AMD sempron setup vs athlon xp?

[ScottyRolen]

I've seen a few threads saying go sempron instead of athlon XP mobile because you dont need to overclock to get good gamning performance off the bat. Is all this true? I dont see the difference in the newegg stats about the semprons. I noticed the semprons have a 754 socket. Do the motherboards for them cost more then socket A? Thats probably a dumb question as I am assuming they do. Thanks guys.

[nwo75200]

The only s754 sempron is the 3100+ and IMO that's the only one worth buying if you're on a budget looking for a great gaming CPU right off the bat, without overclocking. And yes, it is true, Semprons (esp. the 3100+ S754) are great at gaming, and much better than athlon XPs
Just look at the 3100+ sempron leave the 3200+ XP in the dust

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...spx?i=2149&p=7

as you see, the only sempron that is worth buying for gaming is the s754 3100+ and yes, the s754 mobos do cost more than socket A mobos.

[ScottyRolen]

How much do their mobos cost?

[EpyonMelee]

just remember, with a sempron, half the cache and no dual channel ram.

[ScottyRolen]

that sucks heh.

[nwo75200]

just remember, with a sempron, half the cache and no dual channel ram.

cache and dual channel RAM don't really matter, as proved by the a64s

[mazdarx7-64]

Nice article NWO, The socket A Semprons are junk to say the least. If your looking socket a there is no reason not to get a athlon mobile, great overclockers! For the socket 754 get the sempron then upgrade to a 64 bit when you got the cash, if you think you need it. If you got money get the socket 939 chips!

[EpyonMelee]

umm the Athlon 64's have 1 mb of L2 cache, those that are 3200+.

And dual channel memory does matter, if you want the most out of your CPU.

[mazdarx7-64]

the socket 939 can do dual channel RAM, the 754 can't. I got a 754 and can say that I don't miss it at all form my 2800+ socket a chip. I do have the 3200+ with 1 meg of cache.

[ScottyRolen]

I only have 600 bucks heh. I and I have a 6800 on my parts list, and I need a PS and a new Hard drive and ram. I have been tweaking this list to get maximum performance but somehow I think its not going to get as far as athlon64 w/ my 6800 on the parts list. If you want to reccomend any kind of 600 buck setup, note that I do not need a CD drive or case. I do need everything else though heh, excluding DVD drive.

[nwo75200]

umm the Athlon 64's have 1 mb of L2 cache, those that are 3200+.

And dual channel memory does matter, if you want the most out of your CPU.

yes, I know that 3200+ has twice the cache of the 2800+ and 3000+ but it really doesn't make that much of a difference, that and dual channel RAM, I mean, it certainly would be a great bonus if it had those things, but I guess that's why its cheaper

Dual channel RAM only gives you about 3% more bandwidth compared to single channel.

[EpyonMelee]

right, but in a computer world where people upgrade for less that 1%, 3-4% is alot.

at least to me it is.

[nwo75200]

right, but in a computer world where people upgrade for less that 1%, 3-4% is alot.

at least to me it is.

yup, and that's why I said it is a nice bonus, but you can certainly live without it

[EpyonMelee]

right, but the same arguement can be made for videos cards, " you can live without it"
or cas 2-2-2 "you can live without it"

the point is you can always live without it, if you're going for it, why not go all the way.

[nwo75200]

right, but the same arguement can be made for videos cards, " you can live without it"
or cas 2-2-2 "you can live without it"

the point is you can always live without it, if you're going for it, why not go all the way.

I see, you make a good point

Now that I think about it, a 3200+ is really worth the extra... what, 30 bucks? you get all that extra speed, and twice the cache, but going to a s939 is definitelly not worth is, because it's way too damn expensive, and the only difference is speed, and dual channel RAM

[mazdarx7-64]

Don't forget that the 939 can OC better than the 754 from what i've seen. I can only get my 3200+ up to 2.4 and keep stable.

[MadMan2k]

Since the A64 3000+ newcastle is only $165 @ newegg at the moment, I think that has more 'bang for the buck' than the 3200.
Maybe a 10% performance increase on a good day, for an extra $40 (25% or so price increase).

[nwo75200]

Don't forget that the 939 can OC better than the 754 from what i've seen. I can only get my 3200+ up to 2.4 and keep stable.

yep, the s754s aren't great OCers

I tried mine, and it was pretty stable at 2300MHz, I could get it to 2400, but it's way too hot, idle, its like in the mid 50s

What's your rig by the way?

[ryanredbaron]

just to put it strait to the point i would go with athlon

[EpyonMelee]

just to put it strait to the point i would go with athlon

WHICH athlon???


the 2500+ XP Barton?

or the 3200+ XP

or the athlon 64 3000+ with the 512 L2 cache?

or the athlon 64 3200+ with 1mb L2