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Is 600mhz worth an upgrade for a CPU?

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jmreinwald

Technical User
Jun 3, 2002
46
US
I kind of doubt it--I've got an older computer. I'm about to buy a new stick of ram (I had a 512 go bad) and in looking at chips, I saw that I can get a new CPU for $75.

I currently have 1.8 ghz, and I ran Sophia yesterday. The fastest my mobo will accept is a 2.4. Would the performance increase be worth it? My machine is mainly used as a webserver at home running MySQL, but I occassionally play older games on it as well.
 
You can't really tell what kind of performance increase you'll get without taking into account the rest of your system. If the processor is what is slowing your system down, you might get a significant increase for the $75. If the bottleneck is your hard drive or graphics or whatever, you might not notice much of a difference at all.

Basically, if you're happy with your systems performance now, there's really no need to upgrade. Of course, I have an Athlon 64, 1.5 meg of RAM, and 320 gig of drive space on a RAID 0, so I'm utterly incapable of following my own advice.

At least I don't overclock.



I try not to let my ignorance prevent me from offering a strong opinion.
 
I'm assuming you're talking about the Celeron for that price. Not sure if it's worth $75, but you'll likely notice a decent boost in overall performance (boot time, opening apps, multitasking, etc). But it all depends on the type of apps you use. If it is the Celeron, then you'd be better off spending a tad more for a compatible P4 instead.

If you could find the upgrade on eBay for under $50 (or under $100 for the P4 2.4GHz), I'd say it was worth it. Otherwise, stick it out until you're ready to get a new system.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
 
If you are talking about celeron to celeron, I wouldnt bother.
Going from a celeron 1.8 to a P4 2.4 would be an increase that you would notice.
Just my opinion.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips
 
The $75 was for a Celeron which I, for some reason, didn't even notice until just now. I currently have a P4, so I'd be looking for a 2.4 P4, not Celeron. Oops.
 
If you have a P4 1.8, you would be going backwards to get the celeron.
Even going from P4 1.8 to P4 2.4 you wont get that much benefit.
You would only get a worthwhile benefit going from celeron 1.8 to P4 2.4.

You would get more bang for the buck with more ram, to a point.





Good advice + great people = tek-tips
 
Even going from P4 1.8 to P4 2.4 you wont get that much benefit

This statement really is an "eye of the beholder" type answer. It depends. If you do a lot of audio/video encoding/decoding, then you could see as much as 20-25% increase in performance. That is definitely noticeable.

The same is true for a lot of other apps as well that rely heavily on raw CPU power. The question is...Is it worth it?

If you can find the CPU for under $100 and you use apps that could use the extra horsepower, then yeah I'd say "sure". Otherwise as mentioned before, it might be best to save your money towards your next upgrade...

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884
 
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