Performance Increase? *update post 100* Thanks guys!

Quote from LiquidRetro : Has no one mentioned a reformat? This is probably 4+ years running Vista on an original install. This would be free. Also we don't know what the rest of the specs of this machine are. It could have very little ram which would probably be a better upgrade than the processor or ssd if it had 512 or something like that. Chances are browsing the web you are not using much processing power, so I would have to agree the ssd might be the better way to go. That being said your going to make a decent investment in a machine that is probably worth very little. I would look at a new cheap laptop instead.

Was reformatted last week. It is running vista with 2 gigs of ram. (the max the mobo will take)
Has a new antec 380 watt power supply and a new GeForce 9500GT graphics card. The computer is MUCH faster than it was before the reformat, hell its faster than when bought new.

Not really wanting to put an SSD in as there is nothing wrong with the HDD that is in it.

Maybe I should look around and try and find a better deal on the cpu, seems everyone is in agreement that $70 is to much for it.

Quote from MikeOxlong : Not really wanting to put an SSD in as there is nothing wrong with the HDD that is in it.

You can still use the old hard drive, you just put the SSD in as your boot drive along with program installs, space permitting. I send most downloads to my 700GB standard hard drive by default.

Quote from brbubba : Now that you mention it, I upgraded from a celeron myself to a dual core processor about a year ago. Yes it was faster. No, it was not as fast as the SSD upgrade that came later. Oh but no, I should "trust you" because I have such a lack of experience upgrading weak processor systems. No one is arguing that a processor upgrade won't help in this case. We are simply saying that the OP would be wasting money. An SSD is a component that can be carried forward vs a CPU which can't be and would likely have very little resale value. The OP will have to analyze how long he wants to keep this upgraded processor to properly weigh the cost/benefit, but at $70 or more there is no payback period that could justify the cost/benefit. A $40 price tag could be much easier to swallow/justify if he wants to keep this system for another year or more.

Bubba, your above comment kind of didn't make much sense to me. You state that you upgraded your processor then later on upgraded to SSD which was then much faster in relevance to an argument that purely suggest it would be better to buy the SSD instead of the processor. You bought both so OFC it's going to be faster??? How you could know the SSD upgrade was "faster" than the processor upgrade if you'd already also upgraded the processor as well? Perhaps they complimented each other and in turn made it much faster than before any upgrade at all?

Wasting money to me is spending money on something you do not need. If OP needs more performance for his daily tasks and all he has is $70 bucks then so be it. Yes we all might suggest you save your money for a whole machine upgrade (which is a bit more future proof) but for your current needs the processor is not bad and $70 is not bad.

The direct answer to you OP is that the 4400 will most certainly be a major step up from a Celeron. From experience Celerons are super slow and upgrading RAM and HARD Drives usually does not help. Not to mention that your board probably does not support SATA at all so I am not even sure why everyone keeps mentioning SSD drives. SSD drives are also not entirely reliable. With limited writes and common blue screening they've got a long way to go and have a rather high failure rate.

Way I see it is this:
It is a waste of money in comparing to product which you could obtain for a bit more that would be much faster.
It is not a waste of money if you want to keep the box, it does was you need it to, but you just want to top it out.

Everything will always be a waste of money compared to what's next.

Only reason I wouldn't buy it is if I knew I didn't use the box frequently. If I use it once a day for 15 min, ill skip the processor upgrade and just go make myself a cup of coffee when I open multiple programs.

Quote from brbubba : Rocky you know very well that line is BS. "Near identical" compared to a standard hard drive. You gonna try and back that one up or should we just "trust you" on it? Now that you mention it, I upgraded from a celeron myself to a dual core processor about a year ago. Yes it was faster. No, it was not as fast as the SSD upgrade that came later. Oh but no, I should "trust you" because I have such a lack of experience upgrading weak processor systems. No one is arguing that a processor upgrade won't help in this case. We are simply saying that the OP would be wasting money. An SSD is a component that can be carried forward vs a CPU which can't be and would likely have very little resale value. The OP will have to analyze how long he wants to keep this upgraded processor to properly weigh the cost/benefit, but at $70 or more there is no payback period that could justify the cost/benefit. A $40 price tag could be much easier to swallow/justify if he wants to keep this system for another year or more.

Don't misquote me Bubba.
I didn't say "Near Identical", I said, and I quote,

Quote : you would gain from an SSD is a bit more speed after first booting up and after that the performance would be near identical, assuming we are comparing it to a normal healthy spinner hard drive

And I stand behind that, from experience, daily experience, not because I'm a hobbyist who's read a few books and then tries to pull the politician game out on people, taking them out of context, and then goes on to make a fool of himself by stating his case, of having upgraded the CPU and THEN installing an SSD which gave him lots of speed, but evidently you never tried the SSD with the old processor, and BTW; THAT IS EXACTLY the topic at hand.
I ain't looking for battles here on SD but when someone misquotes me and then tops it off with BS comparisons that are not applicable, then he's stepped over the line, which you just did.
I appreciate that you probably believe what you're saying, but you're dead wrong.
I've done it, MANY times.
I don't think it, I KNOW IT !

