Multitasking

double b26 · 12-13-2007, 05:42 AM

my pc's...

dell dimension 3000
xp media center edition
celeron d @ 2.66ghz
512mb memory
integrated video, sound, etc. (no upgrades)
160gb hard drive
cd/dvd burner combo only

compaq presario 6454nx
xp media center edition
pentium 4 @ 2.50ghz
512mb memory
integrated video, sound, etc. (no upgrades)
120gb hard drive
cd-r burner
dvd-rom
3.5 floppy drive

in plain english, can anyone explain the difference between the celeron and pentium processors? (ive heard that the celeron is better for single program running, and the pentium is better for multiple programs running at once. is that true? i also read something about the L2 cache being bigger on the pentiums, thus it runs smoother and/or faster?)

which computer would you use as your main one? (ive had the dell for a few years and have been using it, but it gets bogged down when doing heavy multitasking. i recently inherited the compaq from my dad and havent used it much at all, so i cant really judge it as far as multi-tasking performance. im wondering if the pentium would do better at multiple tasks than the celeron)

as far as the differences in hard drives and disc drives, it doesnt really matter because i have them networked and can share the drives between the two. im just wondering which would perform better when multitasking. im usually running a web browser, windows media player, a bit-torrent client, ms word, picture editing software, etc. not all of those at once, but sometimes 3 or 4 of them at a time. i know i need to upgrade the memory in them, but right now work is slow and i dont really want to spend the money on it. what do you think?

Kesava · 12-13-2007, 05:47 AM

i would use the second one because i would assume that the pentium 4 was faster.

im not sure why.

Kilauea · 12-13-2007, 04:48 PM

Based on Tom's Hardware charts, the P4 is better, but I am unsure about multitasking because I can't really find any test that means multitask to me. But of course, increase the RAM. I got a P4(rig in sig) and I upped my RAM by 512mb not so long ago and it helps a lot.

Quentin_T · 12-13-2007, 05:29 PM

Well this isn't as cut and dry as it looks! Generally anything over a Celeron running at roughly the same Mhz is better. But this also depends on what version you are talking about.

A Celeron D should be a Prescott and may in fact be faster than the P4.

Can you download cpu-z and take screen shot on both computer's so we can see exactly which chips is in either of the computers?

Or just tell us the "Code Names"

btw, I agree about more ram... Bust the piggy bank open!

SadisticalActs · 12-13-2007, 07:34 PM

celeron D in no way faster than a pentium 4, i was running a celeron d prescott, with 1gb and it sucked, games lag even with a great video card, so i trashed the celeron d prescott 2.4ghz and moved to a pentium 4 2.2ghz and everything worked better inlcuding games.

but now i have the pc thats in my sig and i say **** p4 and Cel. D

double b26 · 12-13-2007, 08:20 PM

alright, here are the CPU-Z reports:

Compaq

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dell

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
most of this makes no sense to me

. like i said, i know i need to upgrade the memory in them both, but with it being winter and all, work is pretty slow these days. not to mention christmas coming up real soon

. i figure that i will upgrade at tax time, or later in the spring when work picks up. believe me, i want to, but priorities... anyway, hope this stuff helps you guys help me out.

Quentin_T · 12-13-2007, 10:57 PM

The Celeron is a superior chip to the P4 in almost all aspects. The L2 Cache is half the size, but they should actually be pretty close to the same. Another way to improve performance is to just make sure you're not running a lot of memory hogging applications in the background.

But it's kinda like picking which piece of poo stinks less...

Quote:

Originally Posted by SadisticalActs

celeron D in no way faster than a pentium 4, i was running a celeron d prescott, with 1gb and it sucked, games lag even with a great video card, so i trashed the celeron d prescott 2.4ghz and moved to a pentium 4 2.2ghz and everything worked better inlcuding games.

Yeah, I highly doubt you downgraded to a northwood, so yes, a 2.2 Ghz P4 vs a 2.4 Ghz Celeron D (given the same architecture) would be better.

