[SOLVED] Pentium D 945 vs Pentium 4 630 what's the difference?

[RealSmoke]

Ok so i have a couple of questions about the p4 and the pD what's the difference? is it worth to upgrade?

Here are my current specs: Gt 710 msi low profile 1gb gpu, Pentium 4 630 cpu, 3gb ddr2 ram, 250 watts psu.

Question #1: Will the pD have simuliar temps to the p4? the pD has 11 more watt usage but has a lower nm so will it have lower or higher temps?

Question #2: Will the pD945 perform better than the p4 630 in games, web browsing and video playback? Some people say it is around 50-75% better in games and some say it's performs the same as a pentium 4, so is it better or not?

Few things: Don't say "Just buy a new pc" Also i cannot upgrade to a core 2 duo or core 2 quad because the mobo does NOT support these cpus.

Something i'm also wondering about. Will the pentium d 945 be able to run windows 10 64 bit? because i can't install it on the pentium 4 630.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

1) Both the Pentium D and Pentium 4 are infamous for being really inefficient and running hot. I suspect the Pentium D would be the worse.

2) Yes, the Pentium D 945 would be a much better processor all around. A Pentium 4 single-core will struggle to run modern windows, but a Pentium D will be more usable due to it having multiple cores. Neither the Pentium D or P4 are going to be great running Windows 10, but with windows 7 the Pentium D is the better choice. Really script heavy websites, any semi-modern games, and video playback will struggle on all of them due to their age and the GMA graphics they are typically paired with, but the PentiumD 945 will be better.

3) Likely, although the onboard graphics you may be using are an issue. The 945 is newer and has a higher clock speed, so even if the games cannot leverage multiple cores the Pentium D 945 will perform better

 

[geofelt]

What is the make/model of your motherboard?
What processors does it support?

 

[RealSmoke]

What is the make/model of your motherboard?
What processors does it support?

Manufacturer: HP
Model: 09F8h
It supports:

Pentium d cpus max pentium d 950.
Pentium 4 socket 775 ones not socket 478 ones.
It might also support celeron d processors but i'm not sure.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

The 945 is your best bet, but the 945 is quite old and really struggles today.

IK this may not be an option, but an LGA 1155 prebuilt may be a much better system as you can plop in a $20 I5.

 

[USAFRet]

I strongly doubt you'd see any actual difference between those two CPUs.

 

[RLarcosPES2]

The Pentium D is an actual Dual Core. Check if your mobo supports Pentium Dual Core(yes that is different from Pentium D). The Pentium D is essentially 2 Pentium 4s running together, so that makes it much faster. Pentium Dual Core on the other hand is a Core 2 Duo with less cache, FSB and Core clocks lowered, so it is much faster than the other Pentiums discussed here.

Install 32-bit Windows. Even if 64 does install, it will be very laggy on a an old CPU like this. Also if 10 is laggy even in 32-bit, consider Windows 8.1 32-bit. It will be faster and will be supported until 2023. Giving you ample time to gather something like 200-300 euros or dollars or whatever and buy some modern budget PC. Windows 7 would be perfect for a machine like this but soon it won't be supported leaving you vulnerable to malicious attacks and viruses. Also, software will gradually stop being made for Windows 7, so that will leave you with outdated browsers lacking features with websites not loading properly etc.

You will see a great deal of difference between the 2. Going from a single core to dual core means double the performance in 2019.

 

[RLarcosPES2]

1) Both the Pentium D and Pentium 4 are infamous for being really inefficient and running hot. I suspect the Pentium D would be the worse.

2) Yes, the Pentium D 945 would be a much better processor all around. A Pentium 4 single-core will struggle to run modern windows, but a Pentium D will be more usable due to it having multiple cores. Neither the Pentium D or P4 are going to be great running Windows 10, but with windows 7 the Pentium D is the better choice. Really script heavy websites, any semi-modern games, and video playback will struggle on all of them due to their age and the GMA graphics they are typically paired with, but the PentiumD 945 will be better.

3) Likely, although the onboard graphics you may be using are an issue. The 945 is newer and has a higher clock speed, so even if the games cannot leverage multiple cores the Pentium D 945 will perform better

The OP has a discreet GPU. The integrated on is not an issue at all.

