Dual Core or Pentium 4

[Dutch]

which is better my old computer im fixing has pentium 4 and the game i want says it wants a Dual Core 2.4GHz CPU for optimal results and the old cpu is 2.6 GHz so is it better

[xtremecaraudio]

the dual core, your old Pentium is getting to be pretty old technology. would be the equivalent of running like a Socket A(462) AMD Athalon 2600+. So no, from a processor standpoint I would not expect to see optimal results. Not to mention, if a game says that it is probably optimized for a dual processor, so results probably won't be very good. What game? maybe we can give you some insight on how it will perform.

[Dutch]

its not really a game but its called realflight g4 its an rc flight sim. is it hard to upgrade a processor

[JonsZX2SR]

Performance has to do with more than just CPU speed. Memory access speed is usually the limiting factor. The DDR2 dual channel memory is considerably faster than DDR memory.

My first question is whether your P4-2.66 CPU is socket 478 or socket 775 ? If you have an older 478 board you probably have a 845 chipset and you are running DDR memory at 266 or 333 MHz. (With a 2.66 GHz CPU it is unlikely you have a 400 MHz FSB and unlikely the CPU is HT (hyper-threading.)

If you have a socket 775 motherboard you probably use DDR2 dual channel memory and you might be able to support a dual CPU P4, such as the 2X2.8, 2X3.0 or 2X3.2 GHz versions that were around one or two generations ago.

I upgraded from a system I use for video processing that ran a P4-3.0 GHz HT CPU with a 400 MHz FSB to a Core2Duo E4400 (2X2.0 GHz with an 800 MHz FSB) running DDR2 memory at 667 MHz.

This is by no means a super-fast system with people running quad processors with 1333 MHz FSB and DDR2 at 800 MHz (or faster.)

Regardless my processing times to recode a raw video file and burn a DVD dropped from 210 minutes to 57 minutes or a factor of X3.68 wich is much faster than one would expect from CPU speed alone (2X2.0/3.0 = 1.33.)

The older dual P4 CPUs would be slower than the e4xxx series Core2Dou CPU's. E6xxx and E8xxx are much faster with the Q6xxx providing even more processing power.

I'd estimate a good mid level gaming machine might have 8-12X the processing power of your P4-266, and this is before factoring in speed increases of the PCI-e 16X video slot (over AGP 4X or 8X) and SATA HD/DVD vs. ATA-100 or ATA-133 HD/DVD. The newer PCI-e video cards also use fast onboard DDR2 memory which is another speed boost.

...and the AMD dual core motherboards and CPU's are genrally in the same speed range.

If the gaming calls for even a mid level Core2Duo machine, I think you are going to be disappointed with your older P4. You might be able to get by with a Dual-CPU P4 (if your motherboard supports one) and a new videocard with fast DDR2 onboartd memory, but I think you'd be better upgrading now with a good a machine as you can afford.

[LunchBoxZX2]

Just as an aside to Jon's post... most videocards have been using GDDR3 for some time and some even use GDDR4 memory. MUCH faster than your typical system RAM.

Sounds like you have a system that's several years old. Like Jon said, start by identifying the socket type of the processor and the rest should be pretty simple.

We'll help you if you want.

[JonsZX2SR]

Good point. DDR3 is pretty much the standard for video memory with DDR4 at the top end.

Another factor is the high end video cards connect to dual sokets, either (PCI-e 16X + PCI-e) or (2X PCI-e 16X.) There is no way an older AGP 8X (as much as they were better than old PCI video) even with DDR2 memory is going to keep up

...and for gaming, video processing power is a major factor.

If you wanted to get crazy, you could buy a dual 771-pin LGA socket server mother board and put a pair of matched dual core Xeon processors (at least E6xxx series) in it. The board should have two sets of dual channel memory and dual PCI-e 16X slots for video and supported at least 4 SATA drives you could build something that would be close to the cutting edge. The motherboard alone is going to cost $600+.

ASUS DSBF-D12/SAS (http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=9&l2=39&l3=299&model=1460&modelmenu=1)

You're talking about replacing ALL your current hardware and at least $2000.

[Dutch]

Product number
DQ099A
Introduction date
08-Oct-03
Country/region sold in
United States
Canada
Hardware
Base processor and speed
Pentium 4 / 2.60 GHz with HyperThreading Technology
800 MHz front side bus
mPGA478
Chipset
865G
Motherboard manufacturer
ASUS
Memory
Component Attributes
RAM (installed) 512 MB (2 x 256)
Maximum allowed 2 GB (4 x 512 MB) requires the removal of the installed 256 MB DIMMS
Speed supported PC2700 MB/sec
Type 184 pin, DDR SDRAM
DIMM slots Four
Open slots Two

Cache
Type Attributes
Primary cache (L1) 8 KB data + 12,000 uOps Trace
Secondary (L2) 512 KB

CD-RW drive
48 x 24 x 48 maximum speed
DVD-ROM drive
16x maximum
Diskette drive
1.44 MB (3.5-inch)
Video graphics
Integrated Intel Extreme Graphics with up to 64 MB shared video memory
Sound/audio
Integrated AC'97 with 6-channel configurable audio
Network
Integrated 10/100Base-T Fast Ethernet interface
Fax/Modem
High-speed V.92 data/fax
MPEG
MPEG2 for full-motion digital video
7-in-1 card
7-in-1 digital media card reader supports the following cards:
Compact Flash I/II
SmartMedia
Memory Stick
Memory Stick Pro
MultiMediaCard
Secure Digital (SD)
IBM Micro Drive
Other card features include the following:
Front panel of PC
Microphone/Headphone/Line-in connectors
External ports
Port type Quantity
USB (2.0) Six (two front and four back)
IEEE 1394 Two (one front and one back)
7-in-1 media card reader Four slots (front)
Line-in One (front)
Headphone One (front)
Microphone Two (front)
Serial One (back)
Parallel One (back)
PS/2 Keyboard One (back)
PS/2 Mouse One (back)
Line-out One (back)
VGA Monitor One (back)

