[ReflexBlade]

I'm checking up on various components to upgrade my PC.
At present it's a SLOOOOW P4 1.7CPU witj 512MB Ram running Win XP SP2.

I've been told that upgrading to a 2.8GHZ or gigher CPU will improve the situation.
I'm unable to afford the more expensive Intel Pentium 4 2.8CPU, but can afford the Intel Celeron 2.8Ghz CPU.

However, some "experts" have told me that the Intel Celeron 2.8 is hardly any better than the 3 year old P4 1.7 CPU I currently have, and I'm wasting my money and will see NO speed results?

Is this true, why is the Celeron so much cheaper (Here in South Africa a Celeron 2.8CPU runs R800, whereas the P4 2.8 is R1400)
Is the Celeron an inferior processor?

BTW, my MB is an ASRock GePro M2

Thanks.

[Glock Bob]

I don't know much about the Celeron, but from what I've heard I'd stay away. It's an economy chip at best, mainly just for businesses looking to save money or the consumer who turns on their system once a week for a couple of hours at a time at most.

[pyblood]

It all depends on what you do with your PC. If all you do is surf the web and use an office suite, the current configuration that you have is enough. If you are into games or heavy CPU intensive applications, the upgrade will be well worth it.

According to a currency converter I used, R800 equals around $120.

Since you can’t really afford the 2.8 P4, I would recommend going with an AMD Athlon XP CPU and board. You can get a 2800+ and a decent board for around $150. That it almost a cheap as buying a 2.8 P4

You money may be better spent on adding an additional 512MB of RAM for $40-$50 and adding a 7,200 RPM hard drive. Those are some of the cheapest/smartest ways of getting more performance for your computer. I don’t think that a 2.8 Celeron is much better if any better than a 1.7 P4.

You can also upgrade your CPU with a Celeron D processor. They are a lot better than the regular Celerons. They are also around the same price. You can get a 2.8 Celeron D for around $91.


Here’s the list of compatible processors that will work with your board.

http://www.asrock.com.tw/support/CPU...t_GEPro-M2.htm

[Washington,D.C.]

The 2.8G Celeron has a 128K L2 cache.The Pent4 1.7G has a 256K L2 cache.The Pent4 from 2.0G and up that have a 400 Mhz frontside bus have 512K of L2 cache.If you can get a Pent4 from the 2.0G(a) or faster might be best.The early Pent4 2.0G without the "A" has 256K of L2 cache like your 1.7G.Which PC is it?Which motherboard? Memory?It might not be worth spending the money for a new processor.I guess the Celeron is cheap enough though.I saw a chart that compared performace of the Celeron to the Pentium and at what speed Pent4 is equal to the 2.8G Celeron.It is faster than the Pent4 1.7G but I'll have to find the chart to see how much faster.Maybe more memory would be a better upgrade.

[Washington,D.C.]

Okay I missed your motherboard,now I see it.I'll look for the chart.