P4 Upgrade

Mir96TA

Golden Member
Oct 21, 2002
1,950
37
91
I am thinking about updrading my CPU.
I want to upgrade from P4 2.6 HT to P4 3.0 Prescott.
I can get a OEM for $206 or Box one for 220.
What you all think; its worth the difference ?
I will not going to use FAN and Heat Sinker off the Intel.
I will use my Dell one.
I do losts of Multimedia Mpeg Encoding and Compressing
 

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
28,520
1,575
126
Not much of an upgrade, imo. A 3.0C is probably faster and won't be as warm. :D

I don't think the 3.0C is worth upgrading to either, btw.

As for the price difference, I think the retail 3 year warranty is worth it.
 

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
28,520
1,575
126
I don't think it's worth $200 for 400mhz more speed.

I would get the retail 3.0C Northwood if I were going to do it.

I didn't check prices, but I'd only get the 3.0E Prescott if it was cheaper.

Are you sure that 400SC can take a Prescott?
 

o1die

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
4,785
0
71
If you do any gaming, I would invest in a better video card instead, such as the 9800 pro (about $200).
 

T9D

Diamond Member
Dec 1, 2001
5,320
6
0
I would just wait until you can afford a 3.4 ghz (and/or they get cheaper). I have a 2.4 and thats what I'm doing.
 

jagec

Lifer
Apr 30, 2004
24,442
6
81
Originally posted by: o1die
If you do any gaming, I would invest in a better video card instead, such as the 9800 pro (about $200).

If you do any gaming, I would recommend investing in a non-Dell:p
 

Pauli

Senior member
Oct 14, 1999
836
0
0
That's not much of an upgrade. I'd bet that you'd be very disappointed after you installed it and then thought of the $200 that you just blew. Plus those Prescotts get pretty hot from what I understand. Your best bet would be to spend $100 on a decent MB and overclock your 2.6C. Should be an easy 3.2-3.4GHz. My new 2.8C makes it to 3.5GHz (at least - I haven't even tried higher yet) at stock voltage, and relatively cool, too.
 

jagec

Lifer
Apr 30, 2004
24,442
6
81
Originally posted by: Pauli
That's not much of an upgrade. I'd bet that you'd be very disappointed after you installed it and then thought of the $200 that you just blew. Plus those Prescotts get pretty hot from what I understand. Your best bet would be to spend $100 on a decent MB and overclock your 2.6C. Should be an easy 3.2-3.4GHz. My new 2.8C makes it to 3.5GHz (at least - I haven't even tried higher yet) at stock voltage, and relatively cool, too.

Don't forget a different PSU, unless Dell has changed things recently...
 

mboy

Diamond Member
Jul 29, 2001
3,309
0
0
Yup, get a a new mobo, not processor (and it will be cheaper to replace mobo anyway). I set up a couple of the Dell 400's for my pops and little sis. Decent machines for what they do with them (NO games for pops, just lots of office type apps and VERy little games for sis, just web browsing, etc. For the $400 with 512mb ram they are decent price as the processor ain't cheap.
You need a real man's rig tho, go get a decent 875p chipset mobo for $100, real HS/fan ( I have the Zalman 7000aCU and overclock.
My 3.0C is @3.675 right now on air.
 

Mir96TA

Golden Member
Oct 21, 2002
1,950
37
91
I am not into Over CLocking
Those days are behind me....
Did it fair share of those 286-P3 450Mhz
Now I do lots Mission Critical stuff and Hardcore Encoding
Games hardly ever. I played Daiblo 3 once this year.....
I do lots I/O Xfer
In my case I picked 25-40 % performace from 533FSB to 800Mhz Dual DDR
 

SickBeast

Lifer
Jul 21, 2000
14,377
19
81
Diablo 3 is out?? WTF? Where have I been? In a cave?

But yeah, as to your question, don't upgrade. You will get a 10% boost at most. Wait until it's at least a 50% performance upgrade then do it. I'm sure the $200 would be much better spent on another aspect of your system. A WD raptor 74GB perhaps?
 

MichaelZ

Senior member
Oct 12, 2003
871
0
76
Originally posted by: Mir96TA
I am thinking about updrading my CPU.
I want to upgrade from P4 2.6 HT to P4 3.0 Prescott.
I can get a OEM for $206 or Box one for 220.
What you all think; its worth the difference ?
I will not going to use FAN and Heat Sinker off the Intel.
I will use my Dell one.
I do losts of Multimedia Mpeg Encoding and Compressing

a 3.0E prescott while do offer a nice jump in encoding performance, it doesn't warrant for an extra $200+ when you already have a 2.6C with HT utilizing dual channel. that system as of current will do the job and at lower temeratures than the prescott. the aspect of the 478 prescott that concerns me is the mofset temperature and there have been a prescott caused motherboard death mentioned by one member previously.

if you do insist on lower encoding times and your budget is $200, then do get it. otherwise, it won't offer anything that spectacular over the 2.6C with HT. at $100 then it's probably worth considering but still hard to argue for it. at $200, not worth it.
 

Pauli

Senior member
Oct 14, 1999
836
0
0
You're only gonna get 15% reduction in encoding times at best. Your current 2 hour encode will only be reduced to 1 hour 42 minutes. Hardly seems worth it...