Need help choosing an Intel Processor

[Comdrpopnfresh]

My mom has the first iteration of the Dell Dimension 8400. We have it in our den, so any time of the year it heats up the room insanely. We have a P4 3.0ghz processor in it (800mhz FSB, 533mhz DDR2). It is 90nm, with no speedstep capabilities (thus, lending to the heat). I didn't even realize the damned thing runs at 3.1V. lol. So I was looking to get my mom a cheap repalcement processor so she can save on her electric (both in terms of the computer draw, and also cooling in the summer). I don't want to ditch the DELL mobo, as I'm trying to keep the price minimal (unfortunately this also means no overclocking to increase performance). i also don't want to take a performance hit (the thing seems slow enough compared to my Oc'd AMD system, or Core Duo laptop...)

So I was looking at this processor...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...CM001&olmsrc=R&afsrc=1
It has half the cache, but its a conroe core. It doesn't have HT (although I always doubted whether or not it did much in an average computing environment with the p4). It is also rated for 35W TDP, vs the Current 530's 84W.

My mom basically uses the computer to check email, browse the internet, and she copies a few DVDs a week. Will she see an performance increase, or hit? And could we expect the heat to simmer down?

::EDIT::
The motherboard she has is reported by cpu-z as:
Intel i925X (revB1), w/ a ICH6 sb. Would this upgrade be a drop-in?

 

[Markfw]

I don't think that any Conroe will work in that motherboard. you will have to change motherboard,cpu and ram.

 

[stevty2889]

Yeah, there is no Conroe support with that board, I don't think you could even switch to a Cedar Mill based P4(65nm runs cooler). Not much you can do with it without switching out the motherboard, but your DDR-2 533 is fine.

 

[Greg04]

For your purpose, consider just selling the desktop and buying a low-end or used laptop.

Depending on time used, the electricity costs over the years could be substantial.

 

[sdsdv10]

As others have said, I don't think a Conroe based chip will work.

According to this link at the Intel website: http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/925x/index.htm

Only Pentium 4 based socket 775 chips will work. As noted previously, one of the 65nm Cedar Mill core might help a little bit, but I don't you will see any real measurable saving in electricity or cooling cost.

I agree with the previous poster who suggested selling it and buying a newer unit. A refurbished Dell with a E6300 or E6400 C2D might actually net you some savings and be a faster computer. If not, then I would just leave it the way it is.

 

[sayNOtoFSB]

Even if any new Intel product was to work (C2D for example) you will not see any improvement in cooling or wattage (Conroe is hot as hell just like P4).
I suggest buying an AMD 3600 x2 Brisbane and mobo combo from Newegg for less than $100 (or close to it). You won?t find any Intel?s dual core combo as cheap or as cool as the Brisbane combo. The chip can OC to 2.7 GHz on the average on stock vcore. @ 1.9 GHz is faster (and much cooler) than your mom?s p4.

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: sayNOtoFSB
Even if any new Intel product was to work (C2D for example) you will not see any improvement in cooling or wattage (Conroe is hot as hell just like P4).
I suggest buying an AMD 3600 x2 Brisbane and mobo combo from Newegg for less than $100 (or close to it). You won?t find any Intel?s dual core combo as cheap or as cool as the Brisbane combo. The chip can OC to 2.7 GHz on the average on stock vcore. @ 1.9 GHz is faster (and much cooler) than your mom?s p4.

You sure about that?

 

[thecoolnessrune]

A 3.1V P4??

Maybe with a super volt mod and a suicide run?

My 130nm P4 runs at 1.5V

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: sayNOtoFSB
Even if any new Intel product was to work (C2D for example) you will not see any improvement in cooling or wattage (Conroe is hot as hell just like P4).
I suggest buying an AMD 3600 x2 Brisbane and mobo combo from Newegg for less than $100 (or close to it). You won?t find any Intel?s dual core combo as cheap or as cool as the Brisbane combo. The chip can OC to 2.7 GHz on the average on stock vcore. @ 1.9 GHz is faster (and much cooler) than your mom?s p4.

Your either an AMD fanboy, a fool that actualy believes that, or are living in your own reality..

