Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 17 to 21 of 21

Thread: Pentium 4 won't die

  1. #17
    RIP Peterb ik9000's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    7,701
    Thanks
    1,839
    Thanked
    1,434 times in 1,057 posts
    • ik9000's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus P7H55-M/USB3
      • CPU:
      • i7-870, Prolimatech Megahalems, 2x Akasa Apache 120mm
      • Memory:
      • 4x4GB Corsair Vengeance 2133 11-11-11-27
      • Storage:
      • 2x256GB Samsung 840-Pro, 1TB Seagate 7200.12, 1TB Seagate ES.2
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Gigabyte GTX 460 1GB SuperOverClocked
      • PSU:
      • NZXT Hale 90 750w
      • Case:
      • BitFenix Survivor + Bitfenix spectre LED fans, LG BluRay R/W optical drive
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 7 Professional
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell U2414h, U2311h 1920x1080
      • Internet:
      • 200Mb/s Fibre and 4G wifi

    Re: Pentium 4 won't die

    Quote Originally Posted by Dashers View Post
    Indeed, you get a SSD for access times not throughput (although that's also pretty swish too).

    I think it would be quite interesting to see how "perfectly good" old computers handle modern day-to-day workloads. e.g. running an up-to-date OS and surfing Javascript heavy web-sites. The day-to-day workload of the home PC hasn't changed in terms of function for a long time. Writing documents, calculating spreadsheets, sending emails and surfing the web. If it wasn't for games, media encoding (which to be fair, this P4 has been running a transcoding media server just fine on) and professional things like virtual servers - could an old computer still be perfectly serviceable?
    Yes, it can. I run win7 on an old pentium M laptop and it copes just fine. 32bit only, slower obviously due to CPU, PATA HDD and DDR2 but it works. Runs Far Cry, BF2 and similar games of that era courtsey of a 256GB GPU 6800 Go. And this in an XP machine that Dell said wouldn't support win7.

  2. #18
    Senior Member Pob255's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    The land of Brum
    Posts
    10,143
    Thanks
    608
    Thanked
    1,226 times in 1,123 posts
    • Pob255's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus M5A99X EVO
      • CPU:
      • FX8350 & CM Hyper 212+
      • Memory:
      • 4 x 2gb Corsair Vengence 1600mhz cas9
      • Storage:
      • 512gb samsung SSD +1tb Samsung HDD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EGVA GTX970
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic GX 650W
      • Case:
      • HAF 912+
      • Operating System:
      • W7 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • iiyama XB3270QS-B1 32" IPS 1440p

    Re: Pentium 4 won't die

    Quote Originally Posted by Bagnaj97 View Post
    Transfer rates will be restricted, but seek times will still be far faster on an SSD than HDD. Enough that you'd really notice the difference.
    Not sure how much of that will translate though, this is SATA 150gbs remember, the original SATA had serious speed issues that made it slower than the high end IDE because of the really crappy overheads it had.
    Not sure how much that will effect seek time though.

  3. #19
    Now 100% Apple free cheesemp's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Near the New forest
    Posts
    2,948
    Thanks
    354
    Thanked
    255 times in 173 posts
    • cheesemp's system
      • Motherboard:
      • ASUS TUF x570-plus
      • CPU:
      • Ryzen 3600
      • Memory:
      • 16gb Corsair RGB ram
      • Storage:
      • 256Gb NVMe + 500Gb TcSunbow SDD (cheap for games only)
      • Graphics card(s):
      • RX 480 8Gb Nitro+ OC (with auto OC to above 580 speeds!)
      • PSU:
      • Cooler Master MWE 750 bronze
      • Case:
      • Gamemax f15m
      • Operating System:
      • Win 11
      • Monitor(s):
      • 32" QHD AOC Q3279VWF
      • Internet:
      • FTTC ~35Mb

    Re: Pentium 4 won't die

    We've got older P4's kicking round on some of our legacy support systems for a few customers who refuse to upgrade. Amazing how solid they are though. Its usually the PSU that dies though...
    Trust

    Laptop : Dell Inspiron 1545 with Ryzen 5500u, 16gb and 256 NVMe, Windows 11.

  4. #20
    Not a good person scaryjim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Gateshead
    Posts
    15,196
    Thanks
    1,231
    Thanked
    2,291 times in 1,874 posts
    • scaryjim's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Dell Inspiron
      • CPU:
      • Core i5 8250U
      • Memory:
      • 2x 4GB DDR4 2666
      • Storage:
      • 128GB M.2 SSD + 1TB HDD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Radeon R5 230
      • PSU:
      • Battery/Dell brick
      • Case:
      • Dell Inspiron 5570
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • 15" 1080p laptop panel

    Re: Pentium 4 won't die

    My experience (largely from buying second hand hardware) is that CPUs are just about th emost robust of components - can't remember ever getting a bad CPU off ebay, for instance. The least reliable is mobos (unsurprisingly), which may explain why I have a box of s 478 CPUs lying around but no mobos for them to go in

    I think the main issue with an old P4 nowadays would be the steadily increasing number of threads that System processes use - iirc Win XP only had about 100 threads running in the system process, where the machines I have to hand (one Win 7, one Win 10) both have around 200 threads running in the system process. It may be that the increased number of threads doesn't increase CPU load significantly, but I'd think just managing that many more threads on a single core CPU is going to have overhead...

  5. #21
    RIP Peterb ik9000's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    7,701
    Thanks
    1,839
    Thanked
    1,434 times in 1,057 posts
    • ik9000's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus P7H55-M/USB3
      • CPU:
      • i7-870, Prolimatech Megahalems, 2x Akasa Apache 120mm
      • Memory:
      • 4x4GB Corsair Vengeance 2133 11-11-11-27
      • Storage:
      • 2x256GB Samsung 840-Pro, 1TB Seagate 7200.12, 1TB Seagate ES.2
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Gigabyte GTX 460 1GB SuperOverClocked
      • PSU:
      • NZXT Hale 90 750w
      • Case:
      • BitFenix Survivor + Bitfenix spectre LED fans, LG BluRay R/W optical drive
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 7 Professional
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell U2414h, U2311h 1920x1080
      • Internet:
      • 200Mb/s Fibre and 4G wifi

    Re: Pentium 4 won't die

    Quote Originally Posted by scaryjim View Post
    My experience (largely from buying second hand hardware) is that CPUs are just about th emost robust of components - can't remember ever getting a bad CPU off ebay, for instance. The least reliable is mobos (unsurprisingly), which may explain why I have a box of s 478 CPUs lying around but no mobos for them to go in
    if they really are going free then I have a P4 S278 machine still running XP that only has a 2.8Ghz in it. Happy to get that 1/8 extra speed if you're willing to part with one.

    It also has an Nvidia PCI 5200 in it - the combo of the two = toasty. I also have a Pentium D and mobo that I need to get a chassis for and get running. The two of those together should reduce my central heating bill for that area of the house nicely.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •