AMD Sempron: A Fresh Take on Budget Computing
by Derek Wilson on July 28, 2004 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Two Flavors are Better than One: Socket 754
Next in line: the K8 version of Sempron. In these processors, we have a little more with which to differentiate the new processors from the current generation.
Socket 754 Sempron 3100+
Not that we can see much with the heat spreader on there, but this processor is more in the tradition of budget processors, as it is based on current Athlon 64 technology with half the cache. Specifically, the Sempron 3100+ has the same size L2 cache as the Tbred Sempron: 256KB. So, AMD started out with a 1MB L2 cache derived from the Opteron, moved to a 512KB cache, and has finally dropped down to 256KB for its budget line of K8 processors.
Socket 754 Sempron 3100+
The other very interesting and pertinent bit of information is that the K8 Sempron does not support x86-64 extensions.
While this may seem like a downside at first, this will actually help out AMD. The K8 Sempron, if cache size doesn't hurt performance too much, will give AMD the ability to offer its current generation of performance to consumers at a lower price point. The performance difference between K7 and K8 architectures on a clock for clock basis is not insignificant, and bringing this to consumers at a more attractive price point is definitely not a bad thing.
Though we won't be able to test it here (we only just received samples from AMD), we will absolutely be looking into overclocking of this part. With x86-64 and half the cache disabled, we may be able to push this part pretty hard. But we'll have to save that for a future update.
Of course, again, the clock for clock comparison part is the Athlon 64 2800+ (running at 1.8GHz). With twice the cache, this part will not be outperformed by the higher rated Sempron part. Again, we feel that this just adds to the confusion in the marketplace. We have to give AMD some credit for successfully pulling off the performance rating system with their mainstream processors, and we were happy that during the Duron's run, they stuck with clocks speeds. Even though Intel's system will be tough to get a hold of for a little while, it's a much more elegant solution to the problem of selling chips based on clock speed than a performance rating meant to reflect clock speed of a theoretical processor.
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bupkus - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
As #12 points out, power consumption and heat generation are concerns as "all onboard" mainboards lean me to MicroATX and SFF in my future builds.Falloutboy - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
sweet might be making a switch to a sempron 3100 soon....might be nice in your overclocking matchup to compare them to the the mobile bartons in terms of performance. i'm curious how my 2.5ghz barton compares to say a semperon running at 2.0-2.2ghz
LoneWolf15 - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
P.S. Is the Sempron 3100+ multiplier-locked? As some mentioned, overclocking capabilities would be good to know. :)LoneWolf15 - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
Personally, I'd like to see how the Sempron 3100+ compares with the Athlon XP 3200+. Plenty of folks are on the edge about whether to hang on to their Socket A mainboard through one more upgrade, or bite the bullet. As I just bought an Athlon XP-M and have it running stably at 2.4GHz (12 x 200), which would probably equate to about Athlon XP 3300-3400 speeds if one existed, I'd like to know if the advanced memory controller would be worth my while, or if I might as well wait until the Athlon 64 platform becomes more mature and Socket 939 CPU prices come down.thebluesgnr - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
#18,I never said you can't buy AMD boards in the $40 range. I simply pointed out an error in the article. The only fanboy-like posting here is yours.
btw, it would be very hard for me to be an Intel fanboy when my main rig is powered by XP-Mobile 2400+ and my home file server is an Athlon 700MHz.
RyanVM - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
If you're planning on upgrading your DivX version to support SSE3 anyway, you might as well go straight to 5.2 and wipe the slate clean.ViRGE - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
#11, what would be the point of comparing them at equal clock speeds? The Sempron has the IPC advantage, so it would just blow the Celeron out of the water.Marlin1975 - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
OMG I love it when all the fanboys come out.Yea and there are AMD boards in the $40 range also, etc... So stop whinning.
The Sempron is faster and cheaper then a Celeron, get over it.
thebluesgnr - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
ECS 865PE-A is $46 shipped on newegg, and it has SATA.Really, the Price/Performance analysis should be redone considering there's not a $20 delta between AMD and Intel mobos, and the Sempron 2800+ should be compared to the Celeron D 330. Not to mention the difference in retail / 1000 units prices, like #14 mentioned.
Resh - Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - link
When will these be available @ retail?