P4 replacement

Built a P4 several years ago and was thinking about building a
replacment or backup unit. What is equivalent in todays Intel and AMD
processor that would equal a P4 478 socket 3Ghz machine?

"seth1066" wrote in message
...
Built a P4 several years ago and was thinking about building a
replacment or backup unit. What is equivalent in todays Intel and AMD
processor that would equal a P4 478 socket 3Ghz machine?


The machine you have should be plenty good for general use
and I'd say not to build a new machine unless you really need to.

OTOH: If you are running some CPU intensive applications such as Photoshop,
then don't even think of some equivalent machine...
by all means go with a dual core.

As to Intel vs AMD...just go for what gives you the best specs for the
money.

On Sep 16, 7:33*pm, "philo" wrote:
"seth1066" wrote in message

...

Built a P4 several years ago and was thinking about building a
replacment or backup unit. What is equivalent in todays Intel and AMD
processor that would equal a P4 478 socket 3Ghz machine?

The machine you have should be plenty good for general use
and I'd say not to build a new machine unless you really need to.

OTOH: If you are running some CPU intensive applications such as Photoshop,
then don't even think of some equivalent machine...
by all means go with a dual core.

As to Intel vs AMD...just go for what gives you the best specs for the
money.

Which dual core matches the P4 3Ghz? This will give me a starting
point for a backup and I can go higher from there if I go the
replacement route replacement.

"seth1066" wrote in message
...
On Sep 16, 7:33 pm, "philo" wrote:
"seth1066" wrote in message

...

Built a P4 several years ago and was thinking about building a
replacment or backup unit. What is equivalent in todays Intel and AMD
processor that would equal a P4 478 socket 3Ghz machine?

The machine you have should be plenty good for general use
and I'd say not to build a new machine unless you really need to.

OTOH: If you are running some CPU intensive applications such as
Photoshop,
then don't even think of some equivalent machine...
by all means go with a dual core.

As to Intel vs AMD...just go for what gives you the best specs for the
money.

Which dual core matches the P4 3Ghz? This will give me a starting
point for a backup and I can go higher from there if I go the
replacement route replacement.


Well something such as an AMD X2-3800+ is a pretty much bottom of the line
dual core cpu
if you are just looking for the lowest price.

For any application that can utilize both cores, I'm sure you'd find it
better than a p-4

"seth1066" wrote in message
...
On Sep 16, 7:33 pm, "philo" wrote:
"seth1066" wrote in message

...

Built a P4 several years ago and was thinking about building a
replacment or backup unit. What is equivalent in todays Intel and AMD
processor that would equal a P4 478 socket 3Ghz machine?

The machine you have should be plenty good for general use
and I'd say not to build a new machine unless you really need to.

OTOH: If you are running some CPU intensive applications such as
Photoshop,
then don't even think of some equivalent machine...
by all means go with a dual core.

As to Intel vs AMD...just go for what gives you the best specs for the
money.

Which dual core matches the P4 3Ghz? This will give me a starting
point for a backup and I can go higher from there if I go the
replacement route replacement.

Am I missing something? What is the point of building a new machine that
will match the old one? Just use the old one!

On Sep 17, 9:28*am, "GT" wrote:
"seth1066" wrote in message

...
On Sep 16, 7:33 pm, "philo" wrote:



"seth1066" wrote in message

....

Built a P4 several years ago and was thinking about building a
replacment or backup unit. What is equivalent in todays Intel and AMD
processor that would equal a P4 478 socket 3Ghz machine?

The machine you have should be plenty good for general use
and I'd say not to build a new machine unless you really need to.

OTOH: If you are running some CPU intensive applications such as
Photoshop,
then don't even think of some equivalent machine...
by all means go with a dual core.

As to Intel vs AMD...just go for what gives you the best specs for the
money.

Which dual core matches the P4 3Ghz? This will give me a starting
point for a backup and I can go higher from there if I go the
replacement route replacement.

Am I missing something? What is the point of building a new machine that
will match the old one? Just use the old one!

Let me ask it this way: Which new Intel CPU matches the P4 3Ghz so I
can choose one that is faster?

"seth1066" wrote in message
...


Let me ask it this way: Which new Intel CPU matches the P4 3Ghz so I
can choose one that is faster?

----------------

The only Intel CPU that "Matches" the P4 3Ghz, is the
P4 3Ghz. How could it be otherwise?

There is no reason for Intel to make a "new" CPU that
"matches" one of their old CPUs.

Do you mean a "new" CPU that costs about the same as
the P4 3Ghz? Do you mean the cheapest one that has
similar performance? (There are new features that the
P4 never had and some of them replaced features of the
P4, so there is no direct way to match the new to the old.)

For some types of processing a "slower" speed multi-
core CPU will out perform a faster single core CPU. The
opposite is true for some others. Most newer multi-
threaded programs and especially those that have been
written to take advantage of multi-core CPUs, can show
significant improvements.

Most people approach this from a different angle, by
establishing not only their minimum performance
requirements; but also some idea of the amount of
money they are looking to spend on the upgrade as a
whole. It is a sad fact that one upgrade will often require
a number of others to arrive at a working system.

Changing a CPU will often mean a new Motherboard (MB)
and often a new type of memory. Many feel that if they
are upgrading their old AGP graphics equipped MB, it is a
good idea to replace it with a new PCI-e equipped MB, so
a new Videocard may be needed, as well. Sometimes
such a new system will require a new, likely bigger power
supply, to meet the requirements of these additions.

So, like most GoogleGroups posters, you seem to be
frustrated because your "simple" question doesn't get
you an instant response. And you can't understand why
we keep asking you to clarify what it is you really want.