Expansion slots (total)
Slot type Quantity
PCI Three (two open)
DIMM Four (two available)
AGP 8x One

Drive bays (total)
Bay type Quantity
5.25-inch, external Two (both occupied)
3.5-inch, external Two (both occupied)
3.5-inch, internal Two (one available)

Keyboard and mouse
HP PS/2 multimedia keyboard
HP PS/2 optical mouse
Software
Operating system
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Software build ID/BIOS
SWB-ID# 34NAHEBLU2 NA-HOME
CD-RW/DVD software
RecordNow 6 by Vertias
WinDVD SE 4.0 by Intervideo
WinDVD upgrade to 5.1 (optional)
Entertainment, music, and games
MusicMatch Jukebox 7.5 by MusicMatch (not available on French Canadian models)
MusicMatch Jukebox 7.1 by MusicMatch (French Canadian models only)
Wild Tangent GameChannel (not available on French Canadian models)
eMusic downloads by Rioport (not available on French Canadian models)
Microsoft Plus Digital Media Edition (not available on French Canadian models)
Imaging, photography, video, and film
HP Image Zone
HP Organize (not available on French Canadian models)
ShowBiz 2
Education and reference
Encarta Encyclopedia Britannica 2003 Standard (CD/DVD) (French Canada only)
Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe Online (not available on French Canadian models)
Productivity and finance
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Corel WordPerfect Office 11 try before you buy (not available on French Canadian models)
Microsoft Money 2003 (CD/DVD) (not available on French Canadian models)
Microsoft Works 7.0 (CD/DVD)
Quicken New User Edition 2003 by Intuit (not available on French Canadian models)
myHPclub (not available on French Canadian models)
HP Recovery and HP Ware
Microsoft System Restore
Recovery Software Suite
System Recovery
Application Recovery
PC Recovery Tools CD
Recovery CD Creator
Service and support
Backweb Client
Help & Support Center (French Canadian models only)
Help & Support Center/HP Instant Support (not available on French Canadian models)
PC-Doctor
Safety and Comfort Guide
I.E. Favorites
Security
Norton AntiVirus 2003
Norton Personal Firewall 2003
Utility and maintenance
Intellimover Data Transfer (demo)
7-in-1 Media Card Reader Utility
Skydesk Online Backup (not available on French Canadian models)
Spam Subtract Lite Version (not available on French Canadian models)
ISP signup
Use HP's Easy Internet Signup utility to join any of the following dial-up and broadband ISPs (Internet Service Provider).
AOL dial-up (3 months trial service included)
Earthlink dial-up (3 months trial service included--U.S. only)
Earthlink - DSL, Cable, & Satellite (U.S. only)
SBC Yahoo! DSL (U.S. only)
CompuServe (not available on French Canadian models)
DigiTerra (not available on French Canadian models)
Warranty
Warranty type Warranty duration
Parts and labor One year
Hardware troubleshooting One year/24 hour/7 days a week
Software phone support One year/24 hour/7 days a week
Software replacement 30 days
Self repair (kits) One year
Return to HP or Authorized Service Provider One year



its an hp pavilion a340n it pretty old

[Dutch]

i think this may help for what my computer is

and this is for the game

Minimum Recommended System:
Some graphical features may be disabled. Aerodynamic Calculations will still be high quality.

Windows* 98SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista®
Intel® Pentium® 1.0GHz or equivalent
512 MB RAM
3 GB Hard Drive Space
3D Accelerated Video with:
32 MB Dedicated Video Memory
Full Windows DirectX® 9 compliant (Pixel Shader 1.4 support)
Optimal System:
For best graphical performance.
Dual Core 2.4GHz CPU
2 GB RAM
3D Accelerated Video with:
256 MB dedicated video memory
(Pixel Shader 2.0 support)
Multiplayer Requirements:
56.6 Kbps (or faster) modem or LAN connection
InterLink™ Elite Controller:
USB Port
Compatible FM or FM-selectable transmitter (if using the interface mode)

[JonsZX2SR]

Socket 478 with a 865 chipset and AGP 8X and DDR memory. You could probably upgrade the system with:

3.0 to 3.6 GHz P4 Northwood 478 CPU with 512 MB cache and 800 Mhz clock. Check to see if the motherboard supports this CPU.
2X1GB DDR PC3200 (400 FSB) memory
AGP 8X video card with 256 MB DDR2 memory (NVidia GForce... etc.)

The socket 478 is pretty limiting. I don't believe Intel made any dual CPU Pentium D for socket 478. (I have two left over 478 boards in my network. One runs a basic server for storage, the other my A/V machine driving a video projector. neither comes close to the socket 775, E4400 machine and that is NOT state of the art.)

This upgrade might help with the game you want but it's going to be too limited for most of the newer games coming on the market.

You'd be better off picking up an older generation socket 775 motherboard and looking at least at the Pentium D (900 series, 915, 925, 930, etc.) CPU's

[Dutch]

what would be a good 775 motherboard? i want this computer for just realflight i have a ps3 so i do games on that and the family computer