This is a very common question that my friends ask me. "Oh, they're budget parts!" you say? Everyone seems to think that because they are budget parts they are weak performers. NOT TRUE! Just because some 3.0GHz P4 processor with "Hyper Threading Technology" can encode/decode(whatever) video faster doesn't mean that the processor is weak! Intel CPU's have always been the kings of clock speed intensive tasks. I admit it. But even now they only hold that position in the mid range. AMD's High range is all over it. But WHO IN THE WORLD CARES ABOUT MULTITASKING AND VIDEO WORK ON A BUDGET COMPUTER??? That is my number one button on the processor race issue. I only know one guy who cares about his video decompression speed on a budget computer and he just went with a Celeron D rig anyway. You can look at any game related benchmark and see that the Sempron 3100+ easily outclasses a 3.0GHz HT Prescott 95% of the time. The good P4 630's are $150-$180. My Sempron was, believe it or not, $83 retail price. And when I over-clocked it to 2.4GHz it equalled a 3.6GHz Pentium 4 660 HT which costs easily $400!!! Now tell me, who got the better deal? You guys have to understand. Intel has always had lower standards in performance. The Celeron and Celeron D are both absolute crap! A 3.2GHz Celeron D equals a 2.0-2.2GHz P4 in every day tasks. It just hums along happily. But when you put it in a gaming environment it has a heart attack! Intel knows full freaking well that the architecture of their processors needs lost of cache space to run effectively. They were kicking themselves in the balls like a retarded kid with a stain on his lap. Just because AMD has released a "budget" product doesn't mean it has low performance, It just means that it doesn't have some of the features that the more expensive processors do. Some people might not like this but it has to be said. The Sempron 64 3600+ AM2 Manila core is the fastest single-core processor clock-for-clock on the market today. It easily rivals and surpasses the Athlon 64 3400+ and P4 3.4GHz HT. With 256K L2 even! Imagine if someone actually made the effort and OC'd that thing to 3.0GHz with some water cooling. It would for sure blow away the FX-55, FX-57 and maybe even the FX-60. I don't care what you guys say. For $122 that is some SERIOUS power! "But even the FX-60 will be outdated in year or so," you say? Well think about this. (I'm gonna support intel on this one) The standard 3GHz HT Prescott with 1MB L2 cache is what, 3 years old now? I don't know about you guys but I still consider it a decent mid-range processor like it has always been. The FX-55 is like what, 1 1/2 years old now? I can bet some of you guys wouldn't mind getting your hands on one. I know I wouldn't. Sure, some of this stuff is aging but that doesn't make the component any slower. There is my rant for this morning! Anyone care to argue or discuss now? lol
grrr. hae you had your beans today? and enough ranting... thats how computers go.. it pisses me of too u know..
Seconded ive been running a sempron for about a year and i love it it games and all! Shame i just upgraded but still. Long live sempron!
same here i have no complaints about the Sempron. I've also been running my Sempron 3000+ for about a year and It's never let me down.
I had a sempron 3000 and per say that you have a good mobo. There pretty overclockable i think i got round 2.2Ghz around the end of it! Lol and now my San Diego 3700+ is playing up and sometimes not even as fast as the sempron makes you think huh? There just numbers really sometimes numbers dont make up good performance. Maybe i just got a good sempron but really they are awesome chips and should not be sneered at. you can say there a budget chip. But the best sempron im sure could keep up with some other high end processors. Lecsiy
Yep yep yep! I had my Sempron 3100+ @ 2.4GHZ very stabily and I was extremely happy with it's performance. I was actually pretty disappointed with my X2 3800+ after I had been using my sempy. The only noticable improvement was less slowdown when I did some heavy multitasking. OC'd to 2.4GHz on that one and there was no contest anymore. The dual core was king again. But It was pretty funny to be outpacing my friends at LAN parties with a Sempron. They were all packing P4 HT 3.2 and 3.4GHz with 6800 Vanillas and GT's. It was even funnier when they found out what I was using. With my little sempy and an X800GTO I was blowing them all away. AMD/ATi for life!
hello..Estuansis..I just got a new Board GIGABYTE K8 TRITON [GA-K8VM800M]W/AMD SEMPRON 3100+ I'M a little disappointed its only 1.8MGz..How did U achive 2.4GHz
I can probably answer that. He overclocked it. For example i got my 1.6Ghz to around 2.2ghz stable. On stock cooling. I would recommend. Get a decent cooler. And overclock yours!
lecsiy..Thanks ! Are there any particular settings that could be suggested,for o/c..I've been all over the net looking..I'm a little famil.W/CMOS but never did any overclocking.Some sites have said 2.43GHz with stock equipment.Not real sure about this partic. BRD.[GIGABYTE K8 TRITON]
I used Patriot Signature Series. Very Stable and OC friendly RAM. 1.8GHz is indeed the stock speed but if you play around a little you can easily get it to 2.2GHz or higher. Semprons are pretty fun to play around with. Awesome performance for budget price.
Estuansis..I've never done any O/Cing B4.I've got the 3100+ W/Gigabyte mobo [GA-K8VM800M]..I know I've got to go into the C-MOS to start.Where to start [voltage,mem settings,what].I'd be happy with 2.2,even though I've heard 2.5 maybe a little iffy at 2.2
I am a noob somewhat myself.. but NO don't increase the voltage yet.. start by increasing the fsb front side bus.. and when u get to an area u cant handle increase the memory speed or latency.. then you can squeeze a few out of that, and then u can start increasing the voltage very softly.. as small as you can per option.. INCREASING THE VOLTAGE leads to the cpu getting HOTTER than any other over clocking method..
guys, 1 noob question where can i find the pc benchmark tests on the internet to compare the performance? i have seen them here and there but i can't seem to find any. thanks
Just look up reviews. Just say: "your part" reviews... without the quotes. They usually do bandwidth and arithmetic performance in the reviews. Hope that helps. But as a quick reference. Your CPU is equal to a 2.8 or 3.0GHz Pentium 4 at 1.8 or 2.0GHz. Equal to 3.2 or 3.4GHz at 2.2 or 2.4GHz With minimal skill I could hit 2.4GHz with mine but you should only expect 2.2 or 2.3GHz to remain cool for you. 2.4 and above likes to heat up a little.
A sempron 3200 is like a 3.2 ghz P4, a sempron 3000 is like a 3ghz p4, etcetra. I have a sempron 2800 in my $200 laptop and its suprisingly stable. I dont plan on playing any real games on it though, just some emulators and total anhilation
200? how?? btw: if you up the voltage, it makes other attempts stable.. but dotn go too high, and the multiplier.. say you have a fsb of 200 and your multiplier is 11x it would be 2.2gigaherts. you can change the multiplier accordingly.. i got my 2.2 athlon64 up to a 2.8 but it was unstable. from 2.2 thats an 600 megahertz increase. so it depends on your skill as well as the actual chip. the faster the memory, or the tighter the timmings are will also give you that extra stability as well as some more mgz's..
$200? Wow, one hell of a rebate I suppose? But a Sempron 3000+ is not equal to a 3.0GHz Pentium 4. It might be true for Athlon 64 but not Semprons. They are a bit lower because they are budget parts. So like 2.8GHz easy but not quite 3. And FISHNERD... thought you had a clawhammer... but it's a Sandiego... sweet man!
