How many different size pentium 4 processor's are there froom 2000 to now? I am curious if one of the older chip's from 2001 would work in one of the new intel motherboard's.


Thank You,

There are 2 Pentium 4 Sockets.

mPGA-478 (something like that.. Socket 478 either way).


LGA775.

Most newer boards will take any LGA775 P4. The Socket 478s will not (there are still some i865 boards at the Egg that are 478 w/ DDR and AGP).

Thanks cnumartyr,i am not sure which one of the 2 this one is that you mentioned, but this older pentium 4 has pins in back of it and doesnt match up with either of my motherboard's i dont think.

If the CPU has pins on it the odds are it is Socket 478. LGA775 has pins on the motherboard.

Three. The first were the Willamette core on socket 423.

I always forget about one.

Yes both my motherboards have pins,i just finished my second build it was a quite simple one, but i am using my processor from my first build which is my much better computer and i had this old pentium 4 laying around i need another processor now i want a good one so i can keep this E4400 2.0 in this build i just finished.

Another LGA775?

Well... Celeron 420-L, E2140.. stuff like that.

There are three different socket variations of the Pentium 4 CPU. They were introduced using socket 423 with the Williamette core back in late 2000. Later Willamette cores switched to to socket 478. All Northwood core versions use socket 478 and were released in early 2002.

You can use a program called CPU-Z (google it) to identify exactly which socket your P4 uses. It in the "Package" field. If it is socket 423, then you are out of luck looking for a retail motherboard. If it is socket 478 then you are in luck 'cause there's still some stock left (barely).



Well... looks like someone else responded while I was typing my response and watching TV at the same time.

Yes a LGA775 is what my motherboards are.I want a processor like the one you have listed in your spec's something in the Q series close to 3.0 ghz, because everything i did in my first build a week ago has some really good parts in it it need's stronger than a e4400.

This older processor i mentioned is a 1.5 ghz that was in my compact that i had for six year's, i was hoping to use it temporaly in this second build to i can afford a good one but it's defintly not a 775.This one is then definetly a williamette core back because thats when i bought that compact in late 2000.

The Q6600 comes stock at 2.4 GHz and is about $280. It is a quad core.

The E8400 is less and is 3.0 GHz but is dual core.

A 1.5Ghz P4? Forget it! That's the old socket 423 P4 that used RDRAM. Get a E2XX0 CPU for a temporary solution.

So how would you compare your Q6600 TO A E8400 as far as speed and performance go and what's the difference?

Yeah runswindows its really old and useless at this point for me or for anybody who build's new computers.Most the motherboards that this thing used to work with are dead or almost on their way.

Well.. it all depends.

In applications that use all 4 threads the Q6600 will win. In applications that use 2 the E8400 would win.

For your purposes I would get the E8400 and call it a day. Quad core overclocking is a bit harder and more things to keep in mind.

The E8400 gets to 4GHz easily, if that helps you at all.

I am curious about my E4400, as far as overclocking goes, wonder what i can top out in ghz with it?

It really depends, but it should do 3.2GHz pretty easily. Tops out, using the best air-cooling, around 3.8GHz. Just a guess.