Dual core systems again

I've just upgraded a system from a Pentium 4 3GHz to a 'cheap as chips' Celeron E3200 (see previous posts) and what a difference it has made. Both these CPUs were slightly overclocked by 15% to 3.3GHz and 2.77Ghz respectively. Some preliminary testing showed that the integer performance has gone from 8,017 to 21,179 (Sisoft Sandra Arithmetic), an almost threefold amount.

I view the more general PCmark05 type of benchmark as more representative measurement of a system's responsiveness however. It shows weaknesses and bottlenecks in a systems configuration. Here then the difference was even more amazing from 2,280 to 6,328. Again an almost threefold improvement. Just by changing a CPU to one of the cheapest modern ones available.

I used to think that adding memory to a PC was the easiest and most cost effective way of improving an older system's performance. The computer equivalent of a mid-life upgrade. Though it is still effective upgrade, memory costs have gone up considerably in the last few months and now a cheap dual core CPU upgrade to those Socket 775 systems looks an even more effective alternative.