Three Budget CPUs Tested 173
Steve writes "HEXUS.net are taking a look at three 'value' CPUs. The Sempron 2800+ and 3100+ from AMD (Socket A and Socket 754 respectively.) The price range of the three is fairly broad, the 3100+ coming out on top, also costing the most. Also, for those of you who enjoy cheap thrills, some overclocking has been thrown in, too." (The third chip reviewed is the Celeron D.)
Let's just hope (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Let's just hope (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Let's just hope (Score:2)
Compatible with 760MPX Dual Boards? (Score:2)
Are any of these new releases compatible with the old 760MPX Dual Athlon Boards [Tyan S246X-series, Asus A7M266-D]?
It sure would be mighty nice to have a little bit of an upgrade path for those platforms.
Re:Compatible with 760MPX Dual Boards? (Score:2)
Re:Let's just hope (Score:2)
John was one of the disciples who knew Jesus, most of even anti-christian speculation puts disciples very close to Jesus.
I try to add a little of my beliefs to my posts by way of this sig. The rest of my posts are usually objective, so I try to show people some of my perspective.
Re:Let's just hope (Score:2, Interesting)
Now the question is WTF do I do with it? (Details in sig)
Let me be the first one to say (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Let me be the first one to say (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Let me be the first one to say (Score:2)
Re:care to share? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:care to share? (Score:2, Informative)
Semper is Latin for "always",
Sub is Latin for "under",
and ubi is Latin for "Where".
That should help.
Re:Let me be the first one to say (Score:2)
Better link (Score:5, Informative)
I might check those out (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I might check those out (Score:2, Interesting)
What!?!
I hope that was a joke...
Everything you do on the computer requires "math" to be done.
Re:I might check those out (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I might check those out (Score:5, Funny)
A: A warning label.
Re:I might check those out (Score:5, Funny)
Q: How do you pronounce IEEE as in the IEEE floating point standard whilest fyling on a plane designed on a pentium?
A: Aiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
And so on and so forth.
Re:I might check those out (Score:2, Funny)
Get it right.
"I am Pentium of Borg. Division is futile. You will be approximated."
Sempron 2800 does kick ass (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Sempron 2800 does kick ass (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Sempron 2800 does kick ass (Score:5, Funny)
Even a bigger question, why a Compaq?
Re:Sempron 2800 does kick ass (Score:2)
Re:Sempron 2800 does kick ass (Score:4, Interesting)
a budy of mine bought a dell, even though i and others told him not to. his power supply went out during warranty, got a new one. his power supply went out again, but this time he wasn't under the warranty any more. he couldn't drop a normal power supply in, because the locations were different and he would have to cut some metal. so he purchased a new case. the motherboard also had to be replaced as his old motherboard wasn't atx. he decided to buy a new sound card since his sound blaster live was proprietary. he also had to buy new ram, but that is because his old motherboard was rdram, not really a big issue, just sold the rdram to a friend.
anyways, when people buy these boxes that big companies like compaq, dell, hp, etc put together, they have little control of the components. thus when something dies they often have to buy an entirely new pc, and not just an individual component.
that's just my point of view, i have always built my own boxes, of course your experience may vary. i have seen some very good mass production boxes, but that was years ago when gateway made sweet pentium mmx/pentium II stuff.
Re:Sempron 2800 does kick ass (Score:2)
Re:Sempron 2800 does kick ass (Score:2)
Re:Sempron 2800 does kick ass (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Sempron 2800 does kick ass (Score:2)
The fact is it would be cheaper for them to use off the shelf Tiawanese motherboards, but they don't want to
No. They do it to save money. Period. (Score:2)
But almost none of the desktop systems have any custom-made parts besides the power supply/case/motherboard. Everything else is standard, or OEM'd with Dell/whatever stickers on them.
Re:No. They do it to save money. Period. (Score:2)
" Because HP/Compaq, Gateway and Dell motherboards AND cases are ALL MADE IN TAIWAN.
Yes, but these parts are all custom made for each of the individual companies you have mentioned. And guess what, it costs money to custom design a board and set up a custom manufacturing run to assemble it
There is no cost/price related reason that you would want to make a motherboard that has its mount holes in non standard places. Even if you wanted to screw down your costs by buying job-lots of Tiawanese motherboards
Re:No. They do it to save money. Period. (Score:2)
Another thing you should do if you have the opportunity to look inside lots of name brand PCs is to take note of all the "wire mods" they have on their PCBs. You won't see many stock Asus motherboards out there wit
Re:Sempron 2800 does kick ass (Score:2)
Re:Sempron 2800 does kick ass (Score:2)
Same exact thing happend to my sister-in-law's dell. Her power supply went out right after the warrenty expired. I bought a standard powersupply for
DeVry (Score:2)
Probably DeVry
Would be great for something like MythTv, etc (Score:1)
Athalon 64's (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Athalon 64's (Score:1)
Yes.