At some point we get tired of playing "twenty questions"
to get to the factors that are really in play.

Luck;
Ken

On Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:58:35 -0700 (PDT), seth1066
wrote:


Let me ask it this way: Which new Intel CPU matches the P4 3Ghz so I
can choose one that is faster?

This chart will give you some idea of how CPUs rank:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/common_cpus.html
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/index.php

Ken Maltby wrote:
"seth1066" wrote in message
...


Let me ask it this way: Which new Intel CPU matches the P4 3Ghz so I
can choose one that is faster?

----------------

The only Intel CPU that "Matches" the P4 3Ghz, is the
P4 3Ghz. How could it be otherwise?

snip

Ken, what he is trying to determine, is what products
are faster than his 3GHz P4. So, to answer the question,
if someone tells him what Core2 processor or Athlon64 X2
is the minimum that meets the criterion, then he can
shop for something better than that, for his new system.

For example, a Core2 processor running at 2GHz or an
Athlon64 X2 running at 2GHz, would be roughly equivalent
to a P4 at 3GHz. The reason they should be dual core
or better, is to give the same "smoothness" that a
P4 with Hyperthreading has. (I've been experimenting
with this the last couple days, and I still haven't
been able to keep a single core Athlon from hesitating,
so going dual core is important. My P4 doesn't make
the same hesitations that the Athlon one does.)

I wanted to post an answer earlier, and offer the
charts on Tomshardware as a way to make a selection,
except they ruined the only remaining single threaded
benchmark. Now, there is no way to make a fair
comparison between a P4 and the latest processors.
So I gave up on answering the question. My 1.5x number
above is based on previous (conservative) estimates
of how much more IPC the new processors offer. The
Athlon64 X2 is about 1.5x, while the Core2 ranges
somewhere between 1.5x, 1.8x or 2.0x, depending on
the benchmark being used.

I think the Athlon64 X2 3800+ runs at 2GHz, and
thus it is the closest thing that won't disappoint
the owner of a P4 3GHz previous computer.

http://products.amd.com/en-us/Deskto...ail.aspx?id=64

Anything above the E4400 in this chart, would match
or exceed the P4 3GHz.

http://processorfinder.intel.com/List.aspx?ProcFam=2558

This E8400 is $170, and would be a significant upgrade.
It runs at 3GHz, and multiplying by 1.5x gives "4.5GHz+"
as the minimum performance level.

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

For comparison, this Athlon64 X2 6400+ is $119 on sale. It
isn't nearly as good as the E8400, and also uses more
power (125W). It runs at 3.2GHz, so on paper at least,
is in the same class as the E8400. But the pricing
tells you its relative worth. This particular product is
an OEM (tray) processor, so you need to purchase a heatsink
separately. And at 125W, depending on your aversion to
noise, you can probably spend another $50 on your favorite
brand of after-market cooling solution.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103290

For some comparisons,

Pentium 4 3.0Ghz Northwood @ 3000mhz, SuperPI 32M takes 52min 17.57seconds
http://www.hwbot.org/result.do?resultId=616571

Core 2 E8400 (3.0Ghz @ 3000mhz), SuperPI 32M takes 32min 26seconds
http://www.hwbot.org/result.do?resultId=768991

Athlon 64 6400+ X2 @ 3215mhz, SuperPI 32M takes 24min 21.34seconds
(And I haven't a clue as to why it is so fast. SuperPI is single threaded.
But it would take me too long to find a better benchmark than this,
one that is "pure" and doesn't rely on a graphics card or disk.)

http://www.hwbot.org/result.do?resultId=702991

Rather than me try any more data mining on the hwbot site (as
I'm pretty bad at it), this page and accompanying chart tells
the story pretty well.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu...hootout_9.html

Here, the E8400 thrashes the 6400+. This is a price / performance chart.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/cpu/d...ice-perf-1.png

Paul

On Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:58:35 -0700 (PDT), seth1066
wrote:

On Sep 17, 9:28*am, "GT" wrote:
"seth1066" wrote in message

...
On Sep 16, 7:33 pm, "philo" wrote:



"seth1066" wrote in message

...

Built a P4 several years ago and was thinking about building a
replacment or backup unit. What is equivalent in todays Intel and AMD
processor that would equal a P4 478 socket 3Ghz machine?

The machine you have should be plenty good for general use
and I'd say not to build a new machine unless you really need to.

OTOH: If you are running some CPU intensive applications such as
Photoshop,
then don't even think of some equivalent machine...
by all means go with a dual core.

As to Intel vs AMD...just go for what gives you the best specs for the
money.

Which dual core matches the P4 3Ghz? This will give me a starting
point for a backup and I can go higher from there if I go the
replacement route replacement.

Am I missing something? What is the point of building a new machine that
will match the old one? Just use the old one!

Let me ask it this way: Which new Intel CPU matches the P4 3Ghz so I
can choose one that is faster?

There's a reason why most people don't pick a CPU like this
- because there is no universal translator, it depends quite
a lot on the jobs you run, the versions of the applications,
how heavily you multitask, whether you entertain any notions
of overclocking, etc.

Generally the better way to approach the topic is to look at
the total budget for the new system and within that budget,
determining what is an appropriate CPU such that it is
reasonably matched to the rest of the parts. For example,
higher end CPU and 2GB memory isn't such a great match.
Lower end CPU and high end video card wouldn't be either.

A general recommendation that is a good value might be
something like a Q9400 @ $270, or an E8400 @ $170, E7200 @
$120. To see a rough comparison of the tiering so you can
pick relatively, see this chart:
http://www.techpowerup.com/img/08-09-06/9a.png
Your P4/3GHz would fall (depending on the task/benchmark
used to compare) roughly into the "Value 1" segment.