30 capacitor 478 CPU's

[Pinchy]

My main question, whats so special about these 30 capacitor Pentium 4 (478) chips? Ive heard they can OC really well, but is that it?

Im tossing up between a 3.2Ghz 30 Cap version or just a standard 3.4Ghz chip. Dont know which one to get.

Also, how can you identify a 30 Cap version from a normal one?

Thanks in adv :D.

Pinchy

[Ravenas]

dont buy a single core processor, but sorry i dont know the difference :toast:

[Pinchy]

Its only a 478 board; cant get anything better :p.

BTW - the only reason im upgrading is because I can get one of these for roughly $120AUD and can sell my current 2.6Ghz processor for around $110 AUD. So, its a $10 upgrade :p.

[DanTheBanjoman]

30 capacitor 478 chips? What are they supposed to be? Are you referring to the power requirements of the chips? ie Prescott requiring a newer VRM?

[Pinchy]

No idea Dan, thats why I made the thread :ohwell:

All I know about them is that they are rare and more expensive. One member (cant find the post), said they OC heaps more then regular chips.

I dont think ive seen a prescott version before. Ive only seen the Northwood's with these special "30 caps".

I cant find much on Google either.

[d44ve]

I havent heard of anything like that... its new to me. I will see what I can dig up on it though

[jocksteeluk]

the 30 capacitor cpus are known to be better overclockers, apparently the Gallatin core cpus are the 30 cap chips, if you look underneath the cpu you should see either 30 caps or 12 caps in the centre surrounded by the pins.

[Urlyin]

there was a series of Pentium CPUs that had 30 caps under the chip which was widely believed to be one of the best overclocking Pentiums (12 vs 30)

http://img.techpowerup.org/070705/30.jpg

[d44ve]

interesting.... thanks for the picture too

[DanTheBanjoman]

Aren't they resistors?

[Pinchy]

Thanks for clearing that up :).

Much appreciated!

[Urlyin]

Aren't they resistors?

nope .. tiny capacitors

[DanTheBanjoman]

nope .. tiny capacitors

How cute, I should cuddle with them.

Makes sense though, some additional caps to remove noise from the power, make the voltage nice and stable. Also explains why they overclock better.

[Atech]

the 30 capacitor cpus are known to be better overclockers, apparently the Gallatin core cpus are the 30 cap chips, if you look underneath the cpu you should see either 30 caps or 12 caps in the centre surrounded by the pins.
Heh, I didn't even know those were capacitors ;)

It would be nice to know why, I'll hazard a guess at more stable capacitance/voltages, but that's just a stab in the dark, so to speak.