One of my buddies has an Athlon 64 3000+, it runs 32bit code at roughly the same speed as my Athlon XP 2800+. Unless it's just keeping an eye cast toward the future so that they can crank up the speed, I don't get why it's important to move to the new core either.
LK
Re:Athalon 64's (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Athalon 64's (Score:2)
Re:Athalon 64's (Score:2)
Re:Athalon 64's (Score:2)
Not really. If you switch an Athlon64 into 32bit native mode, it still retains the bigger registers, the integrated memory controller, reworked ALU/FPUs... the list goes on. Architecturally, they are very, very different animals.
Re:Athalon 64's (Score:2)
Re:Athalon 64's (Score:5, Informative)
1. SSE2.
2. On-board memory controller.
3. Higher IPC vs the Athlon.
4. Hyper-transport.
Remember, the Opteron is the next-gen core so it is a lot better anyway. Removing the 64-bit part is only one part, the rest is still excellent.
Of course, not as if Windows even has a 64-bit OS yet which is what matters for a lot of people (not me tho).
Re:Athalon 64's (Score:3, Informative)
2. That's the big DING DING DING, the lower memory latency plumbed into what is largely the same architecture makes a hugeass difference.
3. That's due to the on die memory controller more than anything.
Re:Athalon 64's (Score:2)
Of course, not as if Windows even has a 64-bit OS yet which is what matters for a lot of people (not me tho).
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/evaluat ion/upgrade.mspx
It's probably shit and I wouldn't run it (well, as a general rule I don't run windows at all), but it's available. It's only available as trial version, but it's for a year, and if you're running windows the chances are favorable you're gonna wipe your system and reinstall in about a year anyway. :/
(Actually, it wouldn't suprise m
Re:Athalon 64's (Score:2)
Re:Athalon 64's (Score:1)
Wouldnt an athlon 64 without 64 bit capability be an athlon XP with a new core and new socket?
Yeah, just like how a pentium 4 is like a pentium 2 with a new core and new socket... I'm not sure I get your point, the core is completely different, what more do you want?
Re:Athalon 64's (Score:2)
Re:Athalon 64's (Score:2)
Re:Athalon 64's (Score:2)
Google just returned over 22,000 hits for "Athalon". Spelling seems to be a lost art, nowadays. 13,000 for "Interger". That one particularly bothers me for some reason.
Re:Athalon 64's (Score:2)
Specifically, the integrated memory controller on the A64/Sempron 3100+ greatly improves throughput and latency.
I'm running an Athlon 64 3000+ at home, and the performance is significantly greater than a 3000+ Athlon XP. I'm counting the days until MS fixes DirectX on WinXP/64 so I can fully use all the capabilities of my CPU.
Athlon to change? (Score:1)
Re:Athlon to change? (Score:5, Informative)
Sempron = new name for the 32 bit AthlonXP.
Athlon = `new' name for the 64 bit Athlon64.
Basically, Sempron isn't very different from the AthlonXP that we're used to (and in many cases. they're identical.) And now they'll reserve the Athlon name for the 64 bit versions. Unless I've misunderstood something ...
Re:Athlon to change? (Score:2, Informative)
The sempron (does it fill your hdd with pr0n?) is (according to my wholesaler)the replacement for the durons.
A sempron 2400+ runs at the same clock rate as an Athlon 2000+ (1667) but can be changed to 2000 to be the same as Athlon 2400+ On chip cache is the same (256) and they seem to run almost the same speed. They were even the same price when they came out for me about a month ago.
Re:Athlon to change? (Score:4, Informative)
It's simply Sempron = Budget, Athlon = Performance, Athlon FX = Flagship performance and price. Currently, no semprons have 64-bit, but I expect once 64bit starts taking off they'll have to put it back in.
Re:Athlon to change? (Score:3, Informative)
The Athlon XPs with the Barton core have 512k L2, while the Semprons have 256k.
Re:Athlon to change? (Score:3, Insightful)
The Sempron budget CPU's are derived from both Athlon XP and Athlon64 cores. However, the Sempron 2800+ is different from an Athlon XP2800+ and you would anticpate the performance would be slower due to reduced cache and other features of the Sempron.