EDIT: Regarding your first point the Pentium D is build on a more modern process of 65nm as oposed to the 4's 90nm making more efficient power wise. I doubt there is much difference in this category.

 

[USAFRet]

You will see a great deal of difference between the 2. Going from a single core to dual core means double the performance in 2019.

A double of "desperately slow" is still "slow".

 

[NightHawkRMX]

The OP has a discreet GPU. The integrated on is not an issue at all.

That was added after my comment.

A double of "desperately slow" is still "slow".

A waste of money because the computer goes from incapable of running a modern os well to not really any better. An upgrade none the less.

 

[RLarcosPES2]

A double of "desperately slow" is still "slow".

Unfortuantely not everyone has the money to upgrade. In some places in the world , PC hardware has be VERY VERY expensive. For example, You may find old 775 systems selling for something like the equivalent of 600 US Dollars in 2019! Or simply new and modern hardware IS NOT AVAILABLE AT ALL! Sadly not every country is like the US. I've been in a similar place myself some time ago.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Unfortuantely not everyone has the money to upgrade. In some places in the world , PC hardware has be VERY VERY expensive. For example, You may find old 775 systems selling for something like the equivalent of 600 US Dollars in 2019! Or simply new and modern hardware IS NOT AVAILABLE AT ALL! Sadly not every country is like the US. I've been in a similar place myself some time ago.

Its an improvement, but i still dont feel its worth much money.

 

[USAFRet]

Unfortuantely not everyone has the money to upgrade. In some places in the world , PC hardware has be VERY VERY expensive. For example, You may find old 775 systems selling for something like the equivalent of 600 US Dollars in 2019! Or simply new and modern hardware IS NOT AVAILABLE AT ALL! Sadly not every country is like the US. I've been in a similar place myself some time ago.

Yeah, I get that. Many (most?) of us have been in a similar situation.
But also, we can't delude people into thinking that level of change is going to do something miraculous.

Sorry, but it will be 'better', and still suck.

 

[RLarcosPES2]

Its an improvement, but i still dont feel its worth much money.

That's up to the OP to decide. If the Pentium D is cheap enough in his area, I don't see why not give it a try. But I have to agree that spending important money away for this doesn't make any sense.

Yeah, I get that. Many (most?) of us have been in a similar situation.
But also, we can't delude people into thinking that level of change is going to do something miraculous.

Sorry, but it will be 'better', and still suck.

I am not talking only about the purchasing power side of things but also on availability and pricing in said areas.


The OP should tell us about the price of such CPU in his local market.

 

[USAFRet]

I am not talking only about the purchasing power side of things but also on availability and pricing in said areas.

Even if it were free. $0.
It is not much of an actual performance increase.

 

[mitch074]

I think that windows 10 64-bit requires an instruction that was not available before Core - so you can forget about it. As to OP's question, yes the D will provide a big boost. Remember that these CPU are hyper threaded, and while their IPC sucks that's still a lot of clock speed and threads to process stuff. I guess, good enough for web browsing.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I guess, good enough for web browsing.

As long as you dont try a new OS. Or try script heavy websites. Or try youtube.

Really neither has much use nowadays, but the Pentium d is better.

 

[RLarcosPES2]

As long as you dont try a new OS. Or try script heavy websites. Or try youtube.

Really neither has much use nowadays, but the Pentium d is better.

The OP can get by with 360p on Youtube. I doubt the OP has a high resolution so it will look fine. It will be a big boost on versus the Pentium 4 just on this alone.

Remember the OP is not trying to play Battlefield 5 on this machine just run basic stuff.

32-bit Windows is designed for very very slow CPUs in mind so I think he should try that.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

The OP can get by with 360p on Youtube. I doubt the OP has a high resolution so it will look fine. It will be a big boost on versus the Pentium 4 just on this alone.

Remember the OP is not trying to play Battlefield 5 on this machine just run basic stuff.

32-bit Windows is designed for very very slow CPUs in mind so I think he should try that.

I have used a 2 thread Celeron and found running Linux was a better alternative to win10.

Although, Windows 10 with some debloation is ok

 

[USAFRet]

I have used a 2 thread Celeron and found running Linux was a better alternative to win10.

I have one of those sitting next to me right now:

Discussion - What's the oldest and/or cheesiest system you have Win 10 installed on?

