Socket 370 recommendation

HokieESM

Senior member
Jun 10, 2002
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I'm building a system from several components I managed to pick up at "fire sale" prices (the first four below were obtained for less than $150)... its based on:

Intel Socket 370 motherboard (Tualatin capable) D815EEA2LU (integrated LAN, sound, video)
512MB of PC133
Seagate Barracuda IV 40GB HDD
Toshiba DVD drive (SD-M1612)
ATI 8500LE 64MB (that's been sitting around)

Now, notice that the CPU is missing. This is basically a "second" machine for checking email, browsing the web, burning a few music CDs, possibly running some "older" games (like Unreal--not 2003). What would be adequate here? The options are:

Celeron 1.3A (~$52 at googlegear)
PIII 1.13A (~$105)
PIII-S 1.26 (~$175)

Obviously, the CPUs are from slowest to fastest... but is the Celeron going to be adequate (saving the $50-125 could be nice), or should I jump to the 1.13? Or is the 1.26 really the only way to go?

I appreciate any advice you can give me! Thanks.
 

Shooters

Diamond Member
Sep 29, 2000
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I say go for the Celeron. It will be more than enough for the purposes you described and is less than half the price of any other processor you mentioned.
 

Electrode

Diamond Member
May 4, 2001
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I'd say get the Celeron. The A Celerons have 256k cache, so they are P3's in all but name. I've heard they overclock well, too.

EDIT: Actually, you should get a 1.0A Celeron. A 1GHz Celeron overclocked to 1.3 GHz would be at 133 MHz FSB, same as a P3, whereas a 1.3GHz Celeron at default speed has a 100 MHz FSB.

Of course, if you want maximum performance, get the 1.26 P3-S. It has 512k cache, same as a P4 Northwood. I have one, and it's really quite nice. :)
 

HokieESM

Senior member
Jun 10, 2002
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thanks for the recommendations! I was leaning towards the Celeron--I have another computer (see the link below) that's a P4 2.26 with (now) 1 GB of PC1066, so I don't need "power". The main thing here was a computer that is quiet and cool for my bedroom. And the extra cash I save might go for a ATI AIW 7500.

That's a good question: would the Celeron do for the encoding/decoding? I've seen some benchmarks--shockingly enough, the P3-based Celerons do OK. Any experience there? Thanks!