I'm apparently going to be looking for a new MB/CPU combo for my EX's computer soon since hers died...

She had a simple ~P4 2.6/800fsb processor and needs something about the same speed or maybe a bit higher. Nothing fancy, mind you. The only thing she cares about is watching videos on her screen without it messing up or skipping.

note - it was really a 2.4/533 CPU but it wasn't a normal board - ran consistently about 30% faster than DDR1. 2.6/800 P4 is about what it ran like. Rambus board, 32 bit *quad* channel memory - effectively DDR2 dual channel way before DDR2 came around. Shame, really, that Rambus managed to never really follow through - this was the very last board made to use the memory and it beat DDR2 - just too late to stop the bleeding.(whole other story - hehe)

Kind of like the 914 2.0 By the time they got it right, Porsche's market for the car had evaporated.

Anyways... enough rambling about the past...

How much faster would the new 1.8/2.0Ghz Celeron dual core be? Toms Hardware changed their CPU comparison app at their site and it no longer lists older CPUs, so I have no idea how much faster it would be - or how much slower the Celeron would be compared to something like an older E2160. The E1400 doesn't seem to be on anyone's radar, which seems a shame as it looks like a dual core Northwood(not a bad thing, really, for a low power media/web computer)

(Obviously dual core something and $50-$60 is the key here)

I didn't find the P4 2.6, but tom's charts have something similar:

3DMark06 - CPU
Version 1.1 (1280x1024 @ 32 bit)

Intel Pentium 4 "E" 520
Prescott,2800/200,P35,533,Socket 775,12K?Ops+16 kB,1 MB
Score: 846

Intel Pentium D 920
Presler,2800/200,P35,667,Socket 775,12K?Ops+16kB,2 MB
Score: 1244

Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140
Conroe L,1600/200,P35,800,Socket 775,32+32kB,1 MB
Score: 1393

Intel Core 2 Duo E4300
Allendale,1800/200,P35,800,Socket 775,32+32kB,2 MB
Score: 1579

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ EE (G1)
Brisbane (65nm),2500/200,NF590,714,Socket AM2,2x 64+64KB,512 KB
Score: 1843

You do mean $50-$60 each, right? If that's the case, I would suggest this combo. I know it's not intel, and the motherboard is a little more expensive, but at this level of price ($120-$150.00), it seems to be a great deal.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103212
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128090

Thats a pretty sweet combo there. I would do the same.

Looks nice, but I don't need built in graphics - the motherboard most likely will be the ASRock 4CoreDual so that she can re-use the hard drives and video card. Not a bad board for $70. But it needs an Intel CPU.

http://www.hardware.info/en-UK/productd ... ron_E1400/
1665. For $62. Ouch! 1941 for the 2.4Ghz 1600 when it comes out. I just don't know when that will happen and she kind of wants it NOW. Heh.

Thanks - I just needed a reference point or two. Unlike a lot of people, I love Celerons as they are low power/heat and get the job done(plus there's the root for the underdog thing - heh)

$132 for both is a very nice price considering. Roughly $20 cheaper, and It'll do.

That Athalon/MB combo looks fantastic for a home theater box, though.

It'll do for sure, and I like the Celerons too since my 300A, but they are pretty crippled with only 512KB of cache on a cache dependant architecture. If Intel and cheap are your criteria it is a fine choice.