Sempron 3100+ or Athlon 3000+ ??

[Stormz]

Hi all, first post, and I can`t decide....

I have 2 pc`s, a socket A ECS K7S5A (big one), which currently has an athlon 1.2 in it with a gig of ram. I also have a shuttle SN41G2 (socket A) with an Athlon 2400+.

I`m pretty happy with both, but making Photoshop a little faster is always nice, and I thought it`s time for some more speed in that (and games is a bonus).

Option 1: upgrade the Shuttle processor to an Athlon 3000+ (333mhz, which is the most the Shuttle can handle), and then move the 2400+ into the ECS rig. cost: @ £80 .

Option 2:
AMD Sempron 3100+ /1.8ghz Skt754 256kb Cache 90nm - £63.82 ex

DFI LANPARTY UT nF3 250Gb SKT754 8 Channel Audio LAN RAID - £55.48 ex

OCZ Value Dual Channel Kit 2x512MB DDR400 PC3200 CL 3-4-4-8 - £62.88 ex

= about £220 inc tax.

I`d definitely o/c the Sempron, and hopefully the 3000+ could be oc`d as well.

I don`t have any problems with my current setups, just would like a fair bit more speed. I don`t care about having the latest/greatest, just want stuff that can get the job done... best bang for my buck.

The technofreak in me would love to go the 754/Sempron route, but the level head in me says the 3000+ would be all I`d realistically need, and wouldn`t have to spend out loads more on a m/b and ram. Well, I`d probably get some faster ram for the Shuttle, but would still be saving the cost of a m/b.

Do I play games... yeah, but Far Cry has been great on the 1.2 and Call of Duty great on the 2400, so am not a frame-rate whore.

Your opinions?

 

[Stormz]

 

[Stormz]

No opinions then?

Basically is the 754/3100+ (90nm) a hell of alot different in speed to a socket A/Athlon XP 3000+ ?

 

[dainthomas]

The 754 Sempron will have the onboard memory controller just like the A64, so I would probably go with that.

 

[Blinkme323]

Either get a Sempron 2600 and overcock it to 2.6ghz or get a A64 2800 and overclock it to 2.2ish.

 

[Stormz]

is there alot of extra speed with the Sempron/754 compared to the XP 3000+? If it`s not that much different then I could save £100 and stick with socket A for a while longer.

 

[Blinkme323]

Here you go:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/sempron-2600_9.html

They can hit 315 bus if you have decent motherboard like a DFI or Chaintec Nforce 3. They are mighty at these speeds. It cost me $140 for the setup. I got an A64 2800 setup with the Chaintec motherboard for $120 used though. The A64 I got could only hit 2.2 and the Sempron could do 2.6. The Sempron benched SLIGHTLY better, but I ran it at 2.4 to be safe and the Athlon 64 seemed better in games and everything. Plus it has 64 bit. Either way you can't go wrong.

 

[Stormz]

Cheers. So you`re suggesting I go for 754, but get the Sempron 2600+ instead of the 3100+ .....

The XP 3000+ seems to stack up quite well in this chart from tomshardware.... http://www20.tomshardware.com/cpu/20041221/cpu_charts-13.html
The Sempron 3100+ isn`t listed unfortunately, but the Sempron 3000+ is a little behind the XP 3000 .

And in this comparison, the XP 3000+ is only slightly slower than the Sempron 3100+ ...
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/29cpu-hl2_8.html

Would still like to know your opinions on which is the best bang for buck. I`m happy to save £100 on the XP 3000+ if there`s not much difference in speed between it and the Sempron 3100+ / 754 .

 

[Blinkme323]

No, get the socket 754 Sempron or Athlon 64. The reason the Sempron does so well on there when overclocked is because of the memory controller on s754. It makes up for its very little cache. The difference between 1mb cache and 128kb cache on S754 is only ~6%. On socket A systems it is much larger. The s754 Sempron is based on the A64. The Socket A Sempron is based on thoroughbreds if I am not mistaken which aren't near;y as good and very dated. ZZF has a s754 Sempron and Chaintec Nforce 3 motherboard for $143 shipped.

 

[Blinkme323]

Just get the Socket 754 Sempron 2600 with Chaintec Nforce 3 motherboard for $143 US from ZZF and overclock the bus to 300, reduce the htt multiplier to 3, and put a ram divider to whatever your ram can handle. s754's are very cpu dependent and this does't effect perfomance much, it does a lot on socket a. You will probably have to use a divider around 133.

 

[Stormz]

I`m afraid you`re talking to the o/c uninitiated here I know about playing with the fsb speed, but that`s about it. It`s no good quoting US prices/companies to me btw as I`m in the UK, and will be buying from www.ebuyer.com . I don`t think they have the Chaintec m/b unfortunately.

 

[Blinkme323]

The DFI will actually be better, but more expensive. Judging by the prices you listed, US prices are twice as much as yours. If you aren't going to overclock, get any s754 motherboard and an A64 2800. If you do want to try overclocking, get the Sempron 2600 and DFI.

 

[Stormz]

Thanks for all your advice Blinkme.... appreciated

I`ve just read a review over at Xbit labs on the E core Sempron 3100+ (90nm). I think I`ll wait for that to arrive at ebuyer and grab it and the DFI.

Cheers!

 

[mattburk]

That the set up I am leaning toward also, DFI and the sempron.


When is the sempron E suppose to hit the street?

 

[Stormz]

4th April AMD shipped them.... dunno when it will surface here though.

Any suggestions as to what best bang/buck DDR 3200 ram to pair it with? 2x512mb sticks for overclocking.

 

[Leper Messiah]

patriot has good RAM for cheap.