What CPU speed is good enough for typical use?

[Whitedog]

Heck, even if you already have the fastest processor in the world, but you're running it with a mediocre 7200RPM WD "Special Edition" drive, you'd notice a big difference if you upgraded to a SCSI 15K RPM drive

Damn... I just upgraded to a WD JB1200 too...



Gettin' a Cheetah X15 this spring.

 

[wyvrn]

The hard drive usually makes the biggest difference on an older system, but only if the bios supports the upgraded speeds. For instance, my old Celery 500 system didn't support anything over ATA66. Add in that the bios didn't support more than 128MB ram in any slot, and I opted for a mobo/cpu/harddisk upgrade.

 

[CotswoldCS]

Upgrading - A Cautionary Tale.

I was looking at upgrading a Pentium II-350 machine about a month ago. Although it had 128Mb RAM it only had a v slow 6 or 8Gb hard disk. I couldn't upgrade the processor without a new motherboard, a new motherboard required with AthlonXP 2000+ required a better PSU. A new case was almost as cheap as a new 300W PSU. The Athlon XP CPU really required more than my aging PC100 SDRAM, so new memory was required. I really needed a new 7,200rpm hard disk that supported ATA100/133 so that was on the shopping list. I didn't want the expense of a new sound card, but I could opt for a motherboard with on-board 6 channel sound for about the same price. So the old 16bit ISA SB sound card was rejected. I didn't want a new graphics card either, what was wrong with my 8Mb ATI Rage Pro graphics card. Then again, I could get on-board sound, LAN and graphics if I went for a slightly different motherboard. The mobo had an AGP port so I could upgrade to Radeon 9700 in a couple of years if I wanted.

I thought that now was the time to get that CD-RW while I was upgrading my computer. And my 2 button mouse was getting really bad - I'll treat myself to a new wheel mouse I thought.

So I looked at my shopping list: Mobo with on-board sound, graphics, LAN, USB 2.0, AthlonXP 2000+ CPU, Fan, Case w 300W CPU, 7,200rpm hard disk, CD-RW, mouse.

Hmm, so my upgrade had virually turned into a new computer. I would keep my keyboard, CD-ROM drive and modem. Wow! I could buy those for about £40 easy. I would have to keep my Windows 98 OS but really wanted to keep up with technology and move to WinXP. That would cost a fair bit extra.

I did my maths and ordered a new base unit with keyboard, mouse, windowsXP, 5 years warranty (3 years on-site, 2yrs RTB). Warranty is a big issue. You upgrade yourself and you are stuck with 1 year standard warranty.

 

[CraigRT]

I'd get a Duron 1.1 or 1.2 (cheap) with like 256 RAM running Windows 2000.

perfectly fast, hell, a duron can even be okay for gaming... it's plenty good for office use.

 

[RGN]

I would say any 1Ghz proc with 256MB, is fine for the average user.

 

[Slogun]

My wife's 500mhz celeron (my 4 year old handmedown) running Win98Se does fine for the uses you mentioned.

At my job, we use 500mhz P3s for secure online data management via NT4, also with no problems.

IMHO, that's one big reason there is not much demand for computers these days. A lot of the old computers from as long as 4 years ago can still do the job.

 

[slackware1995]

I have to agree with what several people have already said about cpu/hdd.

Shortlly after I met my girlfriend about 1 1/2 yrs ago her hard drive died. She only has an Emachine with a celeron 466. This machine came with 32mb RAM and a 5400 RPM 10gb hdd. I made her spend an extra $10 to get a 30gb 7200 RPM hdd. That junk machine absolutely flew compared to how it performed prior to the new hdd.

A few weeks later I added 64mb more RAM... thinking that it would really make a difference... nope, I was wrong. For what she uses it for (web surfing, chat, light games, some MS Word), hardly a difference at all. (I will admit it now has 256mb of RAM total)

The only thing this machine is missing is an AGP slot for decent 3D performance.


The moral of this story is that the "average user" does not even need 1Ghz. They dont notice that Word loads in 2.1 seconds instead of 1.2 seconds. Do they even care?

On to my recommendations.

Get a low end AMD XP cpu. Reason being is that they are almost as cheap as a Duron and are a little bit more future-proof. As said by someone else, you can get one for about US$50.

