Which processor is best?

nic82

Hi,

Which would you go for out of these two?

Intel Celeron D Processor 346 (3.06GHz, 533FSB, 256k cache)

or

Intel Pentium 4 Processor 521 with HT technology (2.80GHz, 800MHz fsb, 1MB cache)

I know Pentiums are supposed to be better, but I have a Celeron at the moment and it's fine. The Celeron one is £47 cheaper than the Pentium and it's faster. However, the Pentium's cache is huuuuge compared to the Celeron's.

Any advice gratefully received!

mondayuk

It's not what you got it's what you do with it. How true is that? The extra Cache memory etc makes the P4 better for repetitive CPU processes. So if you're doing heavy maths, such as CAD or Video rendering you're probably best with the P4. In personal experience I tend to keep away from the Celerons, but i'm sure both would be perfectly fine. Others may say different.

nic82

It's for my parents-in-law who aren't at all computer savvy at the moment. Basically, they'll want to send emails, type letters, browse the internet and store their digital photos, and that's it, so they won't be doing CAD or anything with video.

mondayuk

In which case i would say either would do the trick just fine.

nic82

Thank you for your help. I'll probably go with the Celeron just because it's the cheapest!

Lorian

nic82 wrote:

It's for my parents-in-law who aren't at all computer savvy at the moment. Basically, they'll want to send emails, type letters, browse the internet and store their digital photos, and that's it, so they won't be doing CAD or anything with video.

They won't notice the difference between either then.

The best therefore is the cheapest. The P4 would have slightly better residual value on resale.

wolfman

I wouldn't go for either.

An AMD Athlon 64 would be the cpu of choice. They generally outperform the Intel equivalents, run much cooler, use less power, and are cheaper. I made the switch from an Intel Prescott core last year and at present wouldn't go back.

Something along the lines of:
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=9392&GroupID=1083

A little more than the Celeron, but worth the investment for the cpu/architecture.

£$&*"($£&(

If you want cheapest get an AMD Sempron 3100 - I imagine it's cheaper then the Celeron and will be better. Celeron-D processors are better than previous models but I still wouldn't recommend them - though it will be fine for your needs. However I assume your not buying a new motherboard which would be required for an AMD processor. Are you sure the existing motherboard supports the Celeron or Pentium processor?