Likewise, the "Athlon" name on it's own is an all-encompassing name for CPU's that covers several cores, much like the "Pentium" name covering the PII, PIII and P4 CPUs. The Athlon name curre
Re:Athlon to change? (Score:1)
Celeron D voltage discrepency? (Score:1)
Re:Celeron D voltage discrepency? (Score:2, Informative)
Recent AMD price hike (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Recent AMD price hike (Score:1)
So... (Score:1, Redundant)
Re:So... (Score:3, Insightful)
This doesn't mean that AMD CPUs are necessarily better than Intels, I'm no rabid fanboy here. But what it does mean is that you must shop around! Look at the performance, compare it to other CPUs of the same price, before you put down your hard earned cash.
"Budget"? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd prefer to spend the extra $20 or so and get the better chip.
LK
Re:"Budget"? (Score:2)
Re:"Budget"? (Score:2)
I've heard that the AOpen AK86-L is a good, cheap VIA K8T800-based board, if that's your cup of tea. They also make a nForce3 150-based board, the AK89-L, and a 250-based board, the n250a-FR.
Totally OT, but this [aopen.com] is what I want, but the P/N is a Japan Only P/N
Better chip? (Score:2)
Semprons are only "better" for AMD's bottom line. [hardcoreware.net]
Re:Better chip? (Score:2)
most of the benchmarks were within a percentage point in terms of performance.
though lately i've been dreaming of a quieter machine - the mobile is looking pretty good for that.
Re:Better chip? (Score:2)
"though lately i've been dreaming of a quieter machine - the mobile is looking pretty good for that.
Did you know that you can turn a normal "Desktop" Athlon into a Mobile Athlon simply by connecting up some of the L5 bridges?
Once you have done so you can download a utility that lets you change the CPU multiplier on the fly.
How to create Mobile Athlon (desktop to mobile change) [cpuheat.wz.cz]
Re:"Budget"? (Score:2)
Perhaps you do, but I know plenty of people who prefer the cheapest solution possible. peeling away another 20 Euro in base costs would make a small, but notable difference, especially around here where the VAT levels are downright atrocious. ( 19% ) So if I'm able to get 20 euros of with the proc, 20 with the video card, another 20 on memory, another 20 on a cheap drive and another 20 on a HD, all of it using "last release cycle" products, then I still get a very nice PC at about 100 euros cheaper.
Re:"Budget"? (Score:3, Interesting)
The "better chip" adds extra heat/noise that some people can do without, especially if other components are doing the heavy lifting. My Sempron 3100 / 6800 GT Shuttle box runs Doom 3 at 70+ FPS 1024xHigh with 4x AA.
Re:"Budget"? (Score:2)
I'll happily make my Linux box a 64-bit system. My Sempron 3100+ box, however, is there mainly for gaming under Windows. I save $20, reduce the noise and heat problems, but still get the advantages of the higher IPC and HyperTransport, and I don't pay for functionality which I won't need.
And the best part? If I'm wrong, and games need 64-bit capability in the future, I just grab a then-discounted Socket 754 Athlon64 chip, pop it in, and upgrade to 64-bi
The Sempron 2800+ (Score:1)
Re:The Sempron 2800+ (Score:2)
Athlons have always been known to dissipate lots of heat, especially the T-bird series. I have large copper heatsinks [thermaltake.com] on both of them and during this summer temperatures of 60 degrees celcius weren't uncommon. Dont need a heater during the winter though (seriously).
Re:The Sempron 2800+ (Score:1)
Re:The Sempron 2800+ (Score:2)
Depending on what "push this CPU to its limits" means to you you might consider overclocking.
Re:The Sempron 2800+ (Score:5, Informative)
I was impressed by the performance. But I was blown away by the temperatures. After pushing it though 3DMark 2001 and Aquamark (12301 and 29381 respectively - highest score on any of our machines) it was running at 43 celsius. Ambient at the time was about 30 celsius. And this was in a system so quiet that I couldn't hear a damn thing, even with my ear right near the box (Antec).
The new core is *much* better than the Athlon XP core.
I would still choose the Celeron D (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I would still choose the Celeron D (Score:3, Informative)
Having said that, It is running in 32 bit mode, rather than 64.