All in all, if you do plan on upgrading, Don't invest more than $50 for 1 GB of ram. Basically anything you buy either of them is investing in dead technologies. Personally, I would pick up a set of 512's (for 1 GB) and then start saving to build a brand new machine. You should get more life out of the Compaq once it's running a 1 GB of memory. And for the 6 months it might take you to save up 400-600 for a new computer it will be tolerable.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820161627

double b26 · 12-13-2007, 11:33 PM

so i guess the real test will be to start using the pentium pc for a bit and just see if it seems to do any better.

not much is running in the background. ive checkd it with msconfig, and other than a few things that i knew about, its all windows stuff. plus i just did a fresh windows install on both a few weeks ago. after a couple years or so of use, they needed it. since then they have been running better than they did for a long time.

i was reading that its better to install memory 2 at a time, is that true? as far as the memory price, $50 isnt bad for 1gb total. (a week or so ago i was looking on the dell site and they wanted $100 for a single 1gb stick. after a quick google, i found many options that were cheaper, like what you linked to above.)

as far as investing in the dead technology goes, right now its fine for me. i dont use them for anything other than web surfing, music and movie storage/burning. i wouldnt mind getting something new, of course, and have been checking prices, but its not a big priority at the time. if i can spend $100 and have two decent running pc's that play and burn music and video, i am fine with that for a while. plus, i have read a lot about bugs with the new vista os, so ive been biding my time until that gets smoothed out.

well, thanks for the advice. its much appreciated!

oscaryu1 · 12-14-2007, 12:31 AM

Should've gone custom... just saying... a Core 2 Duo is around the same price...

double b26 · 12-14-2007, 01:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oscaryu1

Should've gone custom... just saying... a Core 2 Duo is around the same price...

what do you mean?

12-13-2007, 05:42 AM	#1 (permalink)
double b26 Silver Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: West Virginia, USA Posts: 114	Multitasking - Pentium 4 or Celeron D??? my pc's... dell dimension 3000 xp media center edition celeron d @ 2.66ghz 512mb memory integrated video, sound, etc. (no upgrades) 160gb hard drive cd/dvd burner combo only compaq presario 6454nx xp media center edition pentium 4 @ 2.50ghz 512mb memory integrated video, sound, etc. (no upgrades) 120gb hard drive cd-r burner dvd-rom 3.5 floppy drive in plain english, can anyone explain the difference between the celeron and pentium processors? (ive heard that the celeron is better for single program running, and the pentium is better for multiple programs running at once. is that true? i also read something about the L2 cache being bigger on the pentiums, thus it runs smoother and/or faster?) which computer would you use as your main one? (ive had the dell for a few years and have been using it, but it gets bogged down when doing heavy multitasking. i recently inherited the compaq from my dad and havent used it much at all, so i cant really judge it as far as multi-tasking performance. im wondering if the pentium would do better at multiple tasks than the celeron) as far as the differences in hard drives and disc drives, it doesnt really matter because i have them networked and can share the drives between the two. im just wondering which would perform better when multitasking. im usually running a web browser, windows media player, a bit-torrent client, ms word, picture editing software, etc. not all of those at once, but sometimes 3 or 4 of them at a time. i know i need to upgrade the memory in them, but right now work is slow and i dont really want to spend the money on it. what do you think?

12-13-2007, 05:47 AM	#2 (permalink)
Kesava Diamond Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: India Age: 17 Posts: 3,101	i would use the second one because i would assume that the pentium 4 was faster. im not sure why. __________________ formerly Kuzba Cpu:Intel Q6600 2.4Ghz @ 3.4Ghz Hsf:Zalman CNPS 9700 LED Ram:Generic 2 Gb 800 Mhz Gpu:XFX 8800 GT 512mb @ 700/1750/2000 Mobo:Gigabyte P31-DS3L Case:Centurion 532 3dmark06:13518 MSN=kesava8@hotmail.com

12-13-2007, 04:48 PM	#3 (permalink)
Kilauea Gold Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Canada Age: 24 Posts: 413	Based on Tom's Hardware charts, the P4 is better, but I am unsure about multitasking because I can't really find any test that means multitask to me. But of course, increase the RAM. I got a P4(rig in sig) and I upped my RAM by 512mb not so long ago and it helps a lot. __________________ 5½ years old rig ? P4 1.7Ghz MSI MS-6547E 768mb RAM ATI Radeon 7200 40Gb Seagate HDD w/ Xp 7Gb Maxtor HDD w/ Linux TigerPlus 300 Watt PSU (never heard of such company) Broken LG CD-rom drive that seems to work sometimes

