Can I do better than P4 Northwood 2.8Ghz?

[petesamprs]

Can you guys help me out. I'm trying to convince my company to hook me up with a faster processor for our complicated excel models (take a while to run, and 100% CPU usage).

What do recommend I should try to get? Can't get a new pc (we have Dell's now), so AMD is out of the question.

Does anyone have good benchmarks that show how my current CPU compares to what's out there by Intel now? I want to know if its even worth my time/cost to upgrade.

thanks.

 

[stevty2889]

Well you'll have to be a little more specific about the proccessor, there are 400, 533, and 800mhz FSB northwoods running at 2.8ghz. From the sounds of it you can only upgrade the CPU, and since it's socket 478, the highest you'll be able to go is a 3.4ghz, assuming your motherboard could support it, but you'll have to give more info first.

And since they stopped making socket 478 CPU's a while ago, they will probably be harder to find, and more expensive, especialy the northwoods.

 

[petesamprs]

CPU-z for some reason has the FSB field grayed out. However, it says the following:
Name: Intel Pentium 4
Code Name: Northwood
Brand ID: 9
Technology: 0.13 u

Specification: Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.8Ghz
Family: F
Model: 2
Stepping: 9
Ext. Family: 0
Ext. Model: 0
Revision: D1
Instructions: MMX, SSE, SSE2

Core Speed: 2793.2 Mhz
Cache L1 data: 8Kbytes
Cache L1 trace: 12 Kuops
Cache L2 data: 512kbytes

Is this helpful in your determination?

 

[Howard]

I believe the FSB is 533MHz - 21x133.

 

[stevty2889]

Whats the model number of the Dell.

 

[petesamprs]

Dell OptiPlex GX270

 

[Cooler]

since you have a dell ocing is out of the question there might be 3.4 ghz northwood out there but that is best you can do,

 

[stevty2889]

Going from this, it's using the 865 chipset, and supports hyperthreading, and 800mhz FSB, so it should support up to a 3.4ghz P4. Not sure about Prescott support, and a 3.4 northwood will be hard to come by and expensive.

 

[petesamprs]

Thanks for your help. Doesn't look like its worth it if i have to keep the current rig. I might be able to convince them to upgrade to what the traders are using - dual xeons (not dual-core).

 

[LTC8K6]

Then again, going to a even a 2.8C or a 3.0C might be a decent performance jump for you with the 800mhz bus and the hyperthreading.

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: petesamprs
Thanks for your help. Doesn't look like its worth it if i have to keep the current rig. I might be able to convince them to upgrade to what the traders are using - dual xeons (not dual-core).

If you can go 800fsb, then even 3.0 or 3.2ghz would be a substantial upgrade, and hyperthreading would mean you could do some tasks while waiting for things to process.

I'm sure you could justify the cost of a processor based on saved time, especially with HT. You may run into some interference if doing so means you lose your service agreement with dell - in that case see if your manager will accept a business case for a new machine.

 

[Fox5]

Originally posted by: Howard
I believe the FSB is 533MHz - 21x133.

I'm betting it's a 200mhz(800) fsb. Those were the most common 2.8ghz northwoods, if not the only. If so, you can't really do much better. A top of the line Athlon dual core would net you 2x performance in the most extreme cases, and most likely close to 50% to 75% faster most of the time. A dual core Pentium would get you similar but lower boosts (since it only has dual core to offer and not faster individual core performance), but either way you'd have to change the entire PC.