Value CPU's...What Should I Do?

Mundos

Member
Apr 29, 2006
148
0
0
Gentlemen, gentlemen and ladies if there are any...

How are you all doing? That's great!

Here's my situation.

My goal is to have a system that can smoothly run all my midi-related programs (NUENDO with plug-ins, Band in the box, Full VST libraries, etc) in addition to having many firefox tabs, MSN windows, and possibly encording all taking place in the background.

I realize doing multitrack records is going to require some nice drive speed, but I'd like to stick with an 80gb 7200x8

The machines currently at my disposal are: Compaq SFF (pictured in sig)
Duron 900 256x40
Athlon 1800+ @ 1.6 512x80

I'm going to be using the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 card and I'm willing to listen to whatever suggestions you might have for expenditures...I've been looking at the celeron d's, low end a64s and the pentium d 305 as viable options should i decide not to go with my 1800+.

Let me know what you think i should do...and money IS a concern...the less money spent the better!

Thanks!
 

Mundos

Member
Apr 29, 2006
148
0
0
I'm in canada, and have my own wholesaler...so basically american prices...

i'm leary of going s754 since its obsolete...it would be easier to resell a 775 or 939 system if i decided i didn't want it anymore or wanted to upgrade.
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
670
126
Celeron D performance is bad, a Sempron / socket 754 combo is a much better choice and would let you use existing DDR333 memory if you have a bunch for your AXP without much performance loss.

intel has dropped the D 930 down to $213, it's a better choice than the 805 if you can stretch your budget, since the 9-series won't overheat, explode, and kill your cat.
 

Harvey

Administrator<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
35,057
67
91
Originally posted by: Mundos
i'm leary of going s754 since its obsolete...it would be easier to resell a 775 or 939 system if i decided i didn't want it anymore or wanted to upgrade.
If you're on a budget, I'd deal with what works. It'll always be as good as it is, and it's much faster than what you've got, now.

If you're in Canada, you don't have quick access to Fry's. They have these weekly specials where they sell various CPU's plus the motherboard for about the best price for the CPU, alone, on pricewatch. That means, the motherboard is essentially free so all you need to know is, ECS makes cheap motherbaords, but the ones with decent chipsets, such as nVidia or VIA, are decent. They're not hotrod overclockers, but when it's free, all you really need is that it works to its own spec, which is very usable. :)
 

MWink

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
3,642
1
76
Just to give you some idea of my personal experiences recently. I've got a Celeron D system that is just unbelieveably slow. Even webpages won't scroll smoothly on it. My old Athlon XP 3000+ flies circles around it. The AXP was pretty fast but is now aging. My new Sempron 3300+ seems surprisingly fast. It seems quite a bit faster than the AXP. I know it will have poor resale value but considering how little it cost, I'm not too concerned.
 

996GT2

Diamond Member
Jun 23, 2005
5,212
0
76
Celerons are not the way to go. On a OVing forum where they posted SuperPi results, a 2.4 GHz celeron was nearly beat by a Pentium III @ 733 mhz. Of course, SuperPi is by no means a measure of absulute performance, but that gives you an idea of how Celerons perform.

I would get an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ or an Intel Pentium D 920, since Intel has dropped prices so much.

BTW Here's the link of the Celeron vs PIII Times (SCROLL DOWN)
SuperPi 1M times: Celeron- 2:34, PIII-2:47
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=39994&page=6&pp=20
 

dexvx

Diamond Member
Feb 2, 2000
3,899
0
0
I don't know if you people are intentionally misleading, but a Celeron-D 256/512 KB L2 is considerably superior to ANY pentium-3 CPU. The Celeron-D's perform PR to clock against most AthlonXP setups.
 

996GT2

Diamond Member
Jun 23, 2005
5,212
0
76
AThat wasn't a Celeron D, and SuperPi doesnt tell all about performance, like I said
 
Dec 30, 2004
12,553
2
76
I wouldn't call S754 dead yet. AMD will continue producing processor for it into 2007. 939 they're going to keep going to 2008. I'd pick up the 80$ ECS nForce3-A + Sempron 3100+ bundle if I were you. Get some quality ram and you can overclock that thing like crazy. I'm only at about 2.25 Ghz with mine but it feels a lot faster than my AthlonXP 3200+ I had.
 

Maximilian

Lifer
Feb 8, 2004
12,604
15
81
I would recommend the cheapest pentium D 9xx series and a cheap 775 mobo. The 9xx series runs far cooler than any of the 8xx and the new c1 ctepping has similar idle power draw to an A64. Also you could encode and do all the others things without any lag or stuttering.

Also about the celeron D's theyre not bad at all, its just the castrated celeron C's? with 128kb cache that sucked. The celerons are decent value chips, but the semprons would probably be a better choice due to the extra performance and the fact that 754 is far from dead. Socket 775 isnt dead but apparenly no board today will support any future new generation cpu's so they might as well just stick them on a newer socket.
 

Mundos

Member
Apr 29, 2006
148
0
0
hey guys!

thanks for the input!

i think the 900 series pentiums are out of my price range...and im still not terribly interested in 754's...so i think my best bet is going to be using my 1800+ til i find a deal on a used s939 :D