Downgraded to a Celeron

[escrow4]

So seeing as I have a 5930K in my gaming box and feeling bored I decided to chuck my 4770 and see how a Celeron would fare. VirtualLarry would approve! :awe:

So now I've chucked in a G1850 running at a mild melting 2.9GHz (it was only $4 more than the other one in stock). This is the top of the Celeron tree. So far, just as fast. Irritatingly the wrong RAM was given (Celeron's don't support 1600MHz despite my saying 1333MHz) so the slab of RAM is running at 1400MHz for some reason. Needs some tweaking. Most impressed though, CPU marks this is the same as a Q6600 stock for stock . . . .

 

[VirtualLarry]

So seeing as I have a 5930K in my gaming box and feeling bored I decided to chuck my 4770 and see how a Celeron would fare. VirtualLarry would approve! :awe:

LOL. Props!

I'm going lower than my G3258 CPUs, I got in an Asus AM1 mobo, and a Sempron 3850 1.3Ghz quad-core. Going to attempt to OC it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Do me a favor, try watching some 1080P Twitch.tv streams, preferably two at once, and see if there's any lag. (Internet speeds permitting, of course.)

Edit: What price did you end up paying for it, if you don't mind me asking?
My Asus AM1 micro-ATX was ~$40, and the Sempron 3850 was ~$30. So $70 total. Which is roughly what I paid for my MSI FM2+ A55M boards (~$27) and my A4-6300 Richland dual-cores (~$40).

 

[escrow4]

Do me a favor, try watching some 1080P Twitch.tv streams, preferably two at once, and see if there's any lag. (Internet speeds permitting, of course.)

Edit: What price did you end up paying for it, if you don't mind me asking?
My Asus AM1 micro-ATX was ~$40, and the Sempron 3850 was ~$30. So $70 total. Which is roughly what I paid for my MSI FM2+ A55M boards (~$27) and my A4-6300 Richland dual-cores (~$40).

Over here in Australia it was $59, G1840 was $55, and the G1820 (conveniently out of stock) was $29. Should be around $50 in the US. Board is an H81-S2H which - get this - has special audio caps and separate audio PCB layers with Realtek 887. It actually sounds as good as a $200 Z87 mobo with Realtek 898 despite a lower SNR. Should be around $60 in the US - also comes with an internal USB 3 header.

Straight off the bat despite a 1TB EVO there is some hesitation and lag compared to the 4770. Say loading Youtube it isn't smooth, might be a (slight) hitch or two. Loading webpages isn't as snappy. For $59 vs $349 does it matter? No.

2 1080p 3min trailers on youtube - 70% usage CPU wise, no real lag, takes a split second for the pic to update.

Very pleasantly surprised. $70 total vs $100/$110 for this setup, I'd spend up on the extra $30/$40 in the long run. Its no i7 but its certainly sufficient.

EDIT: 2 x twitch.tv streams on "High" 50-60% CPU usage.

 

[melloyellow]

Wow.. Didn't see that coming at all... Definitely not from escrow4.. Lol...

 

[Flapdrol1337]

Irritatingly the wrong RAM was given (Celeron's don't support 1600MHz despite my saying 1333MHz) so the slab of RAM is running at 1400MHz for some reason. Needs some tweaking.
http://postimg.org/image/e4wgzva31/

Singlechannel?

Anyway, H81 doesn't allow memory overclocking, and only i3's and up "support" 1600, 1333 for the rest. Even though a Z board will let you run higher memory speeds on all cpu's, and H81 will allow 1600 on i3/i5/i7.

I've lowered the timings instead, figured it wouldn't hurt, and might improve multitasking performance.

 

[DrMrLordX]

I've lowered the timings instead, figured it wouldn't hurt, and might improve multitasking performance.

Hey! That's an old AM2+/AM3 trick for Stars chips. I had DDR3-2200 and I couldn't realistically run it any faster than DDR3-1640 or so (varied from chip to chip). Maybe if I had gotten a Thuban I could have pushed higher.

Regardless, DDR3-1600 CAS7 is pretty nice . . . I always wanted CAS6 though.

 

[crashtech]

I use Celerons and Pentiums for general purpose builds all the time. Users coming from old Core2 Duos or worse are practically stunned at the speed difference. They are also head and shoulders above those damned tablet CPU towers that the OEs have been peddling these days. They do have their place when talking a client out of a much worse decision, when every dollar counts.

 

[.vodka]

A few months ago I'd upgraded an E6750/2GB DDR2-800/P35 rig with a G3220/H81/4GB DDR3-1333. For the motherboard I'd used an ASUS H81M-A. SATA3, USB3, HDMI output, modern features all around, I was impressed with that entry level board. Even with a run of the mill 320GB hard drive remaining from the last build, with the fast boot options these motherboards have, it was impressive. Quite responsive, too. Even made my 4.5GHz 2500k jealous on that regard :biggrin:

Entry level parts are so ridiculously overpowered for daily tasks these days, it's not even funny. Once you realize that, you begin to understand why Intel pushes Atom at the desktop. The slow feeling has to remain somewhere for things to keep selling...

 

[SPBHM]

the memory clock thing is pretty irrelevant anyway, perhaps your 3dmark with the IGP is going to be slightly lower but that's it.

