Computer upgrade time

It's time to rebuild some of my computers, I usually do this right before tax time every year. Now that I'm ready to do it I am almost clueless of which way to go with so many different options available since last year. I am almost debating trying an AMD this time around, somewhere in the area of a 4200+ or more. Does anyone have any experience with these cpu's?

Anyone have any recomendations on the current cpu's in the line up, any info someone can provide I'd greatly appreciate. I've read review pages but would rather see info from users that are actually using their systems first hand and not just a quick build and benchmark like so many hardware sites are.

On the other hand I could get a Mac and simply rebuild my pc's a bit to get another year or so out of them. I'm trying to figure out if I should just do a slight rebuild on all systems or fully rebuild 1 system and send parts to the others for upgrades, or to bypass this step altogether.

Current systems I'm looking to upgrade are as follows,

1 intel 2.4, ddr, 8xagp, sata hd, xp
1 intel 2.0, ddr, 8xagp card but 4x agp board, ide hd, 2000 pro
1 intel 2.8 celeron, rambus ram, 4x agp, ide hd, xp

I realise I'm asking a bit much, a general I have x system and it runs great especially if you have one of the newer processors is what I'm looking for Or items such as pcexpress versus agp, ddr2 versus rambus and standard ddr, etc. I love this time of year, and yet I hate it as I spend way to much time debating on it

 

I'll throw in my 2 cents real quickly.

DO NOT PURCHASE A CELERON. They have very bad performance and no matter how cheap or fast they are, they are very bad to purchase. I would have rather have a 1.0ghz PIII than a 3.0ghz Celeron. They are really bad processors, BEWARE.

 

Thanks for the input, however celerons depending on what you're using them for are ok. If you're gaming, doing 3d work, etc than yes a celeron sucks. The only celeron I own is used in combination with rambus ram on a system only used for web browsing and some business applications. It actually outperforms my p4's in what it's used for

 

If you want cheap, why not try out AMD? I personally still on AMD AthlonXP cpu, and so far it's quite reliable.

 

I don't mind price, and I wouldn't necessarily not buy an AMD. I've had bad experiences back in the 1 gig era of AMD when there was no heat protection built in. CPU fan goes, heat sink clips come off and chip fried. I'm looking for quality, price not so much a figure into the equation

I appreciate the suggestions.

 

There's no need to update a celeron computer with another celeron. If you surf the net, chat on msn and use word then and then with it than you don't need much speed at all.. you could actually use a PII 300 mhz for that.

And if you want a mac than you can't upgrade it(except for the RAM and mayby the GPU if you buy a powermac).

 

Sure there is, it's called a tax deduction

 

I have recently built a system
1 Intel Pentium4 Extreme Edition with HT with 955X chipset, 200 GB Samsung SATA HDD, PCIe Graphix, XP. DDR2.
This is amazingy fast....

One option for Celeron is Celeron D (Dual Core Celeron)

 

Excellent, is it stable is one of my main q's? Huge increase over your old system?

 

its real Gold....believe me.
I have not upgraded any system its a new one.
but performance wise yes there is huge increament over my old P4 2.8 with 875 chipset motherboard.

 

If you do not adding any component from old computer into new, maybe you should think to buy MB with PCIexpress graphic support. AGP is out.

I think that celerons are ok. Except if you do not calc 24h in some statistic programs. RAM is more important. Even new games will run smooth. 2GB is best deal.

No way to buy AMD. HDD - buy only with 8MB cache.



After that, sit on relaxing office chair and drink a cup of nice coffee.

 

Well there are a host of new technologies nowadays and most of them won't work on older PC's (PCI Express. DDRII etc). The components also cost about the same as the older dated counterparts so it would be better to do total rebuilds.

I would suggest to go for a AMD Dual Core Processor. They are a lot cooler (temp wise) in comparison with the Intel counterparts, and they are more or less the same price if not cheaper.

 

Maybe I'll go that route for at least one computer, thanks for all the suggestions

I've been against AMD for some time because of heat issues, but now they from what I've read and you state are running cooler than the intels and many of them have built in heat protection finally. Decisions, decisions.

 

Well I can personally vouch for the AMD dual core CPU running cooler. Were we live it gets extremely hot, so much so that withou the AC running my Intel 3GHz CPU can reach temps of 65C and above.

My brother has a Dual core AMD 4200+ and his machine is constantly running cooler than mine.