CT-479 skt478 Pentium-M adapter

[Cuzman]

I've been upgrading my system in small doses, and it's time to drop in a
faster processor. I've just discovered the existence of the CT-479, and
I'm weighing up the potential of a Pentium-M over a 3.2GHz Northwood or
3.4GHz Prescott. http://www.legitreviews.com/article.php?aid=181

The system in which I'm upgrading the processor is as follows:

- Asus P4P800SE
- Pentium IV 2.6GHz 400FSB
- Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2PT (2x 512MB)
- Seagate 7200.8 200GB SATA-150 ST3200826AS
- ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB
- FSP350-60PN(PF) 350W PSU

I know the benefits of the Pentium-M over the Pentium 4, but even a
mid-range Pentium-M costs more than a 3.2GHz Northwood or a 3.4GHz
Prescott. So where on the Pentium-M scale would I start to see
improvements over the two aforementioned socket 478 processors? All the
reviews I see only seem to compare the CT-479/Pentium-M combination to
processors on other sockets, and not the fastest socket 478 ones.

 

[Tim]

My view would be that you get Pentium M for reasons other than performance
IE performance is secondary - heat dissipation and lower power consumption
are the factors that stands out as selectors for Pentium M.

Many benchmarks indicate that Pentium M is a strong contender, but being
quite a different architecture you can't make generalisations about what
would happen for an unknown workload, only what might happen and that is
pointless. Benchmarks that are close in software configuration would be
helpful. Essentially, you will need to find out yourself by benchmarking,
but again if performance is important then perhaps Pentium M is not the
right processor type of choice.

EG. For myself I run a Windows Domain Controller, it runs Exchange Server
and ISA Server (a firewall). None of this requires much grunt, but being a
domain controller and email server it requires to be online 24 x 7. The
important factor then is reliability, heat dissipation (dependancy on fans,
noise generated in an office and so on) and a strong leaning towards
supporting 24 x 7 operation. Lower power consumption = better UPS loading =
improved resilience to power failure. So in my case Pentium M is very
tempting. Add 10 email users and it would be cruddy.

My expectation for Pentium M in servers is that they will be used for
appliance devices EG web farms, firewall / email servers and so on where a 1
to 2 GHz system is all that is needed anyway. For a desktop system with
Pentium M you are looking at a very uncertain future since there are few
upgrade options and of those options they are 10% or smaller steps.

I do realise you have a P4P800 at the moment - I suggest you save your dosh
in the mean time and wait until you get a substantial benefit from your
expenditure. At the moment you are unlikely to get any upgrade that is worth
the money - 20% (if that is what you got) is just not worth it. It is a
really sad state of affairs and has been like this for about 2 years

On desktops, I would look seriously at Athlon 64 with Cool 'n Quiet - best
of both worlds (well, the heat dissipation is excellent for a full fledged
CPU - it is certainly not as low as Pentium M) with a very very healthy
upgrade path.

- Tim

 

[Gert B. Frob]

I've been upgrading my system in small doses, and it's time to drop in a
faster processor. I've just discovered the existence of the CT-479, and
I'm weighing up the potential of a Pentium-M over a 3.2GHz Northwood or
3.4GHz Prescott. http://www.legitreviews.com/article.php?aid=181

The system in which I'm upgrading the processor is as follows:

- Asus P4P800SE
- Pentium IV 2.6GHz 400FSB
- Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2PT (2x 512MB)
- Seagate 7200.8 200GB SATA-150 ST3200826AS
- ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB
- FSP350-60PN(PF) 350W PSU

I know the benefits of the Pentium-M over the Pentium 4, but even a
mid-range Pentium-M costs more than a 3.2GHz Northwood or a 3.4GHz
Prescott. So where on the Pentium-M scale would I start to see
improvements over the two aforementioned socket 478 processors? All the
reviews I see only seem to compare the CT-479/Pentium-M combination to
processors on other sockets, and not the fastest socket 478 ones.

The M series is for mobile application - not intended for desktops but
offers advanced power saving and control options if you can use them.
Northwood is, in theory, slower than Prescott, but I still favor them for
lower power consumption and heat generation. In any event, you will not
notice much difference between 2.6 and the other options you mention. If
you can still find a 3.2 Northwood, I (and I mean just me) would prefer it
over the other options. Most other folks would probably go with the
Prescott and deal with the heat issues. Better benchmarks.

 

[Andreas Radke]

I've been upgrading my system in small doses, and it's time to drop in a
faster processor. I've just discovered the existence of the CT-479, and
I'm weighing up the potential of a Pentium-M over a 3.2GHz Northwood or
3.4GHz Prescott. http://www.legitreviews.com/article.php?aid=181

The system in which I'm upgrading the processor is as follows:

- Asus P4P800SE
- Pentium IV 2.6GHz 400FSB
- Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2PT (2x 512MB)
- Seagate 7200.8 200GB SATA-150 ST3200826AS
- ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB
- FSP350-60PN(PF) 350W PSU

I know the benefits of the Pentium-M over the Pentium 4, but even a
mid-range Pentium-M costs more than a 3.2GHz Northwood or a 3.4GHz
Prescott. So where on the Pentium-M scale would I start to see
improvements over the two aforementioned socket 478 processors? All the
reviews I see only seem to compare the CT-479/Pentium-M combination to
processors on other sockets, and not the fastest socket 478 ones.

I´m running a Pentium-M @2380MHz under Linux and I see an an improvement
of about 30% in compiling time compared to my recent PIV which was a 3,2GHz.
Maybe it´s not so smooth but definitly worth upgrading.

Andreas