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: stevty2889

Originally posted by: sayNOtoFSB
Even if any new Intel product was to work (C2D for example) you will not see any improvement in cooling or wattage (Conroe is hot as hell just like P4).
I suggest buying an AMD 3600 x2 Brisbane and mobo combo from Newegg for less than $100 (or close to it). You won?t find any Intel?s dual core combo as cheap or as cool as the Brisbane combo. The chip can OC to 2.7 GHz on the average on stock vcore. @ 1.9 GHz is faster (and much cooler) than your mom?s p4.

Your either an AMD fanboy, a fool that actualy believes that, or are living in your own reality..

Sure looks like a plant to me.

C2D is cooler and faster than the X2, and I know, I have 6 of each. And the P4 (any P4) are crap.

 

[secretanchitman]

Originally posted by: Markfw900

Originally posted by: stevty2889

Originally posted by: sayNOtoFSB
Even if any new Intel product was to work (C2D for example) you will not see any improvement in cooling or wattage (Conroe is hot as hell just like P4).
I suggest buying an AMD 3600 x2 Brisbane and mobo combo from Newegg for less than $100 (or close to it). You won?t find any Intel?s dual core combo as cheap or as cool as the Brisbane combo. The chip can OC to 2.7 GHz on the average on stock vcore. @ 1.9 GHz is faster (and much cooler) than your mom?s p4.

Your either an AMD fanboy, a fool that actualy believes that, or are living in your own reality..

Sure looks like a plant to me.

C2D is cooler and faster than the X2, and I know, I have 6 of each. And the P4 (any P4) are crap.

i replaced my pentium D 930 which was idling at 55-60C with my xeon 3060 last night (e6600 equivalent) and the idle temp is 28C at 2.4Ghz.

HUGE HUGE HUGE difference in temps and speed.

any p4 (except northwood C ones) are crap. X2s are basically the low end cpus to get now compared to c2d.

didnt realize how much c2d rapes the p4/pentium d.

 

[Comdrpopnfresh]

thanks for all the input. The computer works for what she uses it for. We already have a spare downstairs (AMD Thunderbird), so I don't think the end justifies the means in the case of getting a new computer. Especially when we just found out yesterday our AC is broken. lol. Too bad the DELL doesn't spit out cold air.... I think she just might need a fresh install- theres a really invasive version of norton that does everything- she'd be better off with corporate edition of antivirus. I guess I'll just build her a comp. when/if she decides/is forced to get vista.
Yeh, about the three volts. I have no clue. CPU-z said 3.1, but now it doesn't even report them. Chalk it up to the DELL system I suppose.

I think I'll just pop some RAM in for her. Shes only got 512mb in there. I might get 2x512 to give her a gig and a half (it'll disable dual-channel, but how much does that actually help?)

 

[sdsdv10]

Sounds like a plan. Extra RAM is always a good upgrade. Hope you get the A/C fixed soon. Not sure where your at, but here in MI you would need it [highs in the mid-80's with nothing but bright sunshine for the next five days ]

 

[sayNOtoFSB]

Originally posted by: stevty2889

Originally posted by: sayNOtoFSB
Even if any new Intel product was to work (C2D for example) you will not see any improvement in cooling or wattage (Conroe is hot as hell just like P4).
I suggest buying an AMD 3600 x2 Brisbane and mobo combo from Newegg for less than $100 (or close to it). You won?t find any Intel?s dual core combo as cheap or as cool as the Brisbane combo. The chip can OC to 2.7 GHz on the average on stock vcore. @ 1.9 GHz is faster (and much cooler) than your mom?s p4.

Your either an AMD fanboy, a fool that actualy believes that, or are living in your own reality..

Well, Well, looks whose talking dishonesty.
Check what a C2D owner says (when he is trying to Overclock his roommate?s AMD)

http://www.ocforums.com/showpo...p=5092839&postcount=10

Below is the Entire link:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=511874

Shall I post Tom's hardware and Spec. results?
According to Spec AMD's x2 are 15% to 60% less power hug than C2D. According to the Spec report (which I am sure the Intel Marketer Thugs will never mention) The AMD X2 will use about 45% less power than Intel's C2D counterpart. You know it's not all about single benchmarks and imaginary use of the PC. People use their machine completely different than what a reviewer do around the net.
Anyway, I made a good inexpensive suggestion for the poster, and it?s up to him to decide (after researching the subject) what's best for his use.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: Comdrpopnfresh


I think I'll just pop some RAM in for her. Shes only got 512mb in there. I might get 2x512 to give her a gig and a half (it'll disable dual-channel, but how much does that actually help?)