Hard Drive: Get a 7200 RPM drive that has the capacity that they will need for the next few years. I wouldnt worry about spending extra for one that has 8mb cache. Pure price/performance. Forget about RAID, too expensive for the little extra performance they would get.

RAM: This is simple. If you already have enough SDRAM then stick with it. The normal preformance difference is about 5%-10% for DDR. If you need more RAM than you currently have, then buy DDR now because it is about the same cost anyways.

Motherboard: This is also pretty simple. If you are keeping your SDRAM, get a motherboard that supports SDRAM and any other features you need. If buying DDR, then get a motherboard that supports DDR.

Vid Card: Depending on your budget, either get a Geforce 2MX or a 4MX (or ATi equivilant depending on your tastes). This will provide enough 3D for the times you may play 3D games.


So basically you spend as little as possible now, just enough to keep them happy for a couple of years. Getting just the basics (cpu, motherboard, hdd, vid card, and assuming you use SDRAM) you should be able to do it for about $250. For this type of application, it is much cheaper to upgrade bare minimum every 2 years than to build a killer system and upgrade every 3 years.

Just my $0.02 worth (pun intended)

 

[Ciber]

From Newegg...

ANTEC SOLUTION SERIES Model# SLK2600AMB w/ANTEC SMART POWER 300W P4/AMD POWER SUPPLY ATX12V - RETAIL
Offering a large 8-drive capacity in a convenient mini tower. This cost-effective new Super Mini Tower comes in an attractive color - Antec Metallic Bronze - with the features and quality you expect from Antec.
Specifications:
Driver Bays: External 4 X 5.25" - 2 X 3.5" (Tool-less Drive rail system for 5.25 Devices) Internal 2 X 3.5" (Quick Release Drive cage for 3.5" Drive bays)
System Board: Standard ATX
Expansion Slot: 7 Slots
USB/IO: 2 X USB (front)
Optional Fans: 2 X 80mm (front & rear)
Case Dimensions: 16.75" (L) X 8.25" (W) X 16.75" (H) more info-> N82E16811129117 $59.00


Asus A7N266-VM NVIDIA nFORCE 220 Chipset 266/200MHz FSB Motherboard Micro ATX- Retail
Chipset:nForce 220D
FSB:266/200 MHz
2 non ECC DDR DIMM slots
IDE:UDMA100 up to 4 devices
Slots:3x PCI 1xAGP PRO 4x
Onboard LAN:10/100 Mbps LAN controller
AC97and Dolby Digital (AC-3) Encoder Audio
Nvidia Nforce GeFORCE2 Video. more info-> N82E16813131417 $67.99


AMD Athlon 1600+/266 FSB XP Processor CPU OEM
Athlon XP 1600+/ 1.40GHz, AX1600DMT3C. Stepping core AGOIA. The AMD Athlon XP processor with QuantiSpeed architecture powers the next generation in computing platforms, delivering extra performance for cutting-edge applications and an extraordinary computing experience.
Specifications:
CPU: 1.4 GHz
Type: 1600 XP
Cache: 256K
BUS: 266MHz
Socket A (PGA)
OEM (Processor Only) more info>
N82E16819103303 $51.99


KINGSTON KVR266X64C25/256 256MB 32x64 PC2100 DDR RAM CL 2.5- OEM CL2.5 Six Layers High Quality Board184-Pin Unbuffered. Requires DDR supported Motherboard - Lifetime Warranty. more info>
N82E16820141002 $67.00


WD WESTERN DIGITAL EIDE HARD DRIVE 20GB 7200RPM MODEL # WD200BB -Caviar OEM, DRIVE ONLY
Specifications:
Size: 20 Gigabytes
Interface: IDE ULTRA ATA100
Seek time: 8.9ms
RPM:7200
Cache 2MB
OEM(Drive alone) 1 Year Manufacturer Warranty --* Works With PC & Mac *-- more info-> N82E16822137116 $63.00


SONY CD-RW ModelCRX195E1-BK 40x12x48 Black - OEM
Specifications:
Interface: ATAPI (EIDE)
Read / Write Speed: Write (CD-RW discs): 4X, 8X, 10X, 12X Max. Write (CD-R discs): 4X, 12X, 16X CLV, 18X - 40X Z-CLV Max. Read (CD): 48X Max.
Burst Transfer Rate: 16.7 MB/s (PIO Mode 4) 33.3 MB/s (Ultra DMA)
Buffer Memory: 2 MB with Buffer Underrun Technology
Random Access Time: 150 ms. (Avg., including latency)
Supported OS: Windows® 95/SE/2000 and Windows Millennium Edition, and Windows XP? operating system Burst Transfer Rate: 16.7 MB/s (PIO Mode 4) 33.3 MB/s (Ultra DMA)
MTBF: 100,000 POH (25% duty cycle)
Mounting: Horizontal or Vertical
OEM (Software cd included) more info-> N82E16827106802 $55.00


The motherboard has good integrated sound/lan/video.

