Which Processor out of: (1 Viewer)

[Wes]

I am looking at buying a new PC for my mother and am torn between these with these processors in them. Which would be the best value wise. The Celeron is the cheapest, then the AMD then of course the P4 but they are all with in $50. of each other and all have 512mb ram.

The Celeron is the Highest GHz were as the AMD is the lowest, does that really matter?

Don't want to start a Processor debate just to get an Idea of which at that speed would be best. My Mother does nothing real demanding game or computing wise just normal stuff.

Celeron 2.8GHz
120GB HHD

AMD Athon XP 3000+ 2.1GHz
80GB HHD

Pentium 4 2.5GHZ
100GB HHD

Thanks

Wes

 

[Diallo B]

i would buy her the celeron. as you said she does nothing demanding. the only reason to get that athlon or the p4 is for more processing power which is what she does not need.

but if they are all within 50 bux of each other who really cares. however, given your situation i would get the celeron for her considering that it has the most hd space and she could potentially use all of that space. it is highly unlikely that she would use any more processing power than what the celeron provides.

 

[Wes]

In which ways would the Celeron show it's weeknesses?

Does the higher GHz of the celeron help?

Wes

 

[Chris]

I'd agree.. get her the cheaper one.. however, If you get a Celeron, make sure it's a CeleronD, the earlier celerons -really- sucked bad. (a 2.6G older celeron got tromped by a Druon 1.6G edition)

The Athlon 3000+ will be fastests, closely followed by the 2.5 P4.. however, the P4 2.5G has to be left over, as the 533Mhz Bus P4 has been gone for a while, doesn't have hyperthreading, etc. so the motherboard is probably not so hot.

If I were you, I'd find out what motherboard chipset these are.

If the Intel computers have crappy chipsets in it (say, wholly integrated Via) or if the AMD does, you might pass. If the AMD has an Nforce2 chipset, or either of the Intels have an Intel chipset, then bump those up. Other components that surround these things will make a big difference in long term durability of the box.. (who makes these? Locals or is this a store brand?)

 

[Rob Silver]

Will you be buying retail or build your own? AMD Barton 2500 + nForce2 mobo + 2x PC3200 RAM = best bang for buck. Go into BIOS and change the FSB from 166 > 200 and you just got yourself a Barton 3200.

 

[Robert_Gaither]

I'd recommend buying a cheap dell from this site or if you decide to build one buy a cheap Athlon package from pricewatch and mid-size harddrive. No offense to those in the mid 40s but I have yet to see anyone in that age category fill a 40 gb harddrive unless they were the one in the computer hobby building their own. If your mom decides to fill the harddrive you can always add a second one or put in a removable bay for switchout and maintenance.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

i second that. if she is only going to be using it for normal web surfing and non-critical stuff, $350 at dell can get you a good computer.

CJ

 

[Christian Behrens]

Just for comparisons: I still have a Duron 1.3 GHz at home (I'm not a gamer). I put a Verax fan on it and it's mighty quiet, and does everything I need (and I even feed my LCD projector with it for movies).

For the occasional user, none of the CPUs you listed would be "weak". Personally, I would be looking at how easy/cost effective it is to get them quiet.

My 2c,

-Christian

 

[DaveGTP]

The technical correct answer is : the Athlon 3000+ is fastest.

BUT...
No nongamer/non video editing user needs a 2ghz+ CPU.

Anything in excess of 1ghz and 512MB RAM is fine for WinXP surfing, internet use, photos, etc.

Advice:
I agree with the above, buy a cheap Dell via one of the HTF deals.

 

[Mike_J_Potter]

Agreed check out a dell or system with a athalon chip. With the holidays fast approaching there are lots of deals, especially from the site (I got my 2.6 ghz laptop for about $600) My only suggestion is get 512 megs of ram, most of the cheaper systems use some of the RAM for the on board video, it will give you a noticable increase in performance. Also check the street price on if you do upgrade. Allot of times it is much cheaper to buy the ram and put it in yourself versus buying it from the company. For example, to upgrade the laptop I just bought from 256 megs to 512 dell wanted $100.00. I found some good ram online for only 30 and took it up to 512 megs.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

i still get a kick out of companies that say things like "2.4 ghz is what you should have for basic internet and home applications" when they really should be saying "2.4 ghz is the slowest system we sell, so that is why we say it is what you should have for basic internet and home applications". in the not-too-distant future, 20 ghz will be the 'basic' requirement, even though it is something we would lust after right now. obviously cpu speed will increase with time, but i'm having a hard tome finding fault with the computer i gave my parents, a former top of the line dell pentium 3 500 mhz. it performs basic internet browsing just as fast as any celeron. well, almost as fast

CJ

 

[Scott L]

^^That's because most webpages are designed for the lowest common denominator. It kinda stinks seeing little 800x600 Flash pages when you're on 1280x1024 or bigger.

As a web site designer if everyone ran 2+ghz systems I wouldn't have any reservations making flash heavy pages.

 

[Wes]

Thanks for the advise, I went to buy the Celeron and they were out so ended up with the AMD 3000!

Thanks again!

Wes