Actualy, for P4's dual channel makes a huge huge differance..disabling dual channel will starve the extremely bandwidth hungry CPU..you are better off with 1gig of dual channel vs. 1.5gig of single channel.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: secretanchitman

Originally posted by: Markfw900

Originally posted by: stevty2889

Originally posted by: sayNOtoFSB
Even if any new Intel product was to work (C2D for example) you will not see any improvement in cooling or wattage (Conroe is hot as hell just like P4).
I suggest buying an AMD 3600 x2 Brisbane and mobo combo from Newegg for less than $100 (or close to it). You won?t find any Intel?s dual core combo as cheap or as cool as the Brisbane combo. The chip can OC to 2.7 GHz on the average on stock vcore. @ 1.9 GHz is faster (and much cooler) than your mom?s p4.

Your either an AMD fanboy, a fool that actualy believes that, or are living in your own reality..

Sure looks like a plant to me.

C2D is cooler and faster than the X2, and I know, I have 6 of each. And the P4 (any P4) are crap.

i replaced my pentium D 930 which was idling at 55-60C with my xeon 3060 last night (e6600 equivalent) and the idle temp is 28C at 2.4Ghz.

HUGE HUGE HUGE difference in temps and speed.

any p4 (except northwood C ones) are crap. X2s are basically the low end cpus to get now compared to c2d.

didnt realize how much c2d rapes the p4/pentium d.

uhhh C2D @ 2.4ghz is nothing.

Lets see how much fun you would have if you had a Quadcore running at 3.6ghz.


Yeah.... it spanks about everything on crunching/F@H apps.


Lol.. i had to turn down a L628B C2D E6600, because the last dual core machine i had was replaced with a quadcore. :T

 

[Comdrpopnfresh]

Originally posted by: sayNOtoFSB

Originally posted by: stevty2889

Originally posted by: sayNOtoFSB
Even if any new Intel product was to work (C2D for example) you will not see any improvement in cooling or wattage (Conroe is hot as hell just like P4).
I suggest buying an AMD 3600 x2 Brisbane and mobo combo from Newegg for less than $100 (or close to it). You won?t find any Intel?s dual core combo as cheap or as cool as the Brisbane combo. The chip can OC to 2.7 GHz on the average on stock vcore. @ 1.9 GHz is faster (and much cooler) than your mom?s p4.

Your either an AMD fanboy, a fool that actualy believes that, or are living in your own reality..

Well, Well, looks whose talking dishonesty.
Check what a C2D owner says (when he is trying to Overclock his roommate?s AMD)

http://www.ocforums.com/showpo...p=5092839&postcount=10

Below is the Entire link:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=511874

Shall I post Tom's hardware and Spec. results?
According to Spec AMD's x2 are 15% to 60% less power hug than C2D. According to the Spec report (which I am sure the Intel Marketer Thugs will never mention) The AMD X2 will use about 45% less power than Intel's C2D counterpart. You know it's not all about single benchmarks and imaginary use of the PC. People use their machine completely different than what a reviewer do around the net.
Anyway, I made a good inexpensive suggestion for the poster, and it?s up to him to decide (after researching the subject) what's best for his use.

are you mad? The clock::clock days died years ago. His roomie has a windsor w/ 2ghz stock (I beleive windsor is the lower-power version, either 35 or low 40;s tdp). His c2d is 1.86ghz. The overclock on the windsor is like a 32% overclock. The overclock on his C2D is an 83% overclock! See the stock speeds for yourself:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...p?Item=N82E16819103760
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115005

He probably has inadequate auxiliary cooling above and beyond his water- which would give him high temps (plus if he can't overclock another computer I doubt his abilities to put together a solid build)

His c2d could probably be underclocked from stock and still sneak to the other side of the room at night and beat up his roommate's computer... If you overclock anything by 83% of course its going to be as hot as the previous generation's architecture.
Your forgetting that a C2D in the sub 2ghz range can probably smack around the P4EE w/ a 3.7ghz clock. All while using less power, and less clock speed. Get your facts straight. Did you miss all the reviews saying that current k8 architecture has no model that can compete with a comparably clocked c2d? Even when overclocked (leaving out oc'in on the c2d)?

