bmaz said:
What is faster for IE use. 3.4 ghz single thread processor or 2.8 dual
thread processor. If the motherboard has only the capacity for 2 gig of ddr
will that be a problem. Is it the combo of ram ddr 1 2 or 3 and multi thread
processors the trick?
I'm having to add an ide pci card to support my two dvd drives if I get a
new mother. At 179$ for this bare bone 3.4 ghz pentium 4 HT processor, this
seems good. Or should I get a slower 2.0 ghz dual core processor for the
same price.
When you ask questions like this, it helps to give some background.
1) Do you have an existing computer ? Is it a Dell/HP/Acer/Gateway prebuilt ?
Or do you have a custom built computer of some sort ?
Do you want to upgrade that computer in some way, keeping the majority of components ?
Do you want an incremental upgrade ? They're pretty hard to do.
Sometimes, it is better to part with the past, and move on to newer
components. For example, 2GB of DDR2 memory is pretty cheap, so in terms
of the overall project cost, it might be easier to go with a DDR2 setup
instead.
2) What is the system for ? Email/web surfing ? Mainly gaming ?
Photoshop/Video editing ? Home Theatre PC for movie playback ?
The primary application affects the choice.
3) If you're reusing a video card, that makes a big difference to the
choices available. There are few AGP motherboards for sale, but I
managed to find one.
In terms of processors, if you're on a budget, try this. This is Core2
architecture, which is more than 50% faster clock for clock, than a
Pentium 4 family processor. (You cannot compare clock rates for all different
kinds of processors directly. The internal architecture makes a difference,
and the Core2 does more with a clock cycles, than some previous ones.)
Intel Core2 Duo E7500 Wolfdale 2.93GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115056
This motherboard has built-in graphics and costs $55. There is only
room for two sticks of RAM, but that might still be plenty.
ECS G31T-M7 LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135232
This motherboard costs twice as much, and also has built-in graphics.
It supports more graphics connector types. It holds four sticks of RAM.
ASUS P5Q-EM Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $125
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131336
You can get 2x1GB kit of DDR2-800 CAS5 RAM for $26, which is why
there is no reason to cling to the old DDR memory.
Transcend JETRAM 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2-800 (PC2-6400)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820208283
So you could make a system for $120 + $55 + $26 = $201
If you want a motherboard that supports AGP video cards,
this is the one I use. It is $60 and has two DDR slots, two
DDR2 slots (which I put 2x1GB in), a PCI Express slot, an AGP
slot, has two IDE connectors and two SATA2 connectors. It
won't run FSB1333 processors, but is otherwise acceptable.
There are no built-in graphics on this one, so you buy this
so you can reuse your AGP card.
ASRock 4CoreDual-SATA2 LGA 775 VIA PT880 Pro/PT880 Ultra ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157115&Tpk=4coredual-sata2
Those are all examples of "lightweight" upgrades.
Paul