CPU Question

humaxf1

Hi all...first post here.

About AMD chips, has the Sempron taken over from the Duron?

Also the new Intel Celeron D chips...the difference compared to a standard Celeron seems to be the cache and FSB specs!?!?!?

I currently have a Dell Dimenson 2400 2.4 GHz Celeron (std), 512 RAM, 80GB, XP Home.

Would it be worth an upgrade to a Celeron D 2.8 GHz or even a P4 (478pga) 3.0 GHz. I would have to check the mobo spec for the FSB speed etc.

Any comments??

Thank you.

StRiKeR

i havent use intel for yrs so i'm not familiar with then anymore but if i were you chosing between p4 and celeron i go for p4,

yea the semtopn is to replace the duron, personalli i prefer a64 and optron

unkel

Welcome to boards.ie

You need to check your mobo indeed. If it is 533Mhz FSB, go with a second hand P4a (e.g. 3.06Ghz). If it is 800 FSB, check if it takes a new stepping Prescott P4e (e.g. 3Ghz), otherwise a new or second hand Northwood P4c (e.g.3.0Ghz)

Most likely outcome is the first. If you use your pc only for a bit of surfing, word processing etc. don't bother upgrading as you don't need it

You could also consider selling your rig and building a brand new one yourself. Don't be afraid, it's a lot easier than you think and you will get a lot of help on these forums

It is also very rewarding and you'll never look back

humaxf1

Thanks for the replies ppl...

Unkel, I have just completed a FAS course, Introduction to PC maintenence & Networking-City&Guilds certification...and hope to goto onto an A+ maintenance & networks+ course in November this year.

The course went very well and I have been kept on for almost a month after 3 weeks in-company training which i did in FAS. The extra weeks spent getting the 'bench PCs' back to normality after being 'practiced on'...reinstalling win 2000, loading mobo, vid, NIC drivers, config for the network etc.

So as regards building a PC from scratch I would have no problem there...it's just a case of matching components that work well together. As you know there are a mind boggling amount of manuf'ers and models out there.

Im happy with the Dell at present one year later. Paid €800 for it including a Lexmark printer-scanner-copier, double RAM offer. Its main role is surfing and MS office. Not too much into gaming. Possibly would like to get into video capture and digital photos.

Currently have wireless dsl from a guy involved with DublinWAN using a netgear 11Mbps card and an MMDS dish on the roof. Works pretty well...only the VPN conn drops now and again with inactivity.

Thanks again.

humaxf1

I ran Belarc PC advisor for the DELL.

It says about the CPU & mobo...

Processor

---

2.20 gigahertz Intel Celeron
8 kilobyte primary memory cache
128 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Main Circuit Board

---

Board: Dell Computer Corp. 0G1548 A00
Serial Number: ..CN7082137OB057.
Bus Clock: 400 megahertz
BIOS: Dell Computer Corporation A02 07/31/2003

Which poses the questions...is my mobo out of date...must the CPU and mobo FSB speed match each other? The lowest FSB CPU on komplett is the Celeron D range (478 pin) which goes upyo 2.8 GHz clock speed.

Think I would be better investing in a self build than upgrading current system. Only beneifcal upgrades I can see would be RAM (2xDDR slots) and HDD if needed. Maybe a DVD burner just cause they are cheap!

Dara. (humaxf1)

Mutant_Fruit

Ideally you'd get a new motherboard AND new processor, as dell motherboards lock out the nice features. But if you did that, you'd either have to rewire your powersupply connector thingy (not too hard) or buy a new power supply, as Dell use their own unique system, to screw over peopel who want to upgrade.

Celerons are a no-go if you can afford a real P4 or AMD64. Their performance is vastly inferior to an P4 clocked at the same speed.

How much are you willing to spend on an upgrade, and what do you want with an upgarede? i.e. faster computer, or a DVD burner, or better soundcard etc

humaxf1

the DELL suits my needs. But maybe a bit down the road I would like to try video capture from camcorders, live TV etc. I have a PCI tuner/capture Hauppage card from years back. HDD space would be a concern here anyway without a doubt. Then comes the DVD burner!!! Also music editing with CoolPRO edit. Some of the audio operations take for ages. So a decent soundcard here maybe with TOS optical for my MD deck. Balanced XLR breakout box would be very nice :-)

I just happen to have the side panel removed from the case. THE PSU connector seems ATX at a glance, but from your post it seems not. Do they have their mobos made to their own spec?

I understand now about celerons vs. P4 or AMD. But i had a real suffering AMD K6 200 MHz, 64 RAM, 6.4GB, Win98 machine...my first PC a friend built around 1996. Plus I got my dsl connection around the time of the DELL arrival so i needed a new system badly! I ordered 4 machines in total for myself, my bro and 2 mates so did a bit of haggling.

About 6 months ago I had screen of death syndrome and missing files. Was going slow. The it wouldn't boot...so i popped the XP CD in and recovered it. I reckon it was down to spyware from surfing and god knows what else.

Then about 2 months I did an FDISK/format & re install XP home job on it. Running OK since. Touch wood.

Cheers.

ps., upgrade budget would be in the region of 500ish max & the usual keeping orig mouse, keyboard, monitor.