And just for info's sake, k8 is a derivative of the k7 architecture, and Barcelona is basically improved power-management and interconnect k8, so chances that it will beat a fresh architecture are slim... No one can expect to update a single architecture for over a decade and expect more than one lucky break. And if you think I'm an intel fanboy- the look at my rig in the sig

 

[Comdrpopnfresh]

should I bother getting higher speed ram so it can maybe migrate over to a possible next system, or should I just put more 4300 in?

 

[Cogman]

Originally posted by: sayNOtoFSB

Originally posted by: stevty2889

Originally posted by: sayNOtoFSB
Even if any new Intel product was to work (C2D for example) you will not see any improvement in cooling or wattage (Conroe is hot as hell just like P4).
I suggest buying an AMD 3600 x2 Brisbane and mobo combo from Newegg for less than $100 (or close to it). You won?t find any Intel?s dual core combo as cheap or as cool as the Brisbane combo. The chip can OC to 2.7 GHz on the average on stock vcore. @ 1.9 GHz is faster (and much cooler) than your mom?s p4.

Your either an AMD fanboy, a fool that actualy believes that, or are living in your own reality..

Well, Well, looks whose talking dishonesty.
Check what a C2D owner says (when he is trying to Overclock his roommate?s AMD)

http://www.ocforums.com/showpo...p=5092839&postcount=10

Below is the Entire link:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=511874

Shall I post Tom's hardware and Spec. results?
According to Spec AMD's x2 are 15% to 60% less power hug than C2D. According to the Spec report (which I am sure the Intel Marketer Thugs will never mention) The AMD X2 will use about 45% less power than Intel's C2D counterpart. You know it's not all about single benchmarks and imaginary use of the PC. People use their machine completely different than what a reviewer do around the net.
Anyway, I made a good inexpensive suggestion for the poster, and it?s up to him to decide (after researching the subject) what's best for his use.

OCHungry LIVES!

Do you want to hear what a Current C2D Owner has to say? Or how about the CPU Charts from EVERY reputable website out there declairing the C2D the clear winner in almost every cat at stock speeds? Or how about the insain ability of the C2D to overclock by and entire 1Ghz?

The thing I like the best is you first go out and say, "look at toms Spec results" then you continue to attack individual benchmarks as poor ways to measure a computers speed. You contradicted yourself in one post! Don't get me wrong, amds cheap chips are very competitive to intels, but for pure performance your would have to be blind not to recommend intel.

The poster on the board you recommended knew nothing about AMD overclocking, it would not surprise me if he left cool and quiet on (as he was unable to overclock the cpu very well). As well, you dont know what kind of cooling or room temps we are talking about, he could have a sucky watercooling system and a hot room for all we know.

Again, check out some benchmarks (not just one) anand's are pretty good as he measures everything for a benchmark suit to games ran on the CPU, it is hard to argue him being bias.

 

[Cogman]

Originally posted by: Comdrpopnfresh
should I bother getting higher speed ram so it can maybe migrate over to a possible next system, or should I just put more 4300 in?

I would save and wait for DDR3 to get better as the push for a new ram standard is definitely coming. (which makes me made as I just barely got DDR2 when I found out about DDR3 starting to hit the shelves.)

 

[Cogman]

Originally posted by: Comdrpopnfresh
...
And just for info's sake, k8 is a derivative of the k7 architecture, and Barcelona is basically improved power-management and interconnect k8, so chances that it will beat a fresh architecture are slim... No one can expect to update a single architecture for over a decade and expect more than one lucky break. And if you think I'm an intel fanboy- the look at my rig in the sig

Just real quick, C2D was a derivative of the P3 architecture, as are most new generations. Barcelona is supposed to have a lot more improvements just then better power-management, I will still hold out my judgment for a release and review. (though, it does not look all the good)

 

[Comdrpopnfresh]

the pentium-m was losely base around the III. While the netburst camp in the US won out for a few years, the M camp in Israel began work on Core. From what I can surmise, the core architecture can really only date back to dothan well. Anyhow, I believe the K7-Barcelona link to be much stronger than the III-M