On the other hand, IMHO, the situation is gettin
Less the chipset, more the motherboard. (Score:3, Insightful)
Already slashdotted? (Score:2, Informative)
http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:3rQXlWPbCtwJ: www.hexus.net/content/news/news_archive_month.php% 3FdXJsX2FyY2hpdmVfbW9udGg9YXJjNi0yMDA0LnR4dA%3D%3D +AMD+Sempron+2800%2B+,+Sempron+3100%2B+and+Intel+C eleron+D+335+site:hexus.net&hl=en [64.233.183.104]
http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:onXCbx6BBR4J: www.hexus.net/content/news/news_archive_month.php% 3FdXJsX2FyY2hpdmVfbW9udGg9YXJjNy0yMDA0Ln [64.233.183.104]
In other words.. (Score:5, Funny)
In other words: HEY SLASHDOT, TWO NEW BUDGET ATHLONS ARE OUT...oh..and that other.. Intel thing..
Seriously though, did anyone else laugh immediately at the bias in this community? I thought it was pretty humorous...
I'll go back to my troll hole now..
Re:In other words.. (Score:2, Insightful)
This could be a product of one of two situations:
AMD could actually be superior, and the /. community understands this and sees no point tiptoing around it.
Slashdot has become populated by people who just personally like AMD.
If the first situation is the case then why should slashdot give the Celeron equal attention? If the second is the case then even if Celerons were superior why shouldn't a community be able to talk about things it likes.
Complaints about bias on a community newssit
Re:In other words.. (Score:2)
Yeah, people don't get that for some reason. They start shouting "bias! bias!" when nobody claimed to be unbiased. It's a leftover from the olden days when journalists were taught that they should report all pertinent facts and inject no opinion, and believed themselves to therefore be unbiased. Subsequently came the assumption that the media was for that reason supposed to always be unbiased. Bunch of nonsense, if you ask me. Everyone has an axe to
Re:In other words.. (Score:3, Informative)
Just keep in mind... (Score:4, Insightful)
To get decent performance out of any P4-based system, however, it is imperative that you get a motherboard that supports dual-chanel memory, such as one based on Intel's 865 chipset. Going on the cheap and 'saving' $10-15 to get a lower-end chipset is going to seriously hurt the performance of these CPUs.
With the AMDs, it's not so important; the SocketA chips only see about a 5% performance boost from dual-channel and the s754 Sempron, with it's onboard memory controller, can't use it at all
.
price vs power (Score:2, Insightful)
Watching a Sempron go from 1.75GHz at £50 to 2.0GHz at £75 implies a much greater value on the cheaper one. £25 is a bit of a difference. Especially if I clustered computers and could get three 1.75GHz chips for the price of two 2GHz ones.
SPEC2004 should keep track of prices on chips and display the value of each one, that would keep my attention for chip value.
Athlon XP > Socket A Sempron (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Athlon XP Socket A Sempron (Score:2, Interesting)
I get most of my components from ebuyer [ebuyer.com] and I originally wanted a fairly inexpensive Athlon XP2500+ cpu. However, as I gradually put the separate items into the cart, the damn XP2500 went out of stock, and the higher rated chips cost more than I wanted to spend.
So reluctantly, I added a 2500 sempron instead, while worrying about the reduced onboard cache (256 in
3.5GHz Celeron D - damn ... (Score:4, Interesting)
3.5GHz CPU for $100.
Damn.
Re:3.5GHz Celeron D - damn ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Damn.
Yeah, it may be 3.5Ghz, but it's still just a Celeron.
erstwhile? (Score:3, Funny)
"Rather, it seems that its numbering scheme has always tried to approximate the MHz rating from its erstwhile competitor's CPUs."
Looks like the author learned a new word, how exciting for him. Although I think "competitor's erstwhile CPUs" would have made more sense.
erstwhile
adj : belonging to some prior time; "erstwhile friend"; "our
former glory"; "the once capital of the state"; "her
quondam lover" [syn: erstwhile(a), former(a), once(a),
onetime(a), quondam(a), sometime(a)]
adv : at a previous time; "once he loved her"; "her erstwhile
writing" [syn: once, formerly, at one time, erst]
What they missed... (Score:5, Informative)
Is the Athlon XP-M 2500/2600. Unlocked multipliers, hand-picked cores, and cheap to boot. You're pretty much guaranteed that one will hit 2.3 GHz, and with good air cooling, 2.5 GHz is even possible.
What's better, because of the unlocked multiplier, you can throw fast memory on the board, and overclock the memory/FSB as far as the motherboard will go, *then* turn the clock speed up. I'll bet that one of those would have beaten the entire lot that they tested.
steve
I'm tired of these pussy names for CPUs (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I'm tired of these pussy names for CPUs (Score:2)
Only intel? (Score:3, Insightful)
MMIX (Score:2)
For those who don't know what I mean, MMIX [stanford.edu] is a 64-bit RISC CPU designed by Donald Knuth [stanford.edu]:
Re:wait... (Score:1)