Pentium 4 Prescott at 4+ ghz for mainstream use

Cheesepie

Member
Aug 30, 2011
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Would this 775 CPU at 4.0 ghz be sufficient for microsoft office, youtube videos, web browsing, etc? I'm on windows 7 btw, if that makes a difference.


Also, what is the likelyhood of a Pentium 4 Prescott even hitting 4+ ghz?

The rest of the setup is:
Abit IP35-e motherboard
4gb corsair xms pc2-6400 ram
Nvidia GeForce GT220
Antec Earthwatts 500 watt PSU
Hyper 212+ Heatsink and fan with 2 fans

I actually have a Core 2 duo e6600 in there at 3.6 ghz at the moment. I know it would be a massive downgrade, but if the Pentium 4 fits the bill, I can use the Core 2 Duo for something else.
 

Piano Man

Diamond Member
Feb 5, 2000
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Should be fine, especially since you have dedicated GPU. Weren't those prescotts hot things? 4GHz probably gets a little toasty. I could be confusing it for something else though.
 

notty22

Diamond Member
Jan 1, 2010
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What model is it. Some of those are 32bit cpu's ? Might that be a issue ?
 

Cheesepie

Member
Aug 30, 2011
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you can use up to 3gb ram on 32 bit right? well, it wont make much of a difference, because i'm downgrading to 3gb anyways. other than that, is there any downside to a 32 bit cpu?

and another question, could a prescott at 4.0 ghz or more, run league of legends? even barely?
 

Arkaign

Lifer
Oct 27, 2006
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That's a REALLY good mobo to drop an upgrade in. You might not necessarily need it in a major way, but I'd pick up one of the cheap C2Ds that people are letting go for cheap, something like an E8400 or even a Pentium Dual Core E5200 (should be less than $50). They will be hugely unbelievably faster, and a lot cooler to boot.
 

Cheesepie

Member
Aug 30, 2011
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That's a REALLY good mobo to drop an upgrade in. You might not necessarily need it in a major way, but I'd pick up one of the cheap C2Ds that people are letting go for cheap, something like an E8400 or even a Pentium Dual Core E5200 (should be less than $50). They will be hugely unbelievably faster, and a lot cooler to boot.

I already have a core 2 duo e6600 in here at 3.6 ghz. the thing is, i need the e6600 for something else, and i had a pentium 4 laying around, so it wont go to waste and i can use the e6600 for something else.
 

Rhoxed

Golden Member
Jun 23, 2007
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and another question, could a prescott at 4.0 ghz or more, run league of legends? even barely?

with a semi-decent video card yes.

i was able to play LoL on a p4 @ 3.2ghz and a FX5900XT albeit low settings, it managed the 30fps fluid.
 

palladium

Senior member
Dec 24, 2007
539
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Should be do-able for the tasks you mentioned. I'd make sure to get the latest version of Flash so that your video card can accelerate HD youtube videos. Heck unless it's for LoL I wouldn't bother with OC at all.
 

SlowSpyder

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
17,305
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At work I just recently upgraded my machine from a 3.0GHz P4 with 2GB of memory and onboard Intel graphics. It certainly chugged along here and there, but for the most part it was functional. It won't be efficient compared to current processors, but it should be functional enough.
 

nanaki333

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2002
3,772
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agreed with all above referencing with decent video card. as long as you can offload to gpu for any flash you want to watch, you should be fine. probably be better than browsing with a single core atom :)
 

dpk33

Senior member
Mar 6, 2011
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would there be a really really noticeable difference from going to a P4 from a Core 2 Duo? if so, what kind of differences?
 

bryanW1995

Lifer
May 22, 2007
11,144
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Id grab one of those conroes for $30 on eBay, you'll probably save that much on your power bill over the next year or two, anyway. Then sell the Prescott for $15 or whatever and you'll almost be cash neutral on the transaction to boot.
 

alyarb

Platinum Member
Jan 25, 2009
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Here you can see a 2.2 GHz Core2 spanking a 3.46 GHz dual Pentium 4

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/65?vs=93

The bottom-end Core2's for $30 on ebay are 65nm and should still be able to hit 2.8-3.3 GHz. Sell your Pentium 4 for $10 or something but don't ruin that nice computer.
 
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peonyu

Platinum Member
Mar 12, 2003
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would there be a really really noticeable difference from going to a P4 from a Core 2 Duo? if so, what kind of differences?


Core 2 duo stomps the P4 into the ground, its not even a contest. A Core2 @ 2ghz would beat the 4ghz p4, and thats not factoring in the 2nd core.
 

AdamK47

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
15,820
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A 90nm Prescott at 4GHz with the required voltage bump to go with it is going to run hot. I doubt it would be stable either. 3.5GHz is more likely.
 
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Subyman

Moderator <br> VC&G Forum
Mar 18, 2005
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I ran a 4Ghz Prescott overclock in the past. It was watercooled though, so I don't know if it is viable to go air with something like that. The TDP was ~130W at those speeds. If you can find an old Tuniq Tower, then you may be able to do it but it will be loud.

I'm with the others, just buy a e4400 or something similar for dirt cheap and use it with a stock cooler. It will be quieter, faster, and will save you money in the long run on electricity.
 

gevorg

Diamond Member
Nov 3, 2004
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I would seriously do a comparison of electricity usage to see how long will it take for a newer 32nm system to pay-off at least half of itself.
 

Deanodarlo

Senior member
Dec 14, 2000
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Seriously, it's time to put the P4 to bed. It's completely obsolete when you have a motherboard capable of running Core2 even if you want the E6600 for something else.

Core2's (Duo) are selling for dirt cheap prices these days, everyone is ditching them for Quads, it's just not worth running that power hungry inefficient chip. You want a E7200 or similar 45nm core2 for websurfing, undervolted. It will use about 30W as opposed to 130W.

To answer your question, even at 3.0Ghz it's fast enough for what you mentioned. Helps a lot if you use a browser like Firefox with Flashblock and Adblock Plus to limit CPU waste on wepages, but I've surfed on an Athlon64 2200Mhz and it can handle it fine (including flash video up to 720p) WITHOUT GPU acceleration.

You have a GT220, which should accelerate flash and video so you wouldn't need to overclock the P4 for such basic tasks.
 
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MrTransistorm

Senior member
May 25, 2003
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Core 2 duo stomps the P4 into the ground, its not even a contest.
No kidding.

For example, my 2.5 GHz C2D laptop is about 2.5 times as fast as my 3.0 GHz Northwood P4 at video encoding.

The P4 is absolutely pathetic by today's standards. I have the urge to put my foot through my P4 at least once a day :twisted:. If it wasn't my home sever, I probably would have followed through by now.