Is It Wise To Upgrade Intel Pentium (R) 4 ?

tak

The old processor is Intel(R) P4 1.6 GHz, 478 socket.

Is there much point in putting a used P4 of higher clock speed into it ?
Would the existing heat-sink be good enough for the replacement CPU ?
Am I just throwing good money away on an old PC that should be put out to pasture on office duties ?

uberpixie

tak wrote:

The old processor is Intel(R) P4 1.6 GHz, 478 socket.

Is there much point in putting a used P4 of higher clock speed into it ?
Would the existing heat-sink be good enough for the replacement CPU ?
Am I just throwing good money away on an old PC that should be put out to pasture on office duties ?

bit more info needed.

What spec is your system?

What CPU cooler does it have?

What power supply doe you have?

What do you use your PC for?

awhir

no not really you would be better off saving for a Core duo system.

you would probly bottlneck ur system if you were to upgrade to a faster P4 chip.

tak

What spec is your system?
Dell Dimension 4300, Intel (R)P4 1.6 GHz, 1024 MB RAM (was 256 MB), nVidia Geforce2 MX/Mx400/64 MB, 2 x 40 GB HDs, DVD-ROM, DVD-RW

What CPU cooler does it have?
No branding that I can read. 19 pairs of fins seen from top. 7 cm W x 6 cm B x 6 cm H.

What power supply do you have?
Dell PS.
Ac Input 200-240V/3A
DC output
+5V***/22A. +12V***/14A.
+3.3V***/18A. -12V***/1A.
+5V FP***/2A.
+5V & 3.3V shall not exceed 150 W.
250 W max output power.

What do you use your PC for?
Office stuff, accounts, cust d/base (small), general applications, CAD trial versions, odd DVD film, etc.

By bottlenecking do you mean that I'd lack the video card power to cope with much more speed from the CPU?

extra-ordinary_

The first thing you must establish is if you're system uses SDRAM or DDR SDRAM. If it's single rate SDRAM, then I would sell it as it really wouldn't be worth upgrading. It probably also uses USB1.1.

If it uses DDR memory, then yes, it is definitely realistic to upgrade. I think the 1.6 P4 is 400FSB, but most of these 400FSB boards will also support 533FSB with a BIOS upgrade or jumper setting or whatever. If this is the case you can install up to 3.06GHz CPU running with PC2700.

A CPU and RAM could be had for around €30-€60

tak

Of course it's SDRAM PC 133. (FSB @ 400 MT/s. It's late 2001 machine, a Willamette CPU.)
I've already maximised this SDRAM yesterday from 256 MB to 1024 MB.
But the effectiveness of this is limited in turn by the CPU and - if graphics are involved - the videocard.

I suppose you're right.
If the new 3D CAD applications are ~ 3-4 GB then it's a case of saving for a new PC. The 1 Gb RAM I have wouldn't even hold all the modules in use let alone the temp .dwg files. Putting even a €50 256 MB videocard into all this would be a waste too.

Stephen

The 1.6ghz P4 was, afaik, the third P4 model ever, after 1.4 and 1.5ghz

6 years is a decent lifespan for any PC, and i think it'd be a waste of money upgrading it now.