AMD Sempron?

[bofhrevenge2]

Are the AMD Semprons a replacement for the AMD XP line or the Duron line? Basically are the the new AMD flagship processor.

Thanks.

"Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar." - Sigmund Freud

 

[Freestone]

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040728/index.html

 

[DragonQ0105]

AMD (32-Bit):

- Athlon/AthlonXP (Main Processor)
- Duron (Budget Processor)
- AthlonXP-M (Mobile Processor)

AMD (64-Bit):

- Athlon64 FX (Flagship Processor)
- Athlon64 (Main Processor)
- Athlon64-M (Mobile Processor)
- Athlon64X2 (Dual-Core Processor)
- Opetron (Server Processor)
- Sempron (Budget Processor)

Intel (32-Bit):

- Pentium 4 (Main Processor)
- Celeron (Budget Processor)
- Centrino (Moblie Processor)
- Xeon (Server Processor)

Intel (64-Bit):

- Pentium 4 Extreme Edition (Flagship Processor)
- Xeon(64-Bit) (Server Processor)
- Itanium 2 (Server Processor)

 

[DragonQ0105]

*Spelling Mistake*

"Opetron" -> "Opteron

 

[norty303]

Since when was the Sempron a 64bit processor?

I thought it was the processor designed to take the place of the AthlonXP chips featuring a cutdown cache. Idea was to try to convince people to move up to 64 bit whilst still retaining a budget line.

Am I wrong..... :-|

 

[bofhrevenge2]

I'd forgoten about Toms Hardware i'll take a look.

DragonQ0105 from what your saying then the Sempron is a 64 only processor?

Cheers.

"Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar." - Sigmund Freud

 

[DragonQ0105]

Sorry, it was meant to be in the 32-Bit Section...BUT, the Sempron (and Celeron for that matter) will be going 64-Bit soon:

http://www.overclockers.com/tips00763/

Correct List:

AMD (32-