P4 1.7 v Celeron 2.3

[owenbear]

Sorry if I'm askng an old question but....

Which would be the best/fastest processor? A P4 1.7ghz or a Celeron 2.3ghz?
I know they both fit the 478 socket but thats about it.
I'd like to get the fastest one installed to help my young daughter with her school work. Would we notice a difference between the two?
Any help/information would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

OwenBear

[Rik from RCE]

They'd both be about the same, although the P4 will be slightly better at multitasking than the Celeron. Note the word slightly!

[caperjack]

how much ram does the computer have instilled in it ,as adding more rm would likely give a better boost ,right click on mycomputer and go properties it will show ram there

[owenbear]

So am I best sticking with the P4 1.7 then?

The PC only has 640mb RAM. I have some questions about memory too.

It's got 2 sticks of DDR RAm.
1 is 128MB DDR PC2100
2 is 512MB DDR PC2300

I also have a few memory sticks spare, namely

(A) 256MB DDR PC2700 and (B) 512MB DDR PC2700.

When I tried the above memory (A & B) the PC wouldn't turn on.
Also, if I switch the memory sticks that are in it around the PC won't work.
Can anyone explain this? Does the slower memory have to be in the first socket or something?
I also have a 1GB DDR 400mhz memory stick but I daren't try it in case I dameage the PC.

more info
Asustek P4B533VM motherboard
NVidea GeForce 7600GS 256MB DDR3 GFX card
640MB DDR RAM (as above)

Any info would be greatly appreciated as I am CONFUSED!

Cheers

OwenBear

[Rik from RCE]

Have a read of this - http://tw.asus.com/999/html/events/mb/socket478/p4b533-vm/overview.htm

[owenbear]

Hi, thanks for the above^^

Thw best I can figure is that the fastest memory modules it can use is the PC2100 any speeds above that run at the PC2100 memory speed.
I think this is why my PC doesn't work if I simply switch the two memory modules around (see above).
i.e the PC2100 has to be in the first slot and any memory in the next slot runs at the PC2100 speed (as I understand it).
I'm concerned if I could do any damage to the PC by attempting to use the 1GB DDR 400Mhz in the second slot.
Should I just leave it alone or is it worth trying?
If I could use the 1GB memory to get better performance I'd like to...
Cheers
OwenBear

"Yes, it will always work considering you do the following.

Find the timings and clock speed of the first stick then:

1) Manually set the clock speed of the memory bus to 133. (It is probably set to [auto]

2) Manually set the memory timings (i.e. Cas Latency, RAS delay). These are probably set to detect from the SPD.

If you do this, you shouldn't have any issues... "

I was reading the above and hence my question.

[Rik from RCE]

From personal experience, I wouldn't recommend mixing different ram. I have come across unstable systems that keep hanging with mixed ram. I have even come across 3 motherboards that were damaged by mixed ram.

[owenbear]

OK thanks for the prompt reply.
I guess I should just leave it alone. It's just having these larger memory sticks around that caused me to ask.
I guess we'll get along with what we've got until we learn a bit more!

Thanks again!

OwenBear

[Rik from RCE]

No problem, it's why we are here! :)

[benmar]

P4 is better than intel celeron

[cypher1]

Hi just from experience with a dell pc the memory sticks came in pairs 2 x 64,2 x 256,2 x 512mb 4 slots in total etc to whatever the maximum memory is.If you upgraded the memory it had to be in pairs of identical MB capacity

Install the RAM nearest the processor first installing the next two sockets

[longisland]

Hello

A celeron is built with the same technology as the pentium, but in order to make it cheaper intel reduced the most expensive parts, like the level 2 cache, which is a piece of ram directly on the chip. It also has less pipes, which are the series of resistors that actually make the calculations.

Regards,
long island roofers