Re: [OT] Processor Recommendation

[Alan Mead <adm ipat com>]

At 09:11 PM 2/22/00 , Chad W. Skinner wrote:
> buy though. I have found a Celeron 500 for $102.00 and PII 400-450 for about
> $150+. I am not planning on doing anything real demanding except for maybe a
> little database and web development. One of these machines will be running
> linux solely the other windows.


I'm not an expert and opinions differ but I get the impression that the 
Celron with the larger integrated cache is actually quite a good performer 
for general computing (and much better than, say, an AMD K-x at math).  I 
think the PII/PIII adds support for graphics operations and other issues 
that are more germane to playing games (like Windows :).  You may see a 
little better performance running a Linux GUI as well.  I like my Celron 
400 running Linux/GNOME a lot more than the PII 350 Windows workstation I 
use here at work.

I would second the recommendation to spend the extra money on RAM.  Both of 
the applications you mention would benefit from lots of RAM (although in 
light use you probably won't need it).

But, to just learn about networking I would just get 2-3 old 486's.  It is 
not uncommon to get a complete system unit (no monitor) for less than 
$50.  Add a new 6 GB HD for $120 and you have a great experimental web 
server.  A 486 with a little RAM (>= 40MB) and a fast, new HD isn't going 
to run Yahoo but it will process a lot of requests for static pages and 
return OK performance on CGI in moderate service.

-Alan
---
Alan D. Mead  /  Research Scientist  /  adm ipat com
Institute for Personality and Ability Testing
1801 Woodfield Dr  /  Savoy IL 61874 USA
217-352-4739 (v)  /  217-352-9674 (f)