 

[Siddhartha]

Originally posted by: jrichrds
For a computer that will primarily be used for Internet applications and word processing (no games or anything considered CPU intensive), at what CPU speed will you no longer be able to notice the difference with faster CPUs? (ballpark figure of course).

I remember moving from a K6-2 333Mhz to a Celeron 550Mhz felt like a huge speed increase.

I would get:
CPU: retail Athlon XP1700+: $63.00 (at Newegg.com)
Motherboard: MSI KT3 Ultra2: $81
Memory: 256 meg RAM. $69 (for Win XP get 512 meg)
Hard drive: WD WESTERN DIGITAL "SPECIAL EDITION" 80GB: $115

 

[smp]

Originally posted by: Sunner
My guess is most people wouldn't notice much of a difference between a VIA C3-800 MHz and a P4-3.06 GHz.

I use a PIII 450 w/ 2k sp2 at work, for internet and word processing

I don't notice a difference (for those things) when I get home to my 1.4 tbird/DDR rig.

Now, if I play games or do photoshop stuff, yes, there is a difference. Normal GUI OS stuff is the same though.

 

[Mavrick007]

Your old celeron 550 would be good enough for what you want to do. Seriously, what do you want to see? You are doing word processing and using the internet, it's not a graphic or gaming rig. Get some extra ram and a decent OS and you will be fine.

If you buy a fast 1Gig+ machine, you will notice speed in some aps, but you will not go "Wow, my word processor never worked so well!".

Best advice is to get ram and a dsl connection with a good OS and word package and you will be set. If you ever plan on using your machine for anything more than that, then you will need a faster processor, but worry about that then.

 

[lorlabnew]

Got an old PII 400MHz (and a few other similar boxes) and it runs fine for anything like web browsing, office apps and such. On the other hand, I beefed it up with 384MB (max. for my BH6 mb), Promise Ultra100-TX2 controller & 7200rpm drive. (Without these extra parts and with only 128MB of RAM, the machine would be sluggish and fairly inadequate for todays daily use).

I'm using Win2kPro (which it runs great) and SuSE 8.1 Linux (which it runs, but crawls a bit in desktop apps, particularly due to KDE 3.0 demands; partially my fault since I run 1600*1200*24bit, and using only 16MB TNT AGP adapter; it got slightly better when I tested it with Radeon7500 64MB DDR).

Since lower end hardware is pretty cheap these days, I would say it's worth to build new rigs with Intel or AMD around 1600MHz instead keep upgrading old boxes... when I count how much I spent on controllers, RAM, better videocards, sound cards etc., it would be smarter to replace those old machines with new inexpensive ones, based on cheaper motherboards with all the stuff build-in (ATA100, sound, nic, video, DDR ram).

Have older p133's and p200mmx boxes as well (loaded with RAM close to their mb's max. capacities, generally 64-128MB), but they are simply too slow for newer software. Still somehow usable with WinNT4, or as a command-line only Linux PC's.

 

[RalfHutter]

Originally posted by: Sunner
My guess is most people wouldn't notice much of a difference between a VIA C3-800 MHz and a P4-3.06 GHz.

I've got a 1.1A Tualeron (512MB PC100 SDRAM and a 80GB Barracuda IV HDD) sitting right next to my P4 3.0GHZ (1024MB DDR400 RAM and 40GB + 80GB Barracuda IV's) on a KVM switch so I can easily switch back and forth between the two systems.

For web-browsing and normal everyday computing operations I can just barely tell any difference between the two different rigs. I'm really impressed with my little Celeron box.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: slackware1995
If you need more RAM than you currently have, then buy DDR now because it is about the same cost anyways.