12-13-2007, 05:29 PM	#4 (permalink)
Quentin_T Gold Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: NH Age: 27 Posts: 268	Well this isn't as cut and dry as it looks! Generally anything over a Celeron running at roughly the same Mhz is better. But this also depends on what version you are talking about. A Celeron D should be a Prescott and may in fact be faster than the P4. Can you download cpu-z and take screen shot on both computer's so we can see exactly which chips is in either of the computers? Or just tell us the "Code Names" btw, I agree about more ram... Bust the piggy bank open! __________________ Main PC.....................\HTPC......................\Server.................. Intel Core 2 Duo 6700\AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+\AMD Athlon 3000+ Asus P5B-Deluxe WiFi\Biostar TF7050-M2\Asus A7N8X-Deluxe Rev2 2GB Kingston DDR2 800\2 GB Crucial DDR2 800\1GB Crucial DDR 400 WD 36GB Raptor + WD 500GB\250GB\320GB\500GB\160GB\2x 500GB BFG 8600 GTS 256MB\XFX 8500 GT 512MB\ATI X700 256MB O/C'd Sony HS95P(19"+17")\Sharp Aquos 42" LCD\Absolutely Nothing!!!! Boredom led me to do this...

12-13-2007, 07:34 PM	#5 (permalink)
SadisticalActs Bronze Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 96	celeron D in no way faster than a pentium 4, i was running a celeron d prescott, with 1gb and it sucked, games lag even with a great video card, so i trashed the celeron d prescott 2.4ghz and moved to a pentium 4 2.2ghz and everything worked better inlcuding games. but now i have the pc thats in my sig and i say **** p4 and Cel. D __________________ Custom Windows Xp Pro Sp.3 AMD Athalon 64 2.1ghz Overclocked to 2.25 2gb ddr2 500b harddrive Nforce Guru Sli MB 450w PSU Geforce 8400gs 512mb

12-13-2007, 08:20 PM	#6 (permalink)
double b26 Silver Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: West Virginia, USA Posts: 114	alright, here are the CPU-Z reports: Compaq ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dell ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- most of this makes no sense to me . like i said, i know i need to upgrade the memory in them both, but with it being winter and all, work is pretty slow these days. not to mention christmas coming up real soon . i figure that i will upgrade at tax time, or later in the spring when work picks up. believe me, i want to, but priorities... anyway, hope this stuff helps you guys help me out.

12-13-2007, 11:33 PM	#8 (permalink)
double b26 Silver Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: West Virginia, USA Posts: 114	so i guess the real test will be to start using the pentium pc for a bit and just see if it seems to do any better. not much is running in the background. ive checkd it with msconfig, and other than a few things that i knew about, its all windows stuff. plus i just did a fresh windows install on both a few weeks ago. after a couple years or so of use, they needed it. since then they have been running better than they did for a long time. i was reading that its better to install memory 2 at a time, is that true? as far as the memory price, $50 isnt bad for 1gb total. (a week or so ago i was looking on the dell site and they wanted $100 for a single 1gb stick. after a quick google, i found many options that were cheaper, like what you linked to above.) as far as investing in the dead technology goes, right now its fine for me. i dont use them for anything other than web surfing, music and movie storage/burning. i wouldnt mind getting something new, of course, and have been checking prices, but its not a big priority at the time. if i can spend $100 and have two decent running pc's that play and burn music and video, i am fine with that for a while. plus, i have read a lot about bugs with the new vista os, so ive been biding my time until that gets smoothed out. well, thanks for the advice. its much appreciated! Last edited by double b26; 12-13-2007 at 11:36 PM.

12-14-2007, 12:31 AM	#9 (permalink)
oscaryu1 VIP Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Houston, Texas Age: 13 Posts: 10,012	Should've gone custom... just saying... a Core 2 Duo is around the same price... __________________ Core 2 Duo E2140 1.6GHz @ 3.04GHz GA-P31-DS3L pqi Turbo CL4 DDR2-800 2GB Sapphire HD3850 256MB Sony Writemaster DVD Burner EIDE Seagate Barracuda 80GB 7200.9 8MB SATII

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