Battling Brothers: Celeron vs. Pentium 4

Conclusion - Large Caches Are The Secret To Success

Strictly speaking, the Celeron is no great shakes. In fact, there would hardly be any arguments in its favor at all, if it weren't for its retail price, which, at around $100, makes it a steal.

The big advantage to the Intel architecture based on Socket 478 is, in a word, continuity. The interface was introduced a little over a year ago, and it probably will not change much any time soon. New chipsets that support DDR 333 and DDR 400 are the only things still in the pipeline.

So if you're planning to upgrade your current system or buy a new one, and are wondering whether a Celeron would be enough for now, we hope that our benchmark tests have helped you make the right decision. In general, the Pentium 4 tends to outperform the Celeron in demanding applications and games. Whether that's worth the extra money to you, or if you'd rather invest in a larger hard drive or more RAM - depends on the applications you plan to run on your computer.

At any rate, the Celeron is the better choice if you're planning on upgrading in the next several months. As soon as Intel breaks the 3 GHz barrier, the P4 models in the 2.5 GHz range will become considerably cheaper. It only remains to be seen whether AMD can offer something to compete with the Pentiums by then.