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Should I bother with the CPU swap?

ADP

ADP

ADP

Associate
Joined
9 Nov 2004
Posts
173
Hi there,

My main system consists of:

Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz (northwood) 512kB L2 cache
1 GB RAM
Asus P4P800 MB

I mainly use it for surfing net, Video encoding (not a lot) and sometimes games.

I don't want to put a new (Intel Core 2) PC together yet until the Directx 10 Graphics cards are available.

I recently managed to get hold of a HP Media Center machine for £70 consisting of:

Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz (prescott) Socket 478 1024kB L2 cache
1 GB RAM
250GB Hard drive, TV Tuner, etc.

I bought the PC because of the good price and I was especially interested in the processor because it is faster than the one in my main PC and they both use the same socket 478, but I am not sure how much faster it will be. I understand that the Prescott processors generate more heat than the Northwoods. I think my current processor is rated at 110W, and the Prescott 115W.

Question 1: Is it worth me swapping out my Northwood 2.4Ghz processor for the Prescott 3.2GHz processor, would I notice that much of a difference.

Question 2: If it is worth the swap out, then what is the best cooler to use, I have been looking at the Arctic Cooling Freezer 4 and the Zalman CNPS7000B-CU Ultra-Quiet CPU Cooler. Are there any others to consider.

Thanks in advance
 
id do it, 800mhz + the extra cache is definately worth 20mins of your time to clean them up and swap them over
i always recommend arctic cooler as its really cheap and still very effective, dont forget to buy some decent thermal paste like some arctic silver 5 to apply :)
 
Yes definetely swap them, you will notice huge differnece in video encoding in particular. Pressy P4s are a lot more ocable than northwood ones so 3.8Ghz+ is possible with good air cooling. If you are not OCing then you should be fine with stock cooler, just use the one form the HP pc.
 
I must thank all you guys for the replies, I think I will swap the processors over now. I do not plan on overclocking but I am still undecided on the cooler. I know I can use the cooler in the HP but I want a quiet one.

I have looked at the Big Typhoon, Arctic Cooling Freezer 4 and the Zalman cnps7000. I'm not sure if the Big Typhoon will be too big for my case. BTW, how easy are these coolers to fit, do they just clip onto the bracket which is already on the motherboard (Asus P4P800) or is it more complicated than that?

Once again thanks for all the replies.
 
Usually it's a bit more complicated than that. All three coolers you suggested will be sufficient but the zalman one will take up a lot of space so make sure you have plenty of room inside your case, especially the distance between the CPU socket and the power supply. I have a P4P800E Dulexe myself so I know the socket is right at the top edge of the board.
 
barrymacp said:
Id also stick the other 1gb of ram in out the other machine to:)
Click to expand...

I didn't really think of that, Cheers :)

Would I notice much difference between 1GB and 2 GB though. I understand that I will notice a difference in Windows Vista, but what about running Windows XP?
 
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