Should I upgrade my P4 Celeron?

[tmchow]

I'm upgrading from my mini-form factor Shuttle PC to a full tower as I need more speed.. I'm repurposing a Dell 400SC i bought awhile back on a hot deal.

I mistakingly thought that it was a P4 with 800mhz bus with hyperthreading.. turns out that it's actually a P4 2.4hz 400mhz bus CELERON.

I am wondering if it's worth it to even upgrade the CPU in this to either a 2.8 or 3.0 Prescott CPU with 800mhz bus.

3.0ghz are about $183.

 

[Mloot]

Heck, yeah, it's definitely worth it (although I wouldn't spend close to $200 for that upgrade). You would be better served to search the FS/FT forum for a used 3.0C Northwood, which I've seen regularly sell for under $150. It would run faster and cooler than a 3.0E Prescott.

That 2.4 Celeron is most likely an old Northwood job with only 128K of onboard cache. Those Celly's were dog slow, and a 3.0C (or even "E" for that matter) would be a large jump in performance.

 

[butch84]

depends what you are going to use it for. Just email and whatnot, the celeron is just fine. Anything more heavy duty though, I would say the 3ghz northwood core that Mloot suggested is a good idea. What cpu are you coming from in your Shuttle PC? That would give us an idea of the performance levels you are used to.

Good luck

 

[tmchow]

Comign from an AMD 2000+ (whatever speed that is in Intel terms).

I'm planning on doing photo editing and current PC isn't cutting it.. i'm talking about possible 8MB files in RAW.

I think my board is a socket 478 but not sure... so 3.0C northwood is good bet and will work in socket 478?

 

[Zap]

What model is that Dell? It may or may not be upgradeable... will it have Prescott support? Will it support 800MHz FSB? What chipset does it have?

 

[phaxmohdem]

Originally posted by: Zap
What model is that Dell? It may or may not be upgradeable... will it have Prescott support? Will it support 800MHz FSB? What chipset does it have?

Yeah, check to make sure your board can even support FSB's higher than 400 before you do anything else.

 

[tmchow]

It's a Dell 400SC, and according to the resources I've read, it supports 800mhz Prescott CPUs.