Performance question: P3 vs P4

Which of these two systems will have best performance running WinXP
and low demand apps (kids surfing net, MS Office).

1. Dell Dimension 8100 (P4 1.3GHz) with 256MB PC800 RDRAM.
2. Compaq Deskpro EN (P3 733 MHz) with 448MB RAM

Thanks in advance.....

Paul

"pcrowe" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
> Which of these two systems will have best performance running WinXP
> and low demand apps (kids surfing net, MS Office).
>
> 1. Dell Dimension 8100 (P4 1.3GHz) with 256MB PC800 RDRAM.
> 2. Compaq Deskpro EN (P3 733 MHz) with 448MB RAM
>
> Thanks in advance.....
>
> Paul
>

Probably the P4 unless your applicatin uses a lot of memory. On boxes like
that though, I wouldn't venture past DOS 6.0 much less XP.

pcrowe wrote:

> Which of these two systems will have best performance running WinXP
> and low demand apps (kids surfing net, MS Office).
>
> 1. Dell Dimension 8100 (P4 1.3GHz) with 256MB PC800 RDRAM.
> 2. Compaq Deskpro EN (P3 733 MHz) with 448MB RAM
>
> Thanks in advance.....
>
> Paul
>

The Dell Dimension 8100...with a few enhancements. First, the
choice of the Dell is that it is with a P4 CPU running at not
quite twice the speed of the Compaq with the older P3 CPU. Its
RAM should be increased to 512 MB, just to run smoother with the
demands of XP, itself. Unfortunately, it may also be an expensive
proposition since the RAM is RDRAM and how this doubling can be
accomplished these days.

* pcrowe:

> Which of these two systems will have best performance running WinXP
> and low demand apps (kids surfing net, MS Office).
>
> 1. Dell Dimension 8100 (P4 1.3GHz) with 256MB PC800 RDRAM.
> 2. Compaq Deskpro EN (P3 733 MHz) with 448MB RAM

That depends. First, you should be aware that the Dell Dimension 8100
uses Socket423 which means the P4 is a Williamette (256k Cache, first
generation of P4, was a big disappointment because it performed hardly
better than a P3 with much lower clock speed), and the 1.3GHz version
was the slowest version of the slowest CPU. Performance-wise there
probably won't be much difference between the P4 and your P3.

On the other side the Dell has the faster memory subsystem (dual channel
RDRAM vs. single channel SDRAM on the P3). But then, the Compaq has more
memory, but it hardly will make any noticeable difference.

For average office work (small documents, no big spreadsheets or
databases) I'd go with the Dell. 256MB is just fine for Windowsxp and
Office for light tasks, the on-board infrastructure is faster, and you
still can try to get your hands on a Socket423 P4 with 1.7-2GHz and two
sticks of PC800 RDRAM to get a nice performance boost. BTW: be sure to
get the latest BIOS update from Dell (Version XP02) first before
installing Windowsxp!

Benjamin, having a Dell Dimension 8100 with P4 1.5GHz and 1GB RDRAM
under his desk

pcrowe wrote:

> Which of these two systems will have best performance running WinXP
> and low demand apps (kids surfing net, MS Office).
>
> 1. Dell Dimension 8100 (P4 1.3GHz) with 256MB PC800 RDRAM.
> 2. Compaq Deskpro EN (P3 733 MHz) with 448MB RAM
>
> Thanks in advance.....
>
> Paul
>

About being on the horns of a dilemna. Neither choice would be
good today for Windows XP. In one way or the other, both machines
are somewhat underpowered and expansion possibilities are limited.
But the Dell may present the best opportunities although getting
more RDRAM can be problematical and one might have to settle for
new, matching 512 MB or 1 GB.

On 29 Jan 2007 21:15:42 -0800, "pcrowe" <> wrote:

>Which of these two systems will have best performance running WinXP
>and low demand apps (kids surfing net, MS Office).
>
>1. Dell Dimension 8100 (P4 1.3GHz) with 256MB PC800 RDRAM.
>2. Compaq Deskpro EN (P3 733 MHz) with 448MB RAM
>
>Thanks in advance.....
>
>Paul

Ok, I'll play.

Taking only was has been stipulated - these are what they are - POS peecees,
and forget upgrades of any sort - I bet the P3 with almost twice the memory
will outslog the P4 when attempting to run Office on XP.

The processors are actually pretty close in raw performance for average
desktop apps, but Office bloatware on top of XP will pretty much guarantee the
P4 with a scant 256MB of memory will be swapping its brains out, so any memory
performance advantage that box has would be nearly meaningless.

With 448MB of memory on the P3 box, otoh, you might be able to actually load
Word without having to swap out half the OS ;-)

/daytripper

XP runs VERY slowww with less than 512 MB of RAM. 1 GB is recommended for
speed. The 256 MB of RDRAM would be painful to watch.

--
DaveW

----------------
"pcrowe" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
> Which of these two systems will have best performance running WinXP
> and low demand apps (kids surfing net, MS Office).
>
> 1. Dell Dimension 8100 (P4 1.3GHz) with 256MB PC800 RDRAM.
> 2. Compaq Deskpro EN (P3 733 MHz) with 448MB RAM
>
> Thanks in advance.....
>
> Paul
>

On Mon, 29 Jan 2007 21:15:42 -0800, pcrowe wrote:

> Which of these two systems will have best performance running WinXP
> and low demand apps (kids surfing net, MS Office).
>
> 1. Dell Dimension 8100 (P4 1.3GHz) with 256MB PC800 RDRAM.
> 2. Compaq Deskpro EN (P3 733 MHz) with 448MB RAM
>
> Thanks in advance.....
>
> Paul

They are both pretty pathetic but I'd go with the P3. In general the P4 is
about 30% worse on a clock for clock basis then the P3 which makes the P4
system about equal to a 900MHz P3. However 256M is really inadequate, and
you won't be able to do anything about it because RDRAM is really
expensive and hard to find. The 448M of RAM on the P3 should be adequate
for your needs and if you want more you'll have an easier time finding the
SDRAM that the P3 uses.

>
> 1. Dell Dimension 8100 (P4 1.3GHz) with 256MB PC800 RDRAM.
> 2. Compaq Deskpro EN (P3 733 MHz) with 448MB RAM
>

I have the same model Dell I recommend you choose it. I use mine quite
a bit. What I do recommend, as others have, to upgrade thee RAM. I was
able to pickup 4 matched 256 Mb RDRAM dimms giving it a total 1 Gb.
The other change I made was upgrading the graphics card from the
factory original nVidia GeForce 2 to an GeForce 6800 Ultra. If it came
with the DVD card, I took mine out because I don't think XP recognized
it. When I got the nVidia 6800 I tried it another system that had dual
PIII 933 Mhz and found because of compatibility problems it wouldn't
work with that motherboard (SuperMicro PIIIR3). I also tried a 5950
and had same compatibility problems. The Dell with 1 Gb of RAM and the
new graphics card I find it is fast enough and comfortable to use for
Office XP 2003, surfing the web and occasionally playing a graphics
intensive game.

Derek