Pentium 4 vs. Celeron D
 

I currently have a Pentium 4 2.4 ghz cpu (I believe it's this one), and just recently purchased an Intel Celeron D 350 3.2 ghz processor from a friend ($35. Thought it was a steal). It was an impulse buy, and now I think it may have been a stupid one, but I'm not sure :(.

I originally thought that Celeron 3.2 ghz > P4 2.4 ghz, but after some research I think that may not always be the case. I read that Intel’s Celeron D line is a low-end line of processors that are mostly made to be affordable. I also read something about how the Celeron is merely a gimped version that is based off of the Pentiums core/architecture, and doesn’t have as much Cache Memory or anything else as a normal Pentium does.

ANYWAYS. I think I realize in general that Pentiums are better than Celerons, but I was just wondering if it would be wise to stay with my P4 2.4 ghz cpu, or switch over to the Celeron 3.2 ghz? It seems like a big enough jump to me :/. Which will give me better performance, and an overall faster machine?

Thanks for the help. I have a lot to learn :(.

Isn't a Celeron D a Dual-Core Processor? Have you tried putting in the PC and trying it out? Celeron is a Low-end budget chip, but a Dual Core chip will (or at least should) beat a single core. Celeron's are gimped because of a lower Cache usually. I think you should try it and see if you would like it.

EDIT: Never mind, Celeron D is NOT a Dual Core Processor (That's Pentium D). Anyways, the Cache difference between the two is 512KB for the Pentium 4 and 256KB for the Celeron D. You do have a faster FSB though with the Celeron D, so you could potentially use faster RAM (533MHz as opposed to 400MHz)

I'm pretty sure you'd have to buy a new motherboard to use the Celeron anyways, so if you don't want to spend more money, stick with the P4.

Actually, they're both Socket 478, so it would fit. But still, I think the Cache is important, so I'd stick with the P4, unless you have money to burn on faster RAM. (Assuming that your mobo supports DDR2).

It may be cheaper to buy a better cpu fan and overclock that p4.

Although you would have to look at the steppings, in the end Intel was selling Celerons as renamed older P4 cores *IE the Northwood Cores/Prescott*, which is probably what your old P4 is.

the Celeron D *which is not a dual core, tricky marketing* is to differentiate the Celeron built using the Prescott core from the one that utilizes the Northwoord Core. The Prescott Celeron *Celeron D* Has twice the memory l2 cache compared to it's older Celeron *Northwood core* Brother, and also supports stuff like EMt64 etc...

In other words, the Celeron will be faster, as while it is stripped down slightly, it is based on the newer Prescott Core, while your P4 is probably Northwood. Had your P4 had HT or something, it would make the winner unclear, but since it doesn't it's safe to say the Celeron D wins.

Almost, but the Celeron D 350 (which after doing some research) I saw doesn't support 64. It's the 351 that does. And it's cache is still 1/2 of his P4. I'd stick with the P4 because if there's any gain, it's very little gain. Prescotts get very hot anyways, so I wouldn't do it, not worth it to take apart your computer just to fit a processor that is marginally, if at all, better.

I found that out here if you want to look it up.

Ah, so I was mistaken about the EMT64 support, I was going by memory on that one. We also don't know how much cache his current P4 has, or what FSB it boasts etc.. *although it would help if he wanted to check via Cpu-Z when he gets a chance, probably 512 and 533fsb though*. While the extra l2 cache is nice, it does only help in certain situations *mostly video and sound rendering etc..*. If he wants to OC, then yes, his P4 would probably be the better choice. If not, the Celeron D might be a slightly better choice.

Haha, he actually put a link up to his current P4 CPU....

Architecture 0.18 micron technology
L2 Cache 512 KB
L3 Cache N/A
Clock Speed 2.40 GHz
Front Side Bus Speed 400 MHz
Other Intel Technologies N/A
Package FC-PGA2

Wow you guys are awesome. I wasn’t expecting so much input so fast! I tried out that CPU-Z application just to make sure that the link I had provided above actually gave the correct specifications of my processor. This is what I ended up with –

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/5253/cpuspecs4zp.gif

Now, this also leaves me a little confused. Do I have Hyper-Threading technology (according to the picture), because I was totally oblivious to that (or is that the default picture for an Intel processor :(). Another factor that I was curious about is my motherboard (ASUS P4S800D-X). According to the manual, it accepts Socket 478 for Intel Pentium 4 / Celeron processors. Now, I understand this is probably a stupid question, but does it matter that this new processor is a Celeron D?

One other thing, someone told me that a very important thing to look at is the voltage of the processor, as they fried everything because of incompatible voltages between the motherboard and the processor.

Thanks a lot guys. This is an awesome learning experience. I appreciate all of the help.

Ah, it's a Northwood. You might as well stick with your P4. As the others said, the difference in speed is very minor, and the p4 with even just a bit of ocing will come out on top easily. also, you have one of the later Northwood core's that have the 800FSB and Ht *before, the northwood only had 533fsb, and only the top of the line 3ghz+ had HT*.

The Voltage is somewhat high on your p4, but that's to be expected.