PII 450 or Dual Celerons? Which is a better setup?

[Steve_123]

I am looking to upgrade my system quite a bit, and I'm wondering which of these setups would be better. I don't have the cash for a PIII. I like the ABIT boards, so I think that's what I'll get. I need to buy new memory so I think I'll go with 128 MB of PC133.

1. ABIT BP-6 with dual Celerons.
2. ABIT slot 1 board with a single PII 450.
3. Possible option??? Not sure yet. Dual PII 450's, but not sure what MB.

I know that I would have to run an OS that supports multiple cpus. I plan on dual booting NT 4.0 and Win 98 for now until I could get Win 2K, then I'd use it instead of NT 4.0.

Any Sugestions or Comments???
Thanks.

[wyvrn]

To summarize what others have said here already:

Dual processors offer some advantages in a dual chip environment like NT or Win2k. Win98 you will see zero improvement. For applications to make the best of dual processors, they need to support SMP (spelling?). Quake III apparently is one. Otherwise, one proc will handle system and one will handle apps. Depending on how you look at this, it will be beneficial. I could see how having a dedicated system proc would help in a server setup, but not when running autocad or photoshop, where you will currently only make use of 1 proc. The second proc can take load off of first by doing system functions, but most people here have stated that having a faster single is better than two slower chips. If you will be running 98 at least 50% of the time, go with a better single chip. Gaming? Single chip. Putting a server with a dedicated connection on the web? Maybe dual would work better here. This is a synopsis, I havent ever tried a dual proc meself.

[Spencer]

If you're going to run an OS that sopprts dual cpu's go that way, but remember just because the OS supports dual cpu's doesn't mean your software will be written for it. Most games arn't. Alot of comercial software is (i.e. Adobe Photo Shop). You might still be able to get Cel366's and O.C. them to 550. Have fun. Sorry, basically the same as above. Whoops.

[This message has been edited by Spencer (edited 02-09-2000).]

[Steve_123]

I know about the software issues. I don't plan on running a server or anything. I play some games. If I get a single CPU, which would be the best to get around the cost of a single PII 450, or 2 Celeron 366's or 400's? I don't have a ton of money to work with. I figured the dual overclocked Cel's would be a little faster than a single PII 450 under Win NT or 2K for about the same cost.

Any input?
Thanks.

[oblivion]

If you will be primarily gaming,a celeron
366@550 will be faster then a pII 450 anyways.Hell it will faster at almost everything,except certain server apps and business apps.