Pentium vs. Celeron

I am considering upgrading my CPU to gain more performance out of my system. I am currently working with a Intel PIII 500 MHZ in a Dell dimension XPS T desktop unit. From all I could gather off the Net, Dell and my owners manual, I am working with an FSB of 100Mhz, L2 Cache of 512kb, MMX, SSE, 25 micron technology and a Slot1 S.E.C.C 2 interface. From other archived posts here I get the impression that the max processor speed I can expect t achive is 1Ghz PIII.
I checked out
powerleap.com and they have whats called a PL-iP3/T 1.4 GHz. Basically its a Celeron with a higher Mhz yet half the L2 cache that I have currently.

Will increased Mhz compensate for the loss of Cache?

I do mostly net surfing, word processing and a little Photoshop work. I figure the loss of cache won't effect the surfing and word processing much but could be a real drag on the Photoshop stuff.

I'm also thinking of incresing memory from the current 128MB to 512. This along with a processor upgrade should give me a noticable boost in performance, right?

I welcome any comments or other opinions on this. I realize that a 1Ghz PIII is tough to find so that is why I'm looking at the Powerleap solution. If anyone has had experience with Powerleap, I would love to hear from you.

Thanks to all in advance.

Rick

 

For that price, you could get a whole new mb, processor included:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/category_tlc.asp?id=14

 

When changing boards in any Dell machine, beware the DELL BOOBYTRAP.

Dell, for no other reason than to punish users who try to use non-Dell parts, has varied from the ATX standard by changing only two of the terminals in the power-supply-to-motherboard connector. If you plug a main board other than one you get from Dell, into a Dell power supply, you will fry both the board and the power supply immediately. It will literally make a loud bang and it will smoke.

If you change the board in a Dell machine for a non-Dell board, you must change the power supply also.

Don't take my word for it:

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.upgradingandrepairingpcs.com/articles/upgrade3_01_01.asp

As for changing boards and chips (and power supply), which I would recommend over the "overdrive" chip, I would recommend an AMD XP chip with a DFI board www.pricewatch.com

 

Very interesting point. I assume you are talking about the Shuttle AK32A Socket A Motherboard with AMD Athlon. I guess that would bring up other questions.

Can I use my existing PC100 SDRAM?

What about my Video, Sound, NIC & ISA SCSI card?

I apreciate the idea, just sounds like I might end up having to upgrade more of my other stuff as well if I go to a new MB. Not to mention that I'm not sure of my own expertise in taking on something as daunting as installing a MB. I'll definatly keep it in mind though. Thanks.

Rick

 

How does the AMD stack up against the Pentium class chip?

 

In almost any comparison, AMD outperforms Pentium. Here is an example:
http://www.slcentral.com/articles/02/1/northwood2/
http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2001q1/p4-vs-athlon/
http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/processors/axp_vs_p4/1.htm

AMD's 3D-Now is also greatly superior to Intel's MMX.

Having just installed a new mb, I can tell you that it was easier than I thought it would be. The new board had no ISA support, but that is to be expected. ISA is dead. If you want to use that card, get a MB with ISA or a new card.

Many of these mb's also have very good onboard sound, but PCI cards can just be switched to the new board.

And, of course, if you want to use the same memory, you need to match the new board with that, too. You'll need DDR memory for that Shuttle, but not much sense in upgrading just the CPU if your FSB and memory are still slow. It won't show as great an improvement.

 

Just a note about Shuttle. I used to use a lot of Shuttle boards. Lately, I've been getting back a lot of them--at about 3 years. Now, I'm not sure if it is just a fluke that so many Shuttles are coming back or if the Shuttle is prone to early failure. One thing I have noticed is that those boards that have visible signs of failure, all have swollen and/or leaking can-type, foil capacitors.

I have not seen this condition on any other brand of board.

There was a time that the can-type, foil capacitors were considered sub-standard for computer components due to their propensity for early failure. Anyway, all boards have them now. I guess they figure the useful life of a computer is about three years anyway and they don't need to last any longer. Of course, I disagree.

Anyway, I am now wondering if Shuttle is using a lower-specification capacitor.

Lately, I've been using DFI boards. I may get them back after three years also; but, they are some of the most stable boards I've used, bar none.

 

Thanks for all the input. After doing some more research I have located a 1Ghz PIII with the Slot 1 SECC2 socket for about $200. A bit more than I had hoped to pay but I shouldn't have to deal with motherboard issues and what not. Coupled with a boost in memory from 128 to 512 (another $100), I'll see how much improvement I can get. I'll post back with results when I get it all together. Thanks again to all.

 

Trags63,

Don't know if your aware or not, but you can get a 2GHZ AMD XP processor and motherboard for $200 bucks at:

http://www.pricewatch.com

Or you could opt for a higher quality motherboard and a lower speed processor, and maybe even get the power supply to.

Go to the website and click on "Motherboard Combos" link.