Need help from computer people about processors

[maximus100389]

So I'm currently running a 3 Ghz pentium4 with hyper threading, 800 Mhz bus, 1mb L2 cache.

i was thinking of upgrading to a core 2 duo, wolfdale 3Ghz, 65W, 6MB L2 cache, 1333 Mhz bus, blah blah blah

will i see significant improvement?

[Muddytaco]

You should see a pretty significant improvement when multitasking and using photoshop, video editing software, etc.

[DFSniper]

yeah. do a google search comparing intel dual core processors. you should come up with a few articles.

the thing to remember is to make sure your sockets match. IIRC, almost ALL intel dual cores are socket 775, not sure about the old P4s though. thats the problem i ran into with my computer when the motherboard died. the AMD socket 939 was outdated, so i have to get a complete new motherboard, cpu, and RAM setup.

and see if you can find the 3Ghz dual core in 45nm technology. it runs a lot cooler than standard 65nm, so you dont have to worry about your PC possibly overheating.

[maximus100389]

i know what socket i have (775) etc.

and the core 2 duo i was looking at runs on only 65W which is much less power than most processors thus cooler temps

[DFSniper]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115037

is that the one? my best friend was looking into that, and he said the only reason he picked the 2.53 over the 3.00 was because there was something in the review saying that it didnt overclock as much. but if you're not worried about overclocking your cpu, that should work fine.

[HelpDeskHustler]

Your Bus speed will be hard limited by the motherboard, so it may still be 800 even though you could send 1333. You need to check that, as it will be a significant factor in how fast things are done. 800 is pretty high though.

[durrell]

That P4 with 2GB of RAM would be plenty depending on what you're doing and what OS you're running.

What kind of things are you using your computer for?

[maximus100389]

i just need basic operating speed of programs to be faster, but multitabbing in explorer or running multiple programs is really limiting me right now. im running 1 gig with xp with my P4 right now. its better than most but i need some better preformance.

and yes, that was the one i was looking at. and no, i dont think ill be overclocking so its not really a factor in my decision.

[maximus100389]

ps im getting another gig of memory or so, along with the processor

[Muddytaco]

Just remember that if your running XP your limited to 3.33 GB of ram no matter how much you put in, so don't go crazy with the ram.