Depends on the processor make, actually. A single 2.4 core of a brand new Core-series processor may well outperform an old P4 running at 3.6.

Um If I remember correctly Celerons are cheap Pentiums. But I may be a bit foggy on that.

The Celeron series survived past the Pentiums, though in this case, I believe that is one of the P4 based ones.

I have a Compaq Presario SR5010NX

brought the ram up to 2 gigs DDR2

graphics card was just recently updated to a ATI Radeon 4350 (I think its 50) with 512 mb, PCI-Express

processor actually a  Intel Celeron D 3.42 ghz

and the old reliable windows xp. 

I'll get my friend's spec's in the morning and edit this post 

Celeron D series are not good processors.  I had one here and just doing simple tasks (non-gaming) was painfully slow.  If you can get a new PC with a Core i5 processor, you'd be far better off all around.  Their in-built graphics are not bad and they're fast.  You can always upgrade to a better video card later too if you want.

I haven't tried them, so it's hard to say.  I imagine they'd work too.

in my experience the latest AMD's(eg amd555 dual core about 3ghz) are better than the older ones (eg amd64 x2 6000+( 3ghz dual core)) with the newer leaving  the older for dead in processing speed\(feels about 30% faster for the same tasks on the same os & videocard), but for sins and it's expansions the first choice is a video card (does NOT need to be a high-end card, then HIGH GHZ single(can use dual, but one core not used except during loading and more is wasted) core cpu with FAST 4gb ram.

as far as cpu speed goes 2.4 ghz intel ok,  amd x2 3ghz ok, i3 2.8ghzx good, amd 555 good, but below that will feel sluggish in game

harpo

The rest of the computer's stuff can run in the other half.

doska19, the reason for suggesting 4gb is windows xp wants(read NEEDS) 1gb for itself, vista wants(again read NEEDS) 2gb for itself, and windows 7 32bit wants 1gb for itself, but win7 64bit wants 2gb for itself, and the 32bit windows can only address up to the 4gb ram limit which has the BIOS and video card ram come out of it, so most if not all 32bit windows computers with 4gb of ram show between 2.5 & 3.5gb of ram available for windows AND applications, and assuming xp this leaves between 1.5 & 2.5gb for ALL applications before the s l o w     h a r d d r i v e  a t t e m p t s  t o  a c t  a s  r a m  w i t h   t h e  s w a p f i l e.

(the hdd speeds are typically approximately 10 MILLI-seconds to access, while ram takes on the order of 1 MICRO-second(milli-seconds are 1000 microseconds), which is why I try to reduce the need for the hdd swap file as much as possible with as much RAM as possible.

harpo

they DO exist for ddr2 & ddr3 ram types, but for ddr and sdram no they do not

as an example one of my machines that has a AMD 64 x2 6000+ cpu the motherboard only has 2 slots(ddr2 ram)(which is typical for the micro-atx motherboards, but I HAVE 4gb of ram in it, and in my ddr3 ram motherboard machines the SMALLEST ram stick size IS 2gb.

harpo

The information you provided doesn't give us the motherboard type which would give tell us/you what type of RAM would be compatible.

After using that system scan, then going here

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883107356

it appears my maximum capacity is 2 gigs =\ so I guess having two 2 gig sticks in would not work properly

edit: after further research, I have yet another question x3 lemme know when i start grinding nerves.

I believe this provides any and all information on my pc

http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c00873242&lang=en&cc=us&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=3328519&prodTypeId=12454

Now it says that it supports up to 2 gigs (Two 1 gig sticks), but I have found single sticks of 2 gigs that are the same type (PC2-4200). What would happen if I put these in? Technology is so hard to keep up with @_@