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Real world performance increase?

M

Migroo

Diamond Member
Hi everyone.

First of all this isn't a price check thread.

I'm fairly skint at the moment so I can't afford a new mobo/CPU and ram for my PC.

Atm I have:

Athlon XP 1500+
512 ram
Gigabyte GA-7DXR mobo

Its all fairly oldskool. 😉 I've been out of the hobby for too long now so I forget how P4s compared to Palominos.

Would changing the above setup for:

P4 2.4
1 gb ram
Suitable mobo

Be worthwhile? My main concern is reliability. Its my office PC so it doesn't have to play games. The only problem with the 1500+ is that it's starting to feel a little slow. I'd like to upgrade and have another year/18 months/2 years worth of use from it.

Thoughts?
 
2 years worth...then yes, because of the extra ram and such, but try and wait to upgrade to something worthwhile.
 
Sorry I ought to have added that the new CPU/mobo/RAM is second hand and I'd be paying the 'going rate' - whatever that is at the time.

I just can't afford new items at the moment (but I'll have a good look into it to make sure).
 
First of all, there are several flavors of the Pentium 4 2.4 GHz....

2.4A (400 MHz bus)
2.4B (533 MHz bus)
2.4C (800 MHz bus, hyper-threading)

Generally speaking, the 2.4B is about on par with the Athlon XP 2400+ (2.0 GHz). Of course, you should check out the THG benchmarks and see where each CPU's strengths lie.

The trick is that Pentiums are always more expensive than Athlons, and so they're never a good buy. Consider the following street prices...

$80 Athlon XP 2400+
$110 Pentium 4 2.4B
$130 Pentium 4 2.4C

....as you can see, the Athlon XP 2400+, which is on par with the P4 2.4s, costs $30-$50 less. Factor in your motherboard, and you have an obvious solution: Get a faster Athlon.
 
A good point, well made... thanks!! 🙂

I think I'll check out the second hand places as where I live (the UK) I can't get new Thoroughbred Athlons any more, only Bartons.

Thanks for everyone's help!
 
Originally posted by: hurtstotalktoyou
By the way, an Athlon 1500+ isn't *that* slow. It's a heck of a lot faster than a P4 1.5, that's for sure.
Click to expand...


That isn't saying much.A p3 1.2 ghz is faster than a p4 1.5.
 
Originally posted by: Hacp
Originally posted by: hurtstotalktoyou
By the way, an Athlon 1500+ isn't *that* slow. It's a heck of a lot faster than a P4 1.5, that's for sure.
Click to expand...


That isn't saying much.A p3 1.2 ghz is faster than a p4 1.5.
Click to expand...

In certain applications, yes. But an Athlon XP 1500+ can run just about anything you throw at it, albeit slowly.
 
The P4 2.4 (I'm assuming A, which is a Northwood on a 400MHz bus) will be a considerable bit faster than your current setup. With a little overclocking...

You could go with a faster XP, and if cash is tight, that might be the better choice. But you'll need at least a 2400+ to keep up with the 2.4.
 
Originally posted by: Migroo
Hi everyone.

First of all this isn't a price check thread.

I'm fairly skint at the moment so I can't afford a new mobo/CPU and ram for my PC.

Atm I have:

Athlon XP 1500+
512 ram
Gigabyte GA-7DXR mobo

Its all fairly oldskool. 😉 I've been out of the hobby for too long now so I forget how P4s compared to Palominos.

Would changing the above setup for:

P4 2.4
1 gb ram
Suitable mobo

Be worthwhile? My main concern is reliability. Its my office PC so it doesn't have to play games. The only problem with the 1500+ is that it's starting to feel a little slow. I'd like to upgrade and have another year/18 months/2 years worth of use from it.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...


Screw the P4 dude, pick up a Sempron 3100 Palermo and a socket 754 mobo for less than 200 shipped (for even a nice mobo). Stick in 1gb of corsair value select ram for $80 and you're good to go for a damn long time. Not to mention that the Sempron will absolutely demolish the P4 2.4 in performance 😀
 
Originally posted by: albumleaf
Originally posted by: Migroo
Hi everyone.

First of all this isn't a price check thread.

I'm fairly skint at the moment so I can't afford a new mobo/CPU and ram for my PC.

Atm I have:

Athlon XP 1500+
512 ram
Gigabyte GA-7DXR mobo

Its all fairly oldskool. 😉 I've been out of the hobby for too long now so I forget how P4s compared to Palominos.

Would changing the above setup for:

P4 2.4
1 gb ram
Suitable mobo

Be worthwhile? My main concern is reliability. Its my office PC so it doesn't have to play games. The only problem with the 1500+ is that it's starting to feel a little slow. I'd like to upgrade and have another year/18 months/2 years worth of use from it.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...


Screw the P4 dude, pick up a Sempron 3100 Palermo and a socket 754 mobo for less than 200 shipped (for even a nice mobo). Stick in 1gb of corsair value select ram for $80 and you're good to go for a damn long time. Not to mention that the Sempron will absolutely demolish the P4 2.4 in performance 😀
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
 
What do you mean by "going rate" for the used P4 setup? And will you be overclocking? 2.4 P4 is ok, 2.4@3+ is better 🙂. I tend to agree with the others though, it will probably be cheaper just to throw a barton in your current setup. Mobile bartons start at like 70 and they all seem to do 2.2 pretty easily. 2.2 barton is comparable to a P4 around 2.8 - 3.0 depending on the apps.
 
Sempron is a good choice. But in the value category you'd be talking a 2600+ most likely, and that won't demolish a 2.4 P4.

Take your pick.
 
Going rate on the P4 = I'm not sure. A friend of mine is selling it second hand.

Regardless of setup, I won't be overclocking.

I can get a Thoroughbred 2600+ in there without changing the motherboard.

The P4 2.4 would come with a 845 board (and be cheaper than new bits, I'd assume!)

 
Originally posted by: Migroo
Excuse the noobishness, but is the Sempron the 'new' Duron - ie the value chip?
Click to expand...

Yes, the Sempron is the new Duron. Do not get the Semprons that are in socket 462, as Athlon XPs are better. You want a Sempron that runs on socket 754. A socket 754 Sempron is an Athlon 64 with less cache and no 64 bit support(IE really fast).

A socket 754 Sempron 3100+ is comparable to a 3-3.2Ghz P4.
 
If you have an older 2mb cache HDD that was the contemporary to the other components, then just going to a bigger, faster, 8mb cache model could eliminate some of the sluggishness you are noticing. If you are CPU limited, then by all means do the upgrade, but I'd include a 8mb cache HDD regardless 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Migroo
Going rate on the P4 = I'm not sure. A friend of mine is selling it second hand.

Regardless of setup, I won't be overclocking.

I can get a Thoroughbred 2600+ in there without changing the motherboard.

The P4 2.4 would come with a 845 board (and be cheaper than new bits, I'd assume!)
Click to expand...

*Shudder!* If the 845 board carries the i845S SDR SDRAM variant, that'll make for a really slow system. i845D (PC2100) is still a bit slow, but anything higher, like an i845E, i845PE, etc should be fine. Check up on which i845 chipset variant the board has 🙂
 
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