt800dbp.htm)

I had planned on using the 3.2GHz P4, but should I get the Prescott or the Northwood core. On the CPU suppot list (http://www.machspeed.com/cpusuplist.htm) if you look at the PT800DP line it shows support for the Prescott L2 cache only up to 512k.

So now for the question of which CPU. If I choose a Prescott with 1MB L2 will it work and only detect 512k of L2 cache? Should I go with the Northwood?

What this machine will be used for the most is encoding video and some gaming (Doom 3, Unreal Tournament, etc).

Here is the rest of the build:
2 512MB Kingston's DDR400
Leadtek GeForce 6800 GT video card
2 Western Digital 200GB 7200 IDE harddrives
LiteOn 16X Dual Layer DVD Burner

Thanks in advance!

[saphalline]

Yes, it appears that mobo will only support half of the Prescott's L2 cache. Weird. And at any speeds under 3.6GHz, the Northwood C is going to be faster than a Prescott anyway. So I think the choice is clear. ;)

[rond36]

I don't think that board supports prescotts core CPUs at all.

It doesn't even support all of the Northwoods!

It would be better to buy a name brand board because the motherboard is the heart of your system and if you get a cheap board and it turns out to be flakey your whole system will be flakey.

Some brands to look for:
Abit
Asus
Chaintech
DFI
ECS
Gigabyte
Intel
MSI
Shuttle
Soyo
...