Big performance difference between p3 500 and p4 2.8c?

[FrustratedUser]

Originally posted by: RanDum72
I suggest you get a 9700pro/9800np or pro over the 9600. The difference is around $30-40 dollars but worth it, IMO.

Yup.

<--- 9700Pro

 

[MontyAC]

Go for the 9800 pro, it's only a little over $200 now.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

calculate 1+1 takes shorter time.

 

[AIWGuru]

A lot of the advice being given here is kind of...well...wrong.
They're assuming that all you're upgrading is the CPU and that your current platform is up to speed.
a P3-500 will have a hard drive which is far and away much less responsive than today's as one small example.
The overall system performance would be 3-5x not just because of the CPU but because of a whole system's worth of bottlenecks that you'd be eliminating. I don't know if anyone has a PC from that Era hanging around (this is a CPU with off die cache) but they are dog slow even in windows 98.
Get yourself that new rig. You're likely to really appreciate it!

 

[dullard]

I see you already purchased it, but here is the improvement you'll get.

Quake 3: 80.8 fps to 344.6 fps. Over 4X faster.
3D Mark: 4936 to 15493. Over 3X faster.
UT2003: 53.2 fps to 204.7 fps. Almost 4X faster.
etc.

Add to that improvements in hard drive speed, faster video card speed, and most likely more memory (the benchmarks already include motherboard and memory speed factors).

 

[Maximilian]

Just buy a new comp you'll be much happier. Also a P4 2.8C and a p3 500 is like a jet plane compared to a 1 legged tortoise stuck in tar, the 2.8c is much faster!!

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: heartsurgeon
you will not "notice" any difference in web surfing, email applications, simple word processing.
computer will load programs like photoshop, and the operating system faster.
video intensive programs will run demostrably faster
games will run faster

generally a 5X increase in processor speed is easy noticable.
a 10X increase in processor speed is necessary for the "wow" factor to kick in.
having gone from an original ibm pc at 4mhz over time to a 2.8 ghz p4, this has been my impression. generally worth upgrading when processor speed increases by 5 fold, at that point you should get a whole new system..other systems will slow you down.

In surfing the net, speed does help, and it other things too.

I was on a lappy with 256MB RAM, Win XP and something probably around a 1.5GHz proc (might have been a Celery though) and mobile Radeon 7000 video.
Ran like a pile of ****.
Extra RAM is a god-send, and so is a better processor (I have an XP1900+), much faster even for net stuff and opening windows (10 IE windows is too many for such an amount of RAM I found).

 

[WackyDan]

I went from a PIII 550 running 512, 20gig7200/2mb drive, and Matroc G400Max to a Shuttle XPC running a 2.53 with 512 ram and a 40gig/7200rpm/8mb drive --and a Radeon 970Pro.

I did notice a speed bump within my office and groupware apps - outlook, Smart Suite, MS Office, web. Reality is though that I still use the PIII for all my productivity apps... and the New shuttle for games.

So yeah--huge difference in gaming due to everything about the new system, but not so much in general apps.

 

[Markfw]

OK, since you already got it, whats the notieable difference ? What are your impressions ?

 

[jswjimmy]

when i whent from my p2 350mhz to my xp1800, even my internet whent faster. not downloads but surfing.

 

[Texun]

Originally posted by: egale
It depends what you run. If all you do is email, nope. Otherwise, huge.

Yep. A neighbor of mine is using a PII-400 with XP and 196 megs of PC133 and all she does is email. It runs fine and she wouldn't know the difference. In fact, the FSB had been set at 66 for years and she didn't even know it ...but if you plan on doing anything other than email the difference would be best describes as a sonic boom.

 

[AIWGuru]

Originally posted by: Texun

Originally posted by: egale
It depends what you run. If all you do is email, nope. Otherwise, huge.

Yep. A neighbor of mine is using a PII-400 with XP and 196 megs of PC133 and all she does is email. It runs fine and she wouldn't know the difference. In fact, the FSB had been set at 66 for years and she didn't even know it ...but if you plan on doing anything other than email the difference would be best describes as a sonic boom.

You know what? That's just not true. Everything, including windows loading, ie starting, rendering of webpages will all be faster with a modern system and modern subsystems (HDD etc.) I don't know when the last time you used a system from that era but they are dog slow at EVERYTHING.
don't confuse "adequate" with "just as fast!" There most certainly will be a huge speed difference!

 

[Soulkeeper]

if anything his computer should turn on faster
hehe

 

[camara120]

I have played Solitaire on both a P3 500 and a P4 2.8C and I can honestly not tell the difference. Please dont waste you money on the P4!

 

[Splork]

I can't believe someone would ask this question.. :-/

-sp

 

[AIWGuru]

Originally posted by: Splork
I can't believe someone would ask this question.. :-/

-sp

I can't believe some of the silly answers he's been getting. People have been answering the question:
"is a p3-500 good enough for checking email"
and not the question at hand:
"is there a speed difference?"
Obviously there is, even when rendering web pages, opening apps. Especially since he would be replacing every component in the system.

 

[RanDum72]

I have played Solitaire on both a P3 500 and a P4 2.8C and I can honestly not tell the difference. Please dont waste you money on the P4!

Really? Just look at the cards cascading after you finish the game. I bet ya with the 2.8C you probably won't even see the blur when it the cards fall over.