Best socket 478 mPGA processor?

[westy87]

Well, mums computer is getting on in years, and so she was thinking of buying a new one, however she only uses it for email and web browsing really. It is a 2.5ghz northwood celeron on the 478 mPGA socket. Some other interesting readings from cpuz are the 1.52 volts, but i suppose thats for the 130nm tech, plus it has a 100mhz (400 rated) fsb, with a 25X multiplier lol.

But yeh its still runs fine for web browsing and playing cards on lol. So basically do you think buying a better processor for it would be the way to go? It was an Acer aspire T300 MHD11351 but we added another 512mb ram to it plus another 80bg hdd and a 450watt psu. It still runs decently for web browsing and running office and itunes.

So yeh, should i just get a new processor for it, and if so which is the best you can get for this socket

Oh and its a pretty small case with not much room for a cpu cooler in case the better processor requires bigger heatsink/fan

[Victor]

I think more ram probably will do more goods than a new processor. I wouldn't really recommend a new processor as it maybe hard to find a socket 478 cpu

[westy87]

Ok thanks. I was thinking about it after I posted and I think it would be too hard to put a new processor in anyway because its one of thise cases that everything is riveted into so im not sure how I would get the mobo into a position to actually replace the cpu. Do you think replacing the original 256mb stick with another 512mb (ddr pc3200) stick would be the way to go? 1gb should be enough hey?

[slugbug]

Socket 478 P4's are easy enough to find on ebay. I did a quick Google search to see if it supports 533fsb P4s, but I couldn't find anything. For sure you'll see an improvement going from a Celeron to a P4. 1gb of ram would be plenty.

[Kougar]

First, you will be hard pressed to find a faster, 400FSB CPU. They were rare and cost a premium even up to a year ago. You would need to find out if that board supports a 533FSB or 800FSB, chances are it may not.

I wouldn't suggest buying a new processor for it. Is the system left running most of the time? 1.52v is the same vCore as my own 2.8ghz Northwood chip, except it's at a 800FSB.

You can buy a AMD X2 3600+ for under $60 retail, or the X2 3800+ for ~$5 more. I have read that AMD is going yet another round of price cuts to match Intel's planned cuts on the 22nd, so prices will only go down. AMD boards are rather cheap, you can also grab a micro ATX AM2 socket board for $35 AMIR or in the low $40's. DDR2 RAM is rather cheap these days as well... $35 board, $35 for 1gb of DDR2 RAM, and $60 for a X2 3800 AM2 socket processor... all Newegg prices. I bet you can find it cheaper still elsewhere if ya hunt. ;)

[westy87]

Sweet, thanks for that kougs! I wouldnt mind building a new system (out of oldish parts). That might be the motivation i need, cause I'm sure mum would pay for it. And the computer is on about, 12 hours a day