Is hyperthreading worth the bother of upgrading my mobo?

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Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

I recently upgraded the processor in my Dell Dimension 4500 to the
Northwood 3.06 P4. Everything runs smooth as glass, but the 4500 does
not permit taking advantage of the new cpu's hyperthreading ability.
I'm contemplating swapping out the mobo for an 8300 mobo so I can use
the CPU and RAM I presently have while getting a mobo that will allow
for upgrades down the road if I need/want them. From what I
understand, hyperthreading is not utilized by many programs aside from
video editing and rendering. Is that about right, or does HT offer a
performance boost in other apps? I actually do quite a bit of video
editing and rendering in that I'm slowly transferring a lot of VHS
stuff onto DVD, but I usually leave the rendering for an overnight
task, so encoding speed isn't all that much of an issue for me.

Any thoughts?

 

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Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Chandler Bing" <Chandler@Monica.com> wrote in message
news:l79g01hk3vomjn5o9d6fq7eil3j1cotqu5@4ax.com...
>I recently upgraded the processor in my Dell Dimension 4500 to the
> Northwood 3.06 P4. Everything runs smooth as glass, but the 4500 does
> not permit taking advantage of the new cpu's hyperthreading ability.
> I'm contemplating swapping out the mobo for an 8300 mobo so I can use
> the CPU and RAM I presently have while getting a mobo that will allow
> for upgrades down the road if I need/want them. From what I
> understand, hyperthreading is not utilized by many programs aside from
> video editing and rendering. Is that about right, or does HT offer a
> performance boost in other apps? I actually do quite a bit of video
> editing and rendering in that I'm slowly transferring a lot of VHS
> stuff onto DVD, but I usually leave the rendering for an overnight
> task, so encoding speed isn't all that much of an issue for me.
>
> Any thoughts?



My guess is that hyperthreading alone won't be of much benefit. However, by
adding an 8300 system board you will gain SATA support, and dual-channel RAM
capes. (along with the 800mhz FSB)

Seeing as how the 3.06GHz/533mhz CPU wasn't an inexpensive upgrade (judging
from retail costs on that CPU at the moment), I don't know that I'd go for
the 875 chipset board unless it was priced very very reasonably....


Stew

 

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Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Chandler
I be interested in where you picked up the 3.06MHz CPU,, also how much??

I have a 8250 and would love to find a 3.06 CPU at a good price..

Thanks
Jim
An Old Parrot Head
In The Conch Republic
Just South of Reality

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Just bought it last week from Powerleap.com for $199. I don't know if
they have any others in stock though because when I originally
contacted Powerleap, I was interested in the 2.8 Ghz 400Mhz because
their site said that they were out of stock in the 3.06 chips. It was
only when I asked the salesman if/when they expected to get more 3.06
processors in stock that I was informed that they still had at least
one in stock, so I grabbed it instead. Ironically, the 2.8Ghz I was
ready to settle for was priced at $219! I didn't understand why I was
getting a better processor at $20 less than I was willing to pay for
the 2.8 but I sure didn't argue with the salesman.

BTW, if you do get a 3.06, don't order the fan.heatsink Powerleap
sells for it. If your Dell heat sink arrangement is like the one on my
4500, the aftermarket heat sink will not fit. Just make sure the heat
sink pad on your stock Dell heat sink isn't damaged (gouged or melted)
and if it looks intact and smooth, just put a generous dollop of
Arctic Silver (Powerleap sells that also) on the processor and
reposition the original Dell heat sink atop it. I've read a few
threads in the Dell forums about people claiming that the processor
runs hot in their machines but I deliberately ran Sisandra's burn in
set to 100% cpu usage for four hours straight and my little ole stock
Dell heatsink was barely warm to the touch. That makes perfect sense,
by the way, because, according to what I've read about the Northwood
3.06, its design makes it inherently run cooler than Prescott P4s.

On Tue, 8 Feb 2005 18:05:10 -0500, <jj_bpk@bellsouth.net> wrote:

>Chandler
>I be interested in where you picked up the 3.06MHz CPU,, also how much??
>
>I have a 8250 and would love to find a 3.06 CPU at a good price..
>
>Thanks
>Jim
>An Old Parrot Head
>In The Conch Republic
>Just South of Reality
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On Mon, 7 Feb 2005 20:53:39 -0600, "S.Lewis"
<stew1960@cover.bellsouth.net> wrote:

>
>"Chandler Bing" <Chandler@Monica.com> wrote in message
>news:l79g01hk3vomjn5o9d6fq7eil3j1cotqu5@4ax.com...
>>I recently upgraded the processor in my Dell Dimension 4500 to the
>> Northwood 3.06 P4. Everything runs smooth as glass, but the 4500 does
>> not permit taking advantage of the new cpu's hyperthreading ability.
>> I'm contemplating swapping out the mobo for an 8300 mobo so I can use
>> the CPU and RAM I presently have while getting a mobo that will allow
>> for upgrades down the road if I need/want them. From what I
>> understand, hyperthreading is not utilized by many programs aside from
>> video editing and rendering. Is that about right, or does HT offer a
>> performance boost in other apps? I actually do quite a bit of video
>> editing and rendering in that I'm slowly transferring a lot of VHS
>> stuff onto DVD, but I usually leave the rendering for an overnight
>> task, so encoding speed isn't all that much of an issue for me.
>>
>> Any thoughts?
>
>
>
>My guess is that hyperthreading alone won't be of much benefit. However, by
>adding an 8300 system board you will gain SATA support, and dual-channel RAM
>capes. (along with the 800mhz FSB)
>
>Seeing as how the 3.06GHz/533mhz CPU wasn't an inexpensive upgrade (judging
>from retail costs on that CPU at the moment), I don't know that I'd go for
>the 875 chipset board unless it was priced very very reasonably....
>
>
>Steve

The 3.06 cost me $199. I honestly don't know it that's considered a
good deal or not, because I wasn't comparison shopping when I bought
it. I was just wanting to give my machine a performance boost and to
that end, I was looking to put the fastest processor and the maximum
memory into the machine that it would take.

I can pick up an 8300 mobo for $80, and that seems pretty reasonable
to me. I might even go with a non-Dell mobo if I can find a high
quality board with 533/800 FSB and an AGP slot (just bought a new ATI
9600 AIW) because I have a brand new killer case that I picked up at a
recent computer show and I'm just itching to put it to use.