400mhz TP240 with 320mb of ram, or 500mhz 240x w/256mb ram?

[RageRover]

so whats better, a cpu thats 100mhz faster but 70mb less ram?

or a 400mhz cpu with 256 ram.

I can't decide between the 240 or 240x. 240 easier and cheaper to find. 240x more expensive and harder to find.

I'll be using the machine for office work, listening to mp3s, surfing, and I'd like to watch Divx when i travel.

Would a 400mhz machine even be able to handle it?

A friend with a 500mhz P3 (HP/Compaq) says he has no problem with Divx files.

I'd be using Windows XP as my OS, but I'd remove as much as I can from it using XP-Lite.

Thanks for any advice.

[bosco]

I'm assuming it's a P2 400mhz vs. a P3 500mhz. If it was me I'd probably go for the faster processor as ram is probably cheaper and easier to add.

However, you should find out if the 240 can be upgraded to a P3 kind of like how the 600E can be upgraded to be a 600X. If so, that might be the route to go if you can find a cheap P3 cpu.

Just my $.02.

[tfflivemb2]

The processor is soldered to the motherboard, so there is no room for improvement there. Both systems should have 64mb onboard ram. Not sure why they couldn't both be 320mb.

[teetee]

The processor is soldered to the motherboard, so there is no room for improvement there. Both systems should have 64mb onboard ram. Not sure why they couldn't both be 320mb.

From twbook.pdf TP240 uses Intel440DX /82371EB PIIX4M chip while TP240x uses Intel 440MX/82443MX that's probably why.

I would definitely choose 240x since it's running at 100MHz FSB comparing to 66MHz FSB on 240. Besides celeron doesn't have L2 cache and PIII has full speed 256K cache. I don't even think 240 is capable of playing DivX without problems.

[stormshadow_29]

I just aquired the 240X and was wondering if the 450mhz Celeron cound be swapped with a 500mhz, I looked inside but didn't remove the heatsink/fan. The model number of the computer is 2609-52U.

[tfflivemb2]

I just aquired the 240X and was wondering if the 450mhz Celeron cound be swapped with a 500mhz, I looked inside but didn't remove the heatsink/fan. The model number of the computer is 2609-52U.

No, they can't be changed, the processors are soldered to the system board. You might be able to swap systemboards, but I am not sure as I haven't actually worked on the 240 series.

[ragefury32]

The processor is soldered to the motherboard, so there is no room for improvement there. Both systems should have 64mb onboard ram. Not sure why they couldn't both be 320mb.

From twbook.pdf TP240 uses Intel440DX /82371EB PIIX4M chip while TP240x uses Intel 440MX/82443MX that's probably why.

I would definitely choose 240x since it's running at 100MHz FSB comparing to 66MHz FSB on 240. Besides celeron doesn't have L2 cache and PIII has full speed 256K cache. I don't even think 240 is capable of playing DivX without problems.

The Mendocino Celerons actually have 128k of L2 cache, and yeah, the restriction on the 240X is due to the 440MX chipset, which has a memory limit of 256MByte. The earlier 240s doesn't have that restriction. Keep in mind that the 240X has 64MBytes built into the motherboard and is equipped with a single memory slot, so its non-modded max memory count is actually 192MBytes (64 on-board + 128 on the slot). There are some people in here who reported success taking the 64MB off the motherboard and sticking the 256 into the slot, and there are others who actually bought 192MByte memory units from Japan (hyper-expensive) to max it @ 256.

Oh, and a Mendo Celeron 400 runs DivX just fine, as long as the native video resolution doesn't exceed 320x240 inside Media Player Classic. AnytKhing over and it'll drop frames.

[vincentfox]

Yes I have done that RAM mod on a 240X worked fine.

Cut the traces to one of the on-board RAM chips so the motherboard no longer recognizes it. Then a 256 meg DIMM would see all 256. I'd hardly call it a mod, just takes a few minutes work with a knife to cut out a RAM chip, no soldering or anything hard.

With the PIII-500 and 256 megs RAM it ran WinXP very nicely. I also bumped the hard-drive to one of the Samsung quiet 40-gig units with 8-meg cache, and it was very satisfactory. Well until the screen started getting dim and I don't use it much anymore. I need to E-Bay it now I suppose.

[yskunto]

Hi, Can you show me how actualy you make those 256MB fully function by cut it trace?
A photo of the cuted trace would be nice.