processor question

The_White_Horse

Hi all,

I have zero knowledge of pc's etc.

I have a quick question. In your opinion, would a brand new intel celeron dual-core e3200 processor be worse than, equal to, or faster than a 6 year old pentium 4 processor?

Thanks

turbobob

Faster than. By a wide margin as well.

BillScarab

As turbobob says it will be faster. Probably use less power as well.

They have CPU comparison charts at this site.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/

Celeron E3200 is in the High - Mid Range CPu chart with a mark of 1515

The fastest Pentium 4 I can see is in the low-mid range chart with a mark of 631

colin13

is it a good idea to change processor for faster (if motherboard can take it),,or just bit bullet and buy new pc(desktop),,would like sims3 but both processor and graphics aint up to it

RobertoMoir

Colin,
I'd say depends on the life left in the computer - e.g. other than processor does the rest of the system still have a long expected lifetime? There comes a point where the rest of the system is too old to do new components justice and at that point you'll get a poor return on any investment. If you haven't reached that point and you're comfortable doing the work yourself then go for it.

I notice that both your processor and graphics aren't "up to it" as you say. This does make me wonder how old the machine is as I don't think the requirements for sims 3 are that high. If you ended up spending £150 on a processor, say, and £150 on a graphics card then keep in mind you're not that far away from a new computer.

BillScarab

If you're looking at swapping the processor the first thing you need to look at is whether your current motherboard actually supports the new processor. I'm guessing it won't so not only will you need a new CPU, you'll need a new motherboard. That may lead to you needing new RAM.

You also need a new Grpahics card so realistically a new PC is the way to go.

RobertoMoir

BillScarab wrote: »

If you're looking at swapping the processor the first thing you need to look at is whether your current motherboard actually supports the new processor. I'm guessing it won't so not only will you need a new CPU, you'll need a new motherboard. That may lead to you needing new RAM.

You also need a new Grpahics card so realistically a new PC is the way to go.

Yep. I recently upgraded from a core 2 quad to an i5, which meant new motherboard, new processor of course, new ram, and the graphics card is only 4 months old. At the end of the day, I've got a "new" PC here even if I did keep the case, power supply and hard disks.

spud17

It's a bit like Triggers broom.

I'm still playing around and not fully switched over.

Old case,old psu, old DVD rewriter, new processor (E6300 2.8MHz), mobo, RAM and 250GB HD plus cheap Win7.

Cost just over £200.

Above processor scores 1858 on cpubenchmark.

redvanman

Ive just checked my old amd athlon xp 1700+ on cpu benchmark, it might just be one of the slowest cpu out there.

The_White_Horse

cheers all

KathysBoy

The_White_Horse wrote: »

Hi all,

I have zero knowledge of pc's etc.

I have a quick question. In your opinion, would a brand new intel celeron dual-core e3200 processor be worse than, equal to, or faster than a 6 year old pentium 4 processor?

Thanks

I bought a bundle of a new motherboard with an e3200 plus 2gb Ram for £100 delivered. Installed it in an old pc that was about 7 years old. Went from chugging to working great. Its now faster than the Dell desktop I bought 2 years ago for a £1000. Easy to install. I don't play games so not sure if the graphics would be okay. I did have an old graphics card that was okay, but it was AGP whereas all the new motherboards are PCIe. Just google Motherboard bundles. I bought mine from here