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This is a review about the Intel Pentium 4 Northwood 3.06GHz, 533MHz FSB w/Hyper Threading processor. These details are all important. It's the most powerful processor you can get for motherboards that only accept Northwood, not Prescott, processors. I got this to breathe some life back into an old Dell desktop of mine. To make sure you don't run into any unnecessary problems, update the BIOS on your motherboard. If your buying this processor now, chances are your computer is very old and the last BIOS update was probably made around 2004-2005. Chances are also likely you never updated it back then, or missed the latest update, so this 5 minute procedure is well worth it. Your motherboard may not recognize the processor otherwise, and all the disassembling and thermal paste could get quite redundant and messy if you don't do this first. My desktop originally had a Pentium 4 2.53GHz w/o Hyper Threading. The speed increase wasn't too noticeable, and the hyper threading didn't feel apparent much either. However, for the price I paid, the small increase in performance and the added assurance that there is no further upgrade path for my desktop was well worth it. There are other limiting factors that play a bigger role in [old] computer performance. My desktop, which uses DDR RAM, only operated at 333MHz, not the full 400MHz. The AGP slot on my motherboard only worked at x4, as opposed to x8. My hard drive isn't so great, and the PATA interface limits my speed and choices of upgrades (An important tip: Your motherboard probably has 2 PATA channels, capable of connecting two drives each, Master and Slave. If you don't have many physical drives in your desktop, keep your system drive on a separate PATA channel from anything else like CD/DVD drives or secondary HDDs. I'd also recommend removing your floppy drive and unneeded CD drives). I've mentioned all this because the product I'm reviewing is mostly bought by people looking to upgrade their old computers. This processor, coupled with good computer maintenance and Windows XP/other low-resource operating system, will yield performance that justifies the space your old computer takes up. When I received this item, the processor pins were slightly bent and could not be inserted into my motherboard's socket. With some crafty knifework and crossed fingers, I was able to straighten the pins out and get it up and running. My recommendation: If your processor comes with bent pins, return it and yell at the seller. If you heard from people that this upgrade isn't worth it, they're probably thinking about it in terms of cost vs performance boost without considering its current price. 10-15 bucks is well worth it when your old computer in question is still being used. -AnupRead full review
I purchased the pentium 4 3.06/512/533 to breathe some life into an old pc using a 2.4/256/400 celeron. In terms relative to a socket 478 processor, the P4 3.06 was a worthwhile upgrade for my application. At a price at under $20, upgrading to the fastest processor supported by my motherboard was a painless decision. I would recommend this P4 as an upgrade under the right conditions. Your board must support Hyper Threading. This CPU runs HOT, so your PC case should be well ventilated & you should have good CPU heatsink/fan. Running on windows xp with a CPU 2.0ghz or greater, & less than 3gb of memory will yield a negligible increase in perceived speed. In XP, the bottleneck is with memory allocation & having adequate ram is essential to get the most from this processor upgrade. At 1.0 - 2.5gb of ram, the CPU upgrade in my system was noticeable, but only slightly. Once I hit 3gb of ram, this processor started to show it's true potential. Overall system speed picked up significantly & boot time was reduced dramatically. In short, if you have an old factory built micro ATX sytem with 2 RAM slots, your money is better spent on newer platform.Read full review
If you have the Dell 2400 this is the best CPU upgrade you can make. I had the 2GHz Celeron and while it worked ok it really constrained the amount of computing I could do. For instance running Cubase or Native Instruments the processor would just drag and max out. Now both run just fine with plenty of CPU left to use. The installation is drop in simple. Just remove the old CPU and drop in the new one. Just be careful when removing the Celeron as it can and did get stuck. If you don't remove it cleanly you may lose pins in the socket and the motherboard is done for. General instructions for replacing the CPU can be found at Dell and you should use them. I repeatedly lowered and raised the CPU locking arm and then used my fingernails and tiny tools to work around the edges of the Celeron and eventually it did pop out with only one bent pin. A friend suggested I try super glue and glue a nice sized handle onto the Celeron and use that to work it loose. I didn't try it but it sounds feasible. Also you will need Arctic Silver or other thermal compound to mount the heat sink back onto the new CPU. Be sure to follow all the manufactures instructions for the compound. Do not test the CPU replacement without the heat sink firmly back in place. According to Intel, the CPU will toast itself before you make it to the boot screen. If at first it doesn't work, remove the CPU and reseat it. I don't know why but it didn't work the first time and that solved it.Read full review
The product I bought some days ago it's really good, functional and has no problems. It's working fine. The reason I bought a Pentium 4 3.06 is because I wanted to upgrade my very very old but relliable computer. Actually I overclocked it and right now it's working in 3.4 and it's doing fine, the temperature is low and the speed for its age is pretty good. I recommend buying an item like this, only if you want to make "experiments" with an old pc that you have and you don't need it for a reason.
I got this for a upgrade to my Dell Demsion 2400. BIG difference in speed. This CPU will also suport Windows 7. If your motherboard (for Dell's) is running BIOS level A05 this will automaticly be reconized. (if you don't know how to check the BIOS level, you probly souldn't be installing parts) After installing you can go to setup (in BIOS) and enable hyperthreading. Much better then the Celeron processors. This is the fastest CPU you can get for the Dell Demsion 2400 desktops. Thos olny suport a max of 3.06 ghz and 533 MHz FSB. This is very good CPU for the money. Recomend installing with Artic Silver 5 thermal paste. Also recomed (if you have a enough free space on HD) after installing (for Windows XP users) maxing out virtual memory for best performance.