2.9GHz haswell, can't be bad, and it even have quicksync now
H81 have all the good stuff from Intel, great USB3.0 and sata III performance...

it's also worth considering combining better CPUs with cheap boards, i5 + $50 board works like a champ

 

[SlowSpyder]

For most people, even gamers, the CPU just isn't as important as many make it out to be. I'm typing this from an i5 3320M with dual channel memory and an SSD. I'd be hard pressed to see a difference between this and a much faster CPU in most cases.

 

[2is]

So seeing as I have a 5930K in my gaming box and feeling bored I decided to chuck my 4770 and see how a Celeron would fare. VirtualLarry would approve! :awe:

hahaha, when I read the thread title I thought it was a post my VR lol.

Recently a client of mine replaced their Sandy Bridge i3 desktop after the drive failed. Instead of taking it to recycling, I decided to slap a SSD in there and use it as my Windows 10 test bed. Faster than my old Q6600 box and idling at 30 watts vs 100

 

[waltchan]

Celeron G1850 is where Pentium G3220 first started (only 100 MHz difference). There will be a Celeron G1860 3.00 GHz coming out soon in late-2015.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

There's a lot of good work you can do with a CPU like that, if you want to.

 

[escrow4]

So ended up fixing the RAM issue, the divider could be set to speeds of 1333MHz or 1066MHz or 800MHz, 1400MHz is what the board could squeeze out seeing as the Celeron maxxes out at 1333MHz memory channel wise. Anyway Kingston Value RAM is the AK of RAM. It will work and these new sticks are super low profile.

I actually ended up buying a dual channel 8GB kit. Might as well, 4GB is the absolute minimum you want and 8GB is comfortable. This is definitely faster than a G1610 I once had. And seeing Celeron speeds creep up I wonder if the default Skylake celeron will be 2.9GHz or so and the higher model will crack 3.0GHz.

I strongly recommend this H81 board:

http://www.gigabyte.com.au/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5158#ov

Excellent audio (seriously the audio PCB bits is separated by channel), internal USB 3.0 header and 6 USBs on the back, 4 of which are 3.0 courtesy of a VIA controller. Needed an extra fan header though.

And if you are thinking AM1 buy a Celeron. You won't be disappointed. :biggrin:

EDIT:



This H81 board also seems to be a new model it supports Haswell Refresh out of the box.

 

[crashtech]

I'm honestly a bit gobsmacked by this thread, but welcome to Haswell dual-core land.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I actually ended up buying a dual channel 8GB kit. Might as well, 4GB is the absolute minimum you want and 8GB is comfortable. This is definitely faster than a G1610 I once had. And seeing Celeron speeds creep up I wonder if the default Skylake celeron will be 2.9GHz or so and the higher model will crack 3.0GHz.

Yeah, 8GB should be a minimum, even for budget builds.

Btw, I think that you had driver problems with your G1610 rig. I tried to tell you that a long time ago. Budget rigs aren't actually so bad, as you've recently found out.

I strongly recommend this H81 board:

http://www.gigabyte.com.au/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5158#ov

Excellent audio (seriously the audio PCB bits is separated by channel), internal USB 3.0 header and 6 USBs on the back, 4 of which are 3.0 courtesy of a VIA controller. Needed an extra fan header though.

I found this interesting. (Emphasis mine)

Each LAN and USB port can withstand high electrostatic discharges, protecting your system from common electrical surges and even direct lighting strikes.

That's some board!

Glad you're having fun with it.

 

[waltchan]

Celeron will reach its 20th anniversary birthday on 2018, and I wonder if Intel will release an unlocked Celeron Skylake processor similar to Pentium G3258? Sounds like a good idea, right? ^_^

 

[crashtech]

I've had pretty good luck with Celerons, with the sole exception of one bought during the Netburst era. It was 1.7GHz of pure dog.

 

[dark zero]

Celeron will reach its 20th anniversary birthday on 2018, and I wonder if Intel will release an unlocked Celeron Skylake processor similar to Pentium G3258? Sounds like a good idea, right? ^_^

INBF that Celeron will OC even better than Skylake K

 

[escrow4]

Strangely enough, the sticker that comes with the CPU doesn't say Celeron anymore its just "Intel Inside". Heh. I'd also watch what H81 board you pick - ALC 662 is still junk even on a budget chipset. 887 is what you should be aiming for.

 

[SPBHM]

Strangely enough, the sticker that comes with the CPU doesn't say Celeron anymore its just "Intel Inside". Heh. I'd also watch what H81 board you pick - ALC 662 is still junk even on a budget chipset. 887 is what you should be aiming for.

junk or not it gets the job done, most people are not audiophiles or have a good speaker/headphones, or even listen to music on youtube and such, so I'm not sure it's THAT bad

certainly not the best, and if you have other options... sure, avoid it... but, it works :biggrin:

 

[MongGrel]

I still use 1333 ram in my main rig with a X5680.

Silly me.

There is a reason of course.

It is OC'd a bit.

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7T-12GBRH

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231405

 

[MongGrel]

Many older chips still viable for things I guess.

My Sister in law still uses one of my old Q6600 SLCKRs and the wife even still uses a Q9650 and refuses to change to the X5650 setup in the other bedroom.

They aren't gaming of course, but I haven't been either lately I guess.

Still OC both a bit on theirs.

 

[coolpurplefan]

I thought about replacing the mobo/CPU/RAM in an old machine for a low cost and this is what I wanted to read. If a Celeron has a little bit of hitching and pausing, I'd rather get an i3. I know small pauses may not mean much but over time, it may start to feel too slow. Even in a backup or temporary machine, I might be too annoyed with lags here and there.