Having trouble deciding on a new processor

[Piggah]

Hey everyone, I've been driving myself nuts over what processor I should get for my test computer, which I just use for testing out distros, trying new stuff, etc.

Price is the largest factor for me right now, as I don't have much money. So I'm really looking for the most bang for my buck. I'm stuck between these processors:

Click (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=2010340343+50001157+1051707443+1 050706982&Submit=ENE&Manufactory=1157&SubCategory=343)


Those are my options at this point, since they appear to be the only processors that fit my board, are cheap, and still should give me some performance. Feel free to recommend something else though.

The current specs of the computer, excluding the processor of course, is:
Shuttle AV49P S478 motherboard
256 megs of DDR333 memory
80 gig S-ATA150 hdd
Radeon 9200 video card
160W PSU

So I need something that with that system there, will be able to run quite a few different distros, capable of running GNOME fine, and be powerful enough that I can get most tasks done on it, which will mostly be testing for me.

The most important thing to me is price, so please take that into consideration. I just need the best performance for the price, but I've only ever had one Celeron, and I don't know how well they're going to perform. So if someone could give me some insight on the Celerons, I'd appreciate that too. I'm just never going to decide on something on my own. :P

Thanks for the input, I really appreciate it. :)

Edit: I just discovered that the ones I previously had picked out are all rebate deals, and I don't like messing with those. So I'm just going to go with a Celeron D from newegg, a site which I prefer more than others.

[yaddoshi]

I work in the PC repair / sales industry, and Celeron chips have been both good and bad in the past (and occasionally phenomenal). The ones you mentioned fall under the "good" category and should have no trouble running Gnome smoothly. If you intend to do anything 3D, however, (such as test out XGL and Compiz) you would be best off with the P4. But you probably already know that. In general, LINUX likes most processors for basic applications - my kids are using Ubuntu 5.10 on a Pentium III 700MHz system with no issues, just for example. The more RAM you have, however, the better. LINUX likes RAM. 256MB should be fine, but 512MB would be better.

Hope that helps.

[Piggah]

Thanks for the input. :)

I had planned on doing anything with XGL and the like on my main computer so I could get the most out of it anyways, so that's not an issue.

I'm glad to here that those fall into the "good" category. The only Celeron I've ever was pretty horrid, so I've always been a bit skiddish to use them. I imagine the Celeron D line is pretty nice at this point though.



I do plan on upgrading my RAM soon as well, since another 256 stick won't cost me all that much.

[John.Michael.Kane]

It's not intel based but might be worth looking at.
http://www.pricewatch.com/motherboard_combos_with_memory/6232-1.htm

these are intel based
http://www.pricewatch.com/motherboard_combos_with_memory/991929-1.htm
http://www.pricewatch.com/motherboard_combos_with_memory/6221-1.htm

[3rdalbum]

Actually, I'm going to be in the market for a new computer soon, and I'm wondering about processors. Which Pentium processor, if any, would be an equal match for an AMD Semperon 3100?

[John.Michael.Kane]

3rdalbum take a look over some of those in the link i posted.

[confused57]

Here's the processor I have:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1109132&Sku=CP2-CID-340C

It's quite fast and I haven't had any problems in the computer I built back in Dec.:
Mobo: Intel D865Perl
Graphics: Nvidia XFX5500
Memory: 2X512 PC3200
160 GB Seagate master IDE for Ubuntu
250 GB Seagate slave IDE Windows XP
Lite-On DVD Burner

At idle the CPU temp runs around 104-110 deg F, haven't had any problems with it, the price was right. Only time will tell, only been using it for 4 months. Hope this helps...

[mips]

Stay away from ATI gfx cards/chipset...

[Stew2]

I have a couple of s478 celerons running, although not as fast as a true P4 I believe the only real diffrence is in the amount of level 2 cache they have on board. They are both stable cool running processors (compared to my Prescott :D ) I think that they will work fine for what you are talking about. You might want to up your ram a bit if you can afford it though :) . Ram makes a big diffrence and it is quite inexpensive now. Hope this helps.
Regards,
Stew

[Piggah]

Thanks for the input everyone. :)

I think I've decided on this processor, which is $70. That will leave me with enough money to buy some RAM as well. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819112186

Do you think that that processor will work fine? :)


Thanks

[John.Michael.Kane]

That should be fine for everyday stuff, there are users here running ubuntu on less. if anything get as much ram as you can aford, and a nvidia card. everything should be golden.

[teet]

I just built a new low end machine (to use as a myth box).

I went with this processor: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1204254

Also, I picked up a cheap stick of PC-3200 (DDR 400) RAM for $15 (after rebate)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1699125&Sku=TC3A-3000

Finally, I would highly suggest getting an Nvidia card (unless you already have the ATI)...it will save you a lot of headache. I can list my complete order list if you would like.

You may not like any of this, though, since you said you don't like messing with rebates :)

-teet

[zachtib]

actually, the lower end radeons (9200 and below) are better if you want to use strictly open source drivers

but, id always go nvidia if i had the option

[John.Michael.Kane]

@Piggah

Heres some ati 9200's
http://www.pricewatch.com/video_cards/5526-1.htm
http://www.pricewatch.com/video_cards/5857-1.htm

heres some gforce 6200's
http://www.pricewatch.com/video_cards/270114-1.htm
http://www.pricewatch.com/video_cards/278443-1.htm