AMD Sempron: A Fresh Take on Budget Computing
by Derek Wilson on July 28, 2004 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Final Words
Sempron, at a glance, surpasses its goal to be a powerful budget processor. Cheaper than the current fastest Intel Celeron, both flavors of Sempron that we tested here outperform the competition in almost every test.We have long awaited the arrival of a budget chip based on the K8 architecture, and now we have one that nearly matches the performance of similarly clocked Athlon 64 chips. As clock speed ramps on Sempron and x86-64 becomes a bigger deal, we may see some separation in the ranks, but, until then, the Sempron 3100+ is a solid choice for anyone looking for a budget AMD setup with better performance and upgrade-ability than the Socket A platform.
The K7 Sempron, however, is a bit of an enigma. As time goes on and the Tbred Athlon XP processors on which Socket A Semprons are based become totally unavailable, we will see the value of Sempron rise. It just doesn't make sense to buy any of these Sempron processors when equivalent or better performing Athlon XP processors can be had for a lower price. It seems clear that Socket A Sempron will eventually be targeted at the extreme budget line of computing with the Sempron 2200+ clocked at 1.5GHz and priced about where we can find 1.2GHz Duron processors. We are actually looking forward to testing some extreme budget systems based on these processors. Performance (especially memory intensive performance) should actually look much better than Durons or early Athlons at the same speed with 4 times the L2 cache and a 333MHz FSB.
The only thing that we found really distasteful was the performance rating of these chips. When marketing with clock speeds, chip makers can't avoid the problem of higher clocked budget chips misleading the not-so-savvy buyer, but when creating an independent rating system, care should be taken to look out for the buyer. As complicated as Intel's rating system is, we find it more desirable when considering issues such as these. We do understand if AMD still feels that they need to beef up their appearance to Joe Average, but we don't have to like it.
We do also wish that there was a way to tell from the name of the processor if it is a Socket A, Socket 754, or (eventually) Socket 939 Sempron. Currently, if a consumer doesn't already know, the only way to tell is to look it up.
What's the bottom line? If you don't want x86-64, but you want the performance and motherboard selection of a K8, the Sempron 3100+ is a very nice choice. At this time, we'll have to reserve judgment on the Socket A Sempron until its cheaper siblings arrive in our labs. For now, the Sempron 2800+ is not a choice that we recommend anyone to make while the Tbred AXP 2600+ is available. The Sempron 2200+ paired with a very barebones board will help bring extraordinarily cheap computing to anyone who wants it, and we look forward to seeing how much of an improvement it is to the current Duron and Athlon offerings at the 1.5GHz clock speed.
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draco8099 - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
"Reliability/compatibility hasn't been an issue for a long time. FYI Intel has had 4 recalls in as many years. AMD has never had a recall"I agree that AMD chips are reliable... but AMD does NOT make chipsets.
There where times in the past that I wished VIA or SIS would recall the crap they sometimes produced. Thankfully Nvidia entered the chipset making business.
Bonesdad - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
yah, gotta wonder where he comes up with a statement like "along with the added reliability Intel offers...". This clearly comes from someone with no experience with AMD products. I personally have no qualms about either Intel or AMD when it comes to reliability. But if AMD offers more performance/$$ than Intel, I will always choose AMD.ThePlagiarmaster - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
T8000, You're kidding right? I'll take an Nforce2 with onboard (asus A7n8x-VM/400 $81) over any onboard intel graphics. We're talking geforce4mx here. It can at least play some games. Intel's integrated graphics doesn't even come close even with the 915G chipset.http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040728/sempron-0...
Jeez, up to 3x performance over Intel's integrated graphics...ROFLMAO. You go ahead and buy that Intel integrated crap chipset. BTW the 865/875 is no more current than nforce2. They are both old tech and both decent (uh, except when comparing onboard graphics...nvidia kicks butt here). Last page of toms review: "In addition, motherboards based on the nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset offer more graphics performance than Intel's 865G platform at a similar and sometimes lower price"
So for $81 (asus a7n8x-VM/400) + Sempron 2800 $120 (which is probably REALLY HIGH...more likely $100 when hits pricewatch or less) we have $200 at most. You said it A P4 can beat it for the same money. Well, as soon as you throw in Intel's integrated graphics it doesn't matter what chip you have...YOU LOSE. But you won't spend less than $200 for a P4 and Integrated board. No way. You'd need a P4 2.4 or better just to cache the chip in speed. The graphics is an absolute loss regardless of choices.
Reliability/compatibility hasn't been an issue for a long time. FYI Intel has had 4 recalls in as many years. AMD has never had a recall :)
Zebo - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
"i'm curious how my 2.5ghz barton compares to say a semperon running at 2.0-2.2ghz "Is'nt everyone:)
Socket754 wise I think a sempron is about 10% faster than the mobileXP's at same speeds so 2.2 would probably equal or beat a 2.5 A-XP......Can't wait:):):)
bearxor - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
#27I thought about that angle, and while it should work, the fact of the matter is that mpga478 is about to be just as dead as socket 462. If newer Celeron-D's were LGA 775, you could make a case for a better upgrade path with PCI-e and such.
I'm sorry guys, but I'm comparing the Sempron 2800+ with the Celeron 335, which runs at 2.8ghz. I'm not going to compare the Celeron to the Socket 754 3100+, as its name clearly states its a 3100+. If there was a Celeron running at 3100 or so, then I could compare them.
Comparing between the two 2800 classes, there just doesn't seem to be a nail in the coffin. Someone who is going to buy something like this is going to be happy with either one.
Zebo - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
Derek anything we'd like to see?Yes. I'd like to see you using good aftermarket HS.
Then I think you can get the celeron D to 3.8 to 4.0.
Also, The sempron 3100 is of most intrest to me..as it's already fast, offers cheap MOBOs like the chaintech, and I think will make 2.6 on air easy due to less cache..
Not so impressed with the socketA semprons as I think the moblie Athlons are so much better both in overclcoking and perfromance. Anyway it would be cool to throw a 2600moblie in there at 2.6..
Thanks:)
tfranzese - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
"added reliability Intel offers"Where is it? Don't you read the news, Intel now reliably offers chipset recalls and EEPROM updates just for you.
You're either living in the past or should be on Intel's marketing payroll because you reek of it.
tfranzese - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
"For Sempron Socket 752, I think the added cost of getting a suitable mainboard places it in the price range of a Pentium 4, that will outperform it with ease."Really, can you back that up?
T8000 - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
With these small performance differences, I would say $20 more buys you a current Intel DDR-1/AGP platform (i865 + C335) instead of an old AMD platform (nf400 + S2800). Along with the added reliability Intel offers and the very inexpensive optional "Extreme" 2D graphics you can get, I do not think Sempron Socket A is a sensible choice.For Sempron Socket 752, I think the added cost of getting a suitable mainboard places it in the price range of a Pentium 4, that will outperform it with ease.
So I think there is no reason to be so optimistic about Sempron, especially considering the benchmark selection in this review, that might make Sempron look better then it would in the real world.
DerekWilson - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
Both the K7 and K8 Sempron chips dissipate 62W of power maximally.We hear that mobile chips will be coming out with mobile chips which will be in the 25W-30W range.
I'll update the article with this info.