Mine is a 2009 era Toshiba Satellite L305-S5955 Celeron 900, 2.2GHz, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD. The only upgrade from stock was a warranty replacement of the original 160GB HDD to the current 250GB. Currently v1903, Build 18362.295 https://www.cnet.com/products/toshiba-satellite-l305-s5955/specs/...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I have one of those sitting next to me right now:

Discussion - What's the oldest and/or cheesiest system you have Win 10 installed on?

Mine is a 2009 era Toshiba Satellite L305-S5955 Celeron 900, 2.2GHz, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD. The only upgrade from stock was a warranty replacement of the original 160GB HDD to the current 250GB. Currently v1903, Build 18362.295 https://www.cnet.com/products/toshiba-satellite-l305-s5955/specs/...

forums.tomshardware.com

Well, mines being used as a KODI box and has a home under my TV. The Intel HD can run 1080p youtube fine in openelec, however, in a debloated copy of windows 10 even 720p youtube stutters to death.

My Celeron 2 threaded CPU is actually N3060 in a broken laptop I got for free and is somewhat modern (14nm) at least so I guess it would be a better experience than a Pentium 945.
Or maybe not... https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Pentium-D-340GHz-vs-Intel-Celeron-N3060/m5820vsm130019
Although I dont think I can really trust userbenchmark anymore.

 

[RLarcosPES2]

I have used a 2 thread Celeron and found running Linux was a better alternative to win10.

Although, Windows 10 with some debloation is ok

The OP says he has some games he wants to run. I doubt the machine with either CPU can take the performance hit associated with WINE and we even know if the games he wants to run are compatible in the first place.

I have a laptop with a single core Semprom m100 CPU running at 2ghz. That's one thread, one core. AMD didn't use SMT back then. Since this a slighlty more modern CPU than the OP's (45nm) let's assume it has the same performance as a Pentium D(although I am 90% sure it is worse). The machine runs Windows 8.1 32-bit like a charm. My little sister uses it for watching anime on it, Youtube with a resolution at 360p. I have tried running 3 tabs with heavy javascript websites with CHROME and the machine wouldn't hang or freeze or lag. The only caveat with it is that the CPU runs 100% most of the time if you try to do more than one things at once. Remember though this is a 1 core, 1 thread CPU! Worse than the OP's. Also the frequency is much lower and the IPC is probably comparable although higher than the Netburst architecture. I tried Linux on it but it doesn't support properly its Broadcom Wifi so I gave up on it.

Point is with 32-BIT WINDOWS the OP can have a very functional machine either with the Pentium 4, or the Pentium D(much more with the Pentium D)

 

[NightHawkRMX]

The OP says he has some games he wants to run. I doubt the machine with either CPU can take the performance hit associated with WINE and we even know if the games he wants to run are compatible in the first place.

Proton makes a ton of games compatable.

Now I wouldn't suggest Linux for gaming, but for general usability, Linux is much better.

I dont always chose Linux for weak hardware, but when I do, I chose Lubuntu.

 

[BFG-9000]

That Pentium D is a pair of 65nm Cedar Mill Pentium 4s on a single package, so will indeed support 64-bit Windows 10 because those have the required CMPXCHG16b + PREFETCHh/PrefetchW and LAHF/SAHF instructions.

The Pentium 4 630 is a 90nm Prescott that has XD/NX-bit so can work with Windows 10 32-bit. While it is a 64-bit processor that can run 64-bit XP and Windows 7, it lacks the instructions mentioned above so cannot run 64-bit Windows 8 or 10.

Having BIOS support for one kind of Pentium 4 is not a guarantee it will run all of them. There are many socket 775 boards for example that will run 65nm chips but not 45nm ones, or 65nm quads and 45nm duals but not 45nm quads. S775 was around for a long time through many generations of chipsets.

 

[USAFRet]

My Celeron 2 threaded CPU is actually N3060 in a broken laptop I got for free and is somewhat modern (14nm) at least so I guess it would be a better experience than a Pentium 945.

And on the other side of me is the little Asus Transformer, with an Atom Z3740, 1.33GHz, 2GB.
Running Win 10 Home.

Strictly a travel device.

Although I dont think I can really trust userbenchmark anymore.

Anymore = never to begin with.