What Pentium 4 Processor for Desktops Should You Buy?

There are basically three Pentium 4 processor families. Some of them are for basic computing and others are for more advanced use. Before you spend your hard earned dollar you need to know which family of processor will be right for your needs. In this article I give you a brief overview what each processor was designed for and which processor out performs the other.

Some of you may still own older Pentium processors. The Pentium II and Pentium III will still get on the Internet but they will have trouble running current applications. Just to give you an example of how much the computer has advanced in the past few years the first Pentium 4 was 1.3 GHZ and had 256 KB cache. It came out in 2001 so you would have a 6 year old computer. I don't know about you but anything older than 5 years is pretty much a boat anchor. If you just use the Internet than you may feel this is all you need. If you want more computing power than you would need to buy something more up to date.

Intel Celeron family

The Intel Celeron has two basic processors. The Celeron and the Celeron D. The Celeron D is the more advanced version of the two and provides a more balanced level of technology. The Celeron is basic processor for basic computing. It will do multitasking but it was not designed for heavy multitasking or advanced computing. It has has trouble running games and intense applications. If your into anyone of these things than you will want to stay away from the Celeron. You will find the Celeron in the cheaper machines that are used as a starting computer. Most Celeron computers you can get for under $500.

Intel Pentium 4 family

This family is the made up of the basic Pentium 4, Pentium 4 with Hyper Threading, Pentium 4 D, Pentium Duo Core, and Pentium Extreme. The Pentium 4 with Hyper Threading was the first Pentium 4 that was designed for games. Than came the Pentium 4 D which was more powerful than the Pentium 4 with hyper threading. As you can see the Pentium 4 went through an evolution to design a more intense processor for gaming and intensive applications. This family of processors will offer good performance for just about any application. The Pentium Extreme offers extreme capabilities for advanced computing and gaming. So, the better processor you purchase from this family the better your computer will perform.

Intel Core processor family

This family is the newest family of processor from Intel. It includes the Intel Core 2 Dual, Intel Core 2 Quad, and the Intel Core 2 Extreme. Any computer with one of these processors in it will be the most expensive and offer the best performance. The Intel Core 2 Dual was designed for intense applications. The Quad was designed for entertainment and the best highly productive multitasking. The Extreme will give high definition experiences and state-of-the-art productivity. Most of the processors in this article will run Vista but this family will give the best performance.

Now that you have an overview of the Intel processor you can make an informed decision when your ready to make a purchase of new computer. In my next article I will give an overview of the AMD family of processors.