Mushkin SDRAM 512M 64X64 PC-133 32x8 Chip Tsop, 168 Pins DIMM, 6 Layer PC Board, Gold Leads , True PC133 , Rated CAS 3, SPD EEPROM, Lifetime Warranty. OEM - $54

MUSHKIN DDR 512MB PC-2700 - OEM
AMD, VIA, ALI Approved, PC2700 = 333MHz FSB, Rated 2.5-3-3; 6ns DDR333, 6-Layer PCB, Unbuffered. LifeTime Warranty. Model#: 512PC2700 -OEM - $175

So DDR is really "about the same cost" as SDR? Maybe if you're Bill Gates, but not for the rest of us. BTW, I just added 256MB of PC/133 SDR SDRAM to my main system, giving it 512MB in total, and the improvement in "smoothness," especially when running multiple memory-hungry applications, is quite apparent. I could have increased the total to 1GB, but at this point that would be kind of pointless, since I don't usually go much over 512MB of RAM anyway (including swap). Once I get a good high-res scanner, things will be different, but for now this works fine.

 

[thorin]

You can pickup a Duron (1.2 or 1.3GHz) and ECS K7S5A which will handle all 'everyday' tasks nicely for ~$100.

Thorin

 

[merlocka]

What cracks me up is I just re-formatted / re-installed Windows on a 600MHz laptop with 128MB ram (that I have sitting next to my 1.3GHz Tbird with 512MB ram)

I was like, whoa... this thing is pretty quick!

That's why I don't buy new hardware anymore, if I want a 50% speed boost I'll just reinstall windows.... again.

 

[vash]

For CPUs, I no longer look at the Ghz speed, I look at the price of the CPU. With that in mind, any $200 CPU will do. This may sound stupid/silly, but with the speed increases of CPUs, they are definitely more than enough for gaming. Heck, even $100 CPUs are more than enough (Athlon XP 2100). Just pick a price and stick with it, even most gamers won't mind a few less Mhz for more cash towards a killer video card.

vash

 

[bob332]

get a slow processor (750MHz+ Duron, or similiar) and get a decent m/b (stay away from the ecs k7s5a, i had 4 that would not support 133MHz FSB) with ata100 and put a nice 7200rpm ata100 hdd in it and it will "feel" fast with your needs. with those needs, hdd speed is the thing that makes the computer "go fast". 256MB ram, even pc133, no need to do ddr unless you want to upgrade in the future or it is cheaper. onboard video will be more than adequate.

 

[xMikey]

Originally posted by: MasterHoss
If you're running WinXP, I'd say something like
1.) 800MHz processor (doesn't matter which)
2.) 256MB RAM
3.) 40GB HD (or something smaller if you can find it)

I have a p3 450 with 512MB RAM and 60GB HDD and it runs XP Pro fine.



Mikey out!!

 

[tk149]

Originally posted by: jrichrds
For a computer that will primarily be used for Internet applications and word processing (no games or anything considered CPU intensive), at what CPU speed will you no longer be able to notice the difference with faster CPUs? (ballpark figure of course).

I remember moving from a K6-2 333Mhz to a Celeron 550Mhz felt like a huge speed increase.

In general, the advice already given is great. However, since you know your client (i.e. your parents), you can find out for sure if they use any programs that might have higher system requirements than you're thinking of upgrading to.

For example, my parents used a Pentium 200 MHz computer for websurfing, email, word processing, and small spreadsheets. Slow, but adequate. However, recently my parents decided they wanted to use a program from an investment company to do some on-line trading. You wouldn't expect a program like that to take much processing power (all it does is grab real-time quotes and send orders in), but the minimum requirements for that program are a 400 MHz processor, and it recommends an 800 MHz processor. Needless to say, I had to build a new computer (AthlonXP 1900+) for them. I kept in mind that the program may be "upgraded" in the future, which might require a faster processor.

 

[GR8Madmax]

Excellent info in this thread and helped greatly with my current project (building a cheap upgrade for my brother's old P233 mmx PC).

 

[mithrandir2001]

Throwing in a Quantum Fireball LM 7200rpm hard drive in my Dell P166 gave me at least another year of service out of that PC. The lowered seek times did wonders with web surfing (quick storage/retrieval of web cache).

 

[kreno]

Duron 1.3GHz
256MB PC133
K7S5A
40GB Maxtor DiamondPlus 9

nuff said.

Built something similar to this for my dad, works great

Whole thing together ran me about $190 (just those components listed, the whole system ended up costing $500, stupid 19" monitors...)