Choosing a P4 (Help a noob please :D)

[TIMMY]

Help a noob please

Hey guys, what's up.
I just recently bought a refurbished 2.8 HT off of newegg cause I was on a stretch for money. I have a friends 2.8 HT right now but he's gonna be needing it back soon cause he's building a shuttle.

Well to get to the point...
I've got a few questions.

First of all, I'm gonna have enough money to buy a new 2.8 HT but I was wanting a new monitor but oh well

So should I return my refurbished processor and get another refurbished one? Or should I just return it and buy a new one?

Here are some specs of some processors I was wondering about:

Intel Pentium 4/ 2.8E GHz 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache, Hyper Threading Technology - Retail
(limit 10 per customer)

- Specifications -

Model: Intel Pentium 4 w/ Hyper Threading
Core: Prescott
Operating Frequency: 2.8GHz
FSB: 800MHz
Cache: L1/12K+16K; L2/1MB
Voltage: 1.25-1.525V
Process: 0.09Micron
Socket: Socket 478
Multimedia Instruction: MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3
Warranty: 3-year MFG
Packaging: Retail box (with Heatsink and Fan)

$179.00

Intel Pentium 4/ 2.8C GHz 800MHz FSB, 512K Cache, Hyper Threading Technology - Retail
(limit 10 per customer)

- Specifications -

Model: Intel Pentium 4 w/ Hyper Threading
Core: Northwood
Operating Frequency: 2.8GHz
FSB: 800MHz
Cache: L1/12K+8K; L2/512K
Voltage: 1.525V
Process: 0.13Micron
Socket: Socket 478
Multimedia Instruction: MMX, SSE, SSE2
Warranty: 3-year MFG
Packaging: Retail box (with Heatsink and Fan)

$180.00

What are the ups and down of both? Why is one 1 dollar less than the other when it has bigger caches? These are all off of www.newegg.com btw, THNX A BUNDLE!!!

Thread title edited, please use more descriptive titles in the future.
--Mictlantecuhtli

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

1st is Prescott, 2nd is Northwood. Prescott runs hotter and isn't much better yet, as applications don't use SSE3 much. It's cheaper probably because Intel wants customers to move to Prescott.

 

[STK]

Yes, and the Northwood is running .13 microns as compared to Prescotts .9.

 

[TIMMY]

So what are microns? Is the bigger the number the better?

Edit: and if .09 microns was worse, would it still be better to get it cause of the bigger cache?

 

[STK]

Yes, more microns is better, but i dont know whether its better then cache. The cache and micron difference just about cancel each other out probably. There is not going to be a huge difference in the performance between these two computers.

 

[LNCPapa]

Actually - fewer microns is better - it is a measure of size - and you want the design to be as small as possible. Under normal circumstances smaller size reduces heat - but not in the case of Prescotts since a few other thing have changed.

A good place to look for performance differences is here:
http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040322/prescott-06.html

Remember that the E models are the Prescotts. The performance differences are really going to be based on what you're going to be doing with the machine.

 

[STK]

Edit: Oh, I was mislead.

 

[LNCPapa]

There is less and less. They went from .13 to .09

 

[TIMMY]

ok, well im basically gonna be gaming and running other programs. but i mean if a computer is great for gaming it's gonna be just as great to run the programs that i'll be running

 

[Raiders]

IMO,,if your gonna go gaming,,go AMD

Jus my $.02

 

[TIMMY]

Yeah i kinda figured that much, but i had a friend who was selling a system so i bought it :\

 

[Dottom]

You don't have to buy system cause ur friend want to sell, but buy on the perfomances of the said system & spec & config will determind that.

 

[tha smokah]

did he sell the system for a AMD A64?

 

[TIMMY]

no he sold:
ati 9600pro
xdreamer case w/ 350w psu
abit is7-e motherboard
512 pc3200 ram
cdrw n floppy drive
and the uber cool laser cut m16 fan grill!!! lol
only for like 300 bucks, so i thought it was a good deal and bought it