I was thinking about buying this P4 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...

It is close to the best processor I think I can get for my Biostar P4M80-M4, I was gonna just say screw it because for like $40 more I could get a low grade Intel Core Duo, but I was reading my owners manual for my MB and it supports P4s up to 3.4ghz, so I figured Id have to get one of those.

Also, I noticed in most of the reviews on there they said that particular model ran pretty hot so I was wondering if I ought to drop a little more cash for a new exhaust fan, because I still have the stock one that came with my computer when I bought it.

Also, there will be a pretty big diffrence in performance between my Celeron and this P4 right? Like in terms of gaming? I am ready to get rid of this crap processor, I have ran a lot of tests to see if my computer would handle different games, and almost every time the weakpoint in my system was the processor. I have upgraded my graphics card, RAM, and this will be the processor on this computer. I don't plan to do any more upgrading, the next computer component I get will probably be a whole new rig next year or something.

Anyway, thanks for your opinions. If there is a better processor for not a lot of money (I am pretty limited budget wise), let me know.

(Long Message)

Woops I posted the link with reviews, here is the correct link.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...

I was reading up on reviews and most people said that a Northwood was a lot better than Prescott, so should I just go for the Northwood instead and try to find a Northwood of the same kind?

If I need to purchase a new fan, noise isn't really a problem, I just want to make sure everything stays cool.

Get the Prescott. They run hot. The reasons why you should get the Prescott:
1. faster bus speed
2. more L2 cache
3. more L1 cache
4. 200Mhz gain over a 2.8 Northwood

They run hot but what are the safe max temps in the thermal specs? Probably a lot higher than other CPUs.

Yeh Pentium 4 is more powerfull then Celeron, aslong as you are sure it will be compat the go for it! What heatsink do you have on the cpu at the moment? If its Intel it will handle it, but if its like one from the pc manfacture then its probably designed to only removed low levels of heat an i would consider changing it!
good luck
02coled

Core2Duo E6400 @ 3.4ghz
2gb Elipedia 1066mhz5,5,5,15
EVGA 680i
Ati Radeon X600 128mb
680w Thermaltake Purepower
2 x 250gb Sata
XP Home

"I was gonna just say screw it because for like $40 more I could get a low grade Intel Core Duo"

And what would you do then? The C2D is S775, your board is S478.

What is the purpose of the upgrade? What is it that your system can't do with the Celeron? You'd be throwing $80 into an already outdated system. If you're still running the onboard graphics, a cheap AGP video card might be a better choice.

FLATURIN - Hand-to-mouth goodness. It's good!

Yeah Im pretty sure the heatsink is Intel, so I figure Ill just buy the P4 and do a stress test, and run the cpu at 100%, monitor the temperature, and if it gets too hot, Ill know if I need to get a new fan.

Jam I know, I said later in that paragraph "I was gonna just say screw it because for like $40 more I could get a low grade Intel Core Duo, --but I was reading my owners manual for my MB and it supports P4s up to 3.4ghz, so I figured Id have to get one of those--."

I have an AGP geforce 6200 in the computer at the moment, so that will suffice for the little gaming I do.

My celeron just runs too slow, I have pinpointed it has the current weakest link in my system. Once I purchase this and install this, the only thing I will have left to do to max out my mainboard is get some faster RAM. I currently have pci2700, because that was the fastest RAM I could put in my old mb, but with my new one, I can get some faster RAM.

Thanks again guys.

You can get a 754 (ECS motherboard + A64 3200+ 2.2GHz Venice) combo on Newegg for about $65 & it will run circles around your current Celeron or even the "hot potato" S478 P4.

Arguably, a complete upgrade is most desirable & cost efficient, but you can still upgrade to something better & relatively inexpensive if you are currently strapped for cash.

Good luck!