Simple CPU Question

I wanna build a htpc using an old pentium 4 socket 478 proccessor. However the motherboard for it is useless meaning i'll need a new one which i can get for 35 quid. However i'll then need an agp card which will create more heat. So instead i;m thinking of buying a socket 775 motherboard and a cheap cpu. I have seen 3ghz celerons for 25 quid or or a dual core e1200 for 35. All i wanna know is, is it worth paying the extra tenner for two cores at a lower speed or goin for the i core at 3ghz. The system will only be for dvd and tv playback running vista media center. What do you think...

the 3ghz celeron will be the old pentium 4 style. avoid.

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Originally Posted by MadduckUK

the 3ghz celeron will be the old pentium 4 style. avoid.

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Quoted for the truth, avoid like the plague.

Find a cheap c2d chip somewhere and go that route, also means you'll get yourself a PCIE GFX card which if your planning to ho down the HD TV route later will mean you can grab something like a HD 2600 or something :)

why avoid... will it really be that bad just for that purpose...its celeron d if that makes any difference... also if i go for a core duo...would something like 1.6ghz be suitable

Small amount of CPU cache memory, and just generaly a poor quality product in comparison. A 1.6 GHz dual core CPU will be much better than any celeron CPU.

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Originally Posted by Behemoth

Small amount of CPU cache memory, and just generaly a poor quality product in comparison. A 1.6 GHz dual core CPU will be much better than any celeron CPU.

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Apparently the Dual core celerons are just as brain damaged as the other celerons. and with the pentium dual cores being so cheap i see no reason why that should not be used instead. :)

Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

this should be more than powerful enough for a Htpc and does not cost that much to boot

okay thanks for the help

Hell, didn't realise they had gone that cheap !! I paid double that for an E4300 last June !!

just to shake things up a bit ;)

AMD Athlon 64 LE-1620 SKT AM2 2.4 GHz L2 1MB Cache Energy Efficient 45w Retail Boxed Processor - Ebuyer
+
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H 780G Socket AM2+ onboard VGA 8 channel audio mATX Motherboard - Ebuyer
= cool processor, H.264 and VC-1 decoding :)

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Originally Posted by crazyfool

All i wanna know is, is it worth paying the extra tenner for two cores at a lower speed or goin for the i core at 3ghz.

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mhz/ghz is not a measurement of power :)

A modern e1200 will beat an old Celeron with ease, even with a much lower clock speed :)

MadduckUK is spot on though, for this budget its well worth looking at the AMD route and comparing :)

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Originally Posted by Agent

mhz/ghz is not a measurement of power :)

A modern e1200 will beat an old Celeron with ease, even with a much lower clock speed :)

MadduckUK is spot on though, for this budget its well worth looking at the AMD route and comparing :)

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Yup, performance is measured in FLOPS (FLoating Point Operations Per Second) / IPS (Instructions Per Second), etc, depending on what you're using it for.

okay in that case do you think the recommendation above for a cpu and motherboard from madduckuk would be the best option for a htpc rather than the intel processor and this motherboard... Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK ...bearing in mind i will only be using onboard graphics...onboard should be sufficient right?...

Onboard is sufficient generally for video processing, however you should clarify the following points:
1) Will you be watching HD-DVD and/or Blu-Ray movies?
2) Are you connecting the PC to an HD-TV, or to a computer monitor?
3) What will be the resolution of the monitor / TV?
4) What sort of connection / input / lead will you be using?