What mobo is that that limits to 2gb? Ram here will be the best cheapest upgrade you can do if you can get it to 4gb.

Quote from nizzy1115 : What mobo is that that limits to 2gb? Ram here will be the best cheapest upgrade you can do if you can get it to 4gb.

Many mobos of that generation had 2 gig limits, both in laptops and PCs, and even to this day, most netbooks still have the 2 gig limitations as the manufacturers know that adding in more ram wouldn't make a lick of difference on a machine with such a weak processor.

PS: Here is a screenshot of the OP's mobo specs, showing that the ram maxes out at 2 gigs.

Quote from RockySosua : Many mobos of that generation had 2 gig limits, both in laptops and PCs, and even to this day, most netbooks still have the 2 gig limitations as the manufacturers know that adding in more ram wouldn't make a lick of difference on a machine with such a weak processor.

Get out of here. A slow processor with 4-8gb ram will out perform in day to day tasks and user "feel" of being fast than an i7 with 1-2gb ram. Processors dont make your computer faster. Hard drive and ram are what matter most, and ram is the easiest cheapest to add.

Quote from nizzy1115 : Get out of here. A slow processor with 4-8gb ram will out perform in day to day tasks and user "feel" of being fast than an i7 with 1-2gb ram. Processors dont make your computer faster. Hard drive and ram are what matter most, and ram is the easiest cheapest to add.

Aye aye aye, Nizzy.
Don't tell me that you actually believe that a lowly Celeron 420 with 8 gigs of ram will outperform an i7 with 1 or 2 gigs?
You're kidding us, right?

To the OP.
Fortunately, the majority of respondents have made it clear that upgrading your CPU will bear fruit and that it's the best move you can do right now.
Some of the other things being suggested to you are rather absurd and I can only hope that you have enough experience and common sense to know what's what.

Quote from RockySosua : Aye aye aye, Nizzy. Don't tell me that you actually believe that a lowly Celeron 420 with 8 gigs of ram will outperform an i7 with 1 or 2 gigs? You're kidding us, right?

In day to day tasks yes! absolutely it will feel faster!

The processor sits idle 99.9% of the time during office applications and internet browsing.


Without ram the computer is constantly using swap file to the hard disk which is painfully slow.

Here are the specs to the computer......

https://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/...ct=3552363

As I said, It has a new antec 380watt power supply, 9500GT video card and 2 gigs of ram. The reason I want to use the 4400 is because it says that is the best that the mobo will use. I am thinking of giving this computer to my mother who is on a fixed income and can't afford a new computer. That is why I am trying to make it as fast as I can without spending a whole lot of money.

Quote from nizzy1115 : In day to day tasks yes! absolutely it will feel faster! The processor sits idle 99.9% of the time during office applications and internet browsing.

You are so far off base, it ain't funny.
Why the heck do you think that people spend hundreds of dollars on big processors if all they need is a tiny one with a bunch of cheap ram?
Do you think the whole world is crazy and you're the only one who sees the light?

Maybe it's time to explain to you in layman's terms what a processor is/does and what ram/is and does.
The two are the sum total of the imitation of a brain, that is composed of both logic and memory.
Neither can function without the other.
The more memory you have, the more you can remember, but it doesn't make you think faster. That's what the processor does. The bigger the processor, the faster, better and more capable its logic is.
In short, the CPU is like intelligence, and ram is like having good memory.
Being dumb (small processor) and having the best memory in the world, still leaves you dumb.

Quote from MikeOxlong : Here are the specs to the computer...... https://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/...ct=3552363 As I said, It has a new antec 380watt power supply, 9500GT video card and 2 gigs of ram. The reason I want to use the 4400 is because it says that is the best that the mobo will use. I am thinking of giving this computer to my mother who is on a fixed income and can't afford a new computer. That is why I am trying to make it as fast as I can without spending a whole lot of money.

You have 2 ram slots. I bet it will support 4gb ram. They probably said max ram as 2gb (1gb x2) because at the time 2gb sticks did not exist.

Quote from RockySosua : You are so far off base, it ain't funny. Why the heck do you think that people spend hundreds of dollars on big processors if all they need is a tiny one with a bunch of cheap ram? Do you think the whole world is crazy and you're the only one who sees the light?

Because people are idiots!?!

If you play video games, render video or such then sure a processor makes a big difference, if not than your fine with whatever and wont see a difference.

Quote from nizzy1115 : You have 2 ram slots. I bet it will support 4gb ram. They probably said max ram as 2gb (1gb x2) because at the time 2gb sticks did not exist. Because people are idiots!?! If you play video games, render video or such then sure a processor makes a big difference, if not than your fine with whatever and wont see a difference.

I just posted the screenshot again, for you to clearly see that the OP's mobo accepts a maximum of 2 gigs of ram.
Kindly stop arguing the point. It is FACT.

I'm not surprised that you think that the rest of the world are idiots and that you are one of the few, perhaps the only one who sees the truth.
God help us.