Pentium and Celeron: what's the difference?

jasper-isis · Post by **jasper-isis** » Wed May 19, 2004 4:17 pm

What's the difference between a Intel Pentium 4 2.20 GHz CPU and an Intel Celeron 2.20 Ghz CPU? Aren't they the same speed?

jasper-isis · Post by **jasper-isis** » Wed May 19, 2004 4:20 pm

Hmm and while I'm at it, what are Celeron M processors and Pentium M processors?

mckeed · Post by **mckeed** » Wed May 19, 2004 4:21 pm

The M stands for "Mobile" and usually have less power consumption and generate less heat. These chips are designed for laptops.

DJ_Izumi · Post by **DJ_Izumi** » Wed May 19, 2004 9:36 pm

Let's think of a Pentium IV as a Cadilac Escalade, it's big, it's powerfull, it's sexy and luxurious. A Aeleron is more like a Geo, it's small, it's much more affordable, it will get the job done.

Both are capable of doing highway speeds, but one's smaller and can't fit many clowns in it and it's a less comfortable ride.

Lyrs · Post by **Lyrs** » Wed May 19, 2004 10:48 pm

Naturally one also consumes less gas and therefore allows you to accumlate a small amount of money.

jasper-isis · Post by **jasper-isis** » Wed May 19, 2004 11:15 pm

Nice analogy there.

So I'm guessing that there is a very noticable difference? Slower, perhaps? More crashes?

Lyrs wrote:Naturally one also consumes less gas and therefore allows you to accumlate a small amount of money.

Which one would that be? I'm guessing Celeron since smaller cars tend to use less gas.

Kalium · Post by **Kalium** » Wed May 19, 2004 11:24 pm

Where's DW when you need him? Anyway, it has to do with more than price. You have to realize that clock speed isn't everything. Long ago, this was the case, but not anymore. The Celeron will be cheaper (and maybe more overclockable, depending), but will perform worse. Of course, and AMD chip at the same clock speed is very likely to smoke them both.

I know, I know: lies, damn lies, and benchmarks.

narcted · Post by **narcted** » Thu May 20, 2004 2:55 am

Celerons in comparison to Pentium 4s have smaller caches and their FSBs are slower, among other things. Detailed comparison here.

Pwolf · Post by **Pwolf** » Thu May 20, 2004 3:04 pm

i've also heard that celerons are also p4's that didn't make the cut and are then modified to the celeron specs. I don't quite remember where i heard this or if it is even accurate, so don't take my word for it. I wouldn't touch a celeron with a 10ft pole anyway

Pwolf

Kalium · Post by **Kalium** » Thu May 20, 2004 4:02 pm

Pwolf wrote:i've also heard that celerons are also p4's that didn't make the cut and are then modified to the celeron specs. I don't quite remember where i heard this or if it is even accurate, so don't take my word for it. I wouldn't touch a celeron with a 10ft pole anyway

I've actually heard the same thing. It may be the case, which makes Celerons excellent for overclocking. What I heard is that Celerons are Pentiums that don't quite meet spec, so they're downclocked to a Celeron spec that they do meet, and sold then. Some people undo this, and use the full potential of the chip (whatever the full potential of a Celeron may be).