posted
So this is my motherboard, and I have an Intel Celeron D 3.06 ghz processor. I also have 2gigs of RAM and a Geforce 7800GS AGP 256mb video card.
My processor is a cheap one, and it seems to be the bottleneck in my computer. I am wondering if it would be worth it to get a new processor. I certainly don't have money to upgrade to a new computer, or even a motherboard and processor (unless you can get some combo that would be close in price to a decent processor alone).
I don't know much about what constitutes a fast motherboard, so am I correct in assuming that a better processor would help stop the bottlenecking? Or is this a cheap motherboard that also slows things down?
If I did get a processor, what would be the fastest processor I could buy that would go with this motherboard? I know how to install processors, but I don't know much about making sure it is compatible with my MB, besides looking at the list of approved processors (in the link above). But most of those speeds are all pretty close. How do you know which is really faster, even if it has the same amount of ghz as the others?
Posts: 32 | Registered: Dec 2006
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posted
Check out the CPU charts on Tom's Hardware. You'll probably need to look at an older chart to find your processor, but it should show you how it compares to others in various benchmarks.
I'd guess that the processor would be the biggest bottle neck in your system (because Celerons have less cache and sometimes a slower bus speed), but I'm not sure how big of a difference it would make to upgrade to something better. Socket 478 has been phased out, so your upgrade options are very limited. Plus, that Celeron, even with the stripped cache, is still not terribly far behind the 3.2 GHz Pentium Extreme Edition on the top of that compatibility chart. If you really want to upgrade, I'd seriously recommend waiting until you can afford a new motherboard too. Then go for a Core 2 Duo.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
(Hey Jon Boy. That list doesn't have any Celerons on it. I think you may have been looking at a Pentium D, which is a heck of a lot different, having two cores an all) In general, I try to steer people away from PCChips. They're cheap, but they don't have much life span or features. They're bare minimum. Still, you're probably not bottlenecking there. The Celerons are relatively bad at providing real power, due to the stripped cache (The Netburst architecture of the Pentium 4 family demands more cache than any other processor). The best you're likely to get is a Pentium 4 3.0E. But as Jon Boy said, you're screwed when it comes to upgrading. If you want to go any higher than the 3.0E, you'll *have* to replace your Motherboard, Processor, RAM, and Video card, since they don't make AGP/DDR1 motherboards with the newer LGA775 socket that newer Intel Processors use.
However, if you happened to be willing to switch to an AMD setup, you could probably get a good bit further, for about 100 dollars more than the cost of a Pentium 4 chip. CPU, Motherboard.
An added feature for the AMD motherboard linked is that it can handle both AGP and PCIE graphics cards. In addition, you can order a little daughter board thing that will allow you to install the latest of the AMD processors if you ever find the need (To be honest, I don't trust this type of jimmy rigging motherboard, even though the benchmarks I saw when the technology came out were only slightly lower than having a full on socket AM2 motherboard. I give it to you only as an option. However, if you can find a Straight socket 939 motherboard, the extra investment may be worth it to you, since the Athlon 64X2's basically use the Pentium 4 as toilet paper, even though the Core 2's beat them now). Basically, this opens up a lot more options for you in the future, but with minimal current investment.
As a warning, however, you'll probably have a hard time finding retail versions of either AMD or Intel processors that will fit your motherboard or the one I linked. Intel and AMD now only sell them as OEM parts, meaning they have a 30-90 day warranty, so if it breaks beyond that, tough luck, they'll say.
At any rate, hopefully that helps you in your decision making.
Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Boris: (Hey Jon Boy. That list doesn't have any Celerons on it. I think you may have been looking at a Pentium D, which is a heck of a lot different, having two cores an all)
That's why I said he should look at charts from previous years. The chart for 2004 has a Celeron D 2.8 GHz on it, which is slower than what he's got, but it can still be used for comparison purposes.
Also, the motherboard you linked to is out of stock. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't make it anymore.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
Well, it was in stock last night Newegg is pretty good about removing stock that isn't made anymore. Here's another one. Much more likely to work properly as well. I don't know much about the seller, though.
In looking at your current processor on the older CPU list, you're definitely not getting everything you can out of your video card. You're right around the spot my own computer is (AMD XP3000+) with a bit more performance, and my computer is horribly bottlenecked by the CPU. There was very little, if any, increase when I upgraded from a 6600GT to a 7600GT.
The Pentium 4 3.0E will give you about a 15-20% performance increase, maybe less (Using the 3DMark05 CPU benchmark). The Athlon 3800+ X2 will give you around 50% more, plus it's a dual core processor, which means multi-tasking will work better as well. The down side is that you would have to replace the motherboard as well, which does add that extra cost. Like I said, you're looking at a hundred dollars more, for a total of around 170 dollars. More expensive than the 3.0E, but much cheaper than replacing everything. I don't really think the 3.0E will do a whole lot to help you.
After a little more digging, there are also upgrade possibilities with Intel (You just have to dig around in the smaller, less reputable than newegg merchants, Like this one. Which would let you keep your video card and RAM, as well as give you the ability to upgrade to a Core 2 Duo if you wanted to (Though I don't know how well the Core 2 processors work without DDR2 RAM.) But you'll pay 169 for a Core 2 in addition to the motherboard price. From the one benchmark I found the E4300 isn't a whole lot better than the 3800+, and even gets beaten by it in some things. The E6300 is a bit better, and only costs 20 dollars more, and they get quite a bit more expensive from there.
You can also get a Pentium D processor, which is more comparable in both price and performance. The 3800+ compares right around the same as the 915-925 and the 820, which is a bit cheaper.
At any rate, there is a little bit you can work with, depending on whether or not you want to shell out around 200 dollars for an upgrade. The good thing is that it will probably put another year or two of life into your computer, more if they keep releasing high power AGP cards (Which, to be honest, probably won't be happening too much longer). Just upgrading the CPU might not give you too much more, though, so just consider your options a bit and see what fits best for you.
Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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What about this MB/CPU combo? It still supports AGP and my DDR400 RAM, and it includes the Core 2 Duo e6400. I would like to spend a little less, but I might be willing to do this as long as I didn't have to upgrade anything else. I haven't been able to find any reviews on this MB, but Asus is usually good, isn't it?
Posts: 32 | Registered: Dec 2006
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posted
Asus is considered one of the top motherboard manufacturers, so that should be a reliable board. It also sounds like a decent compromise between upgrading just the processor (which might not get you much) and upgrading the whole system (which would cost a few hundred more).
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
ASUS is great, for AMD processors. On the Intel side I've seen a lot more failures than I am comfortable with. Right around 1 out of every 5 computers we built with ASUS/Intel at my last job came back with a pretty major motherboard failures. I can't say for sure that that's what will happen with that board, as ASUS *is* usually good quality. Just keep in mind that you could have problems. (The ones that worked right worked incredibly well, just so you know.)
Posts: 3003 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Newegg is pretty good about removing stock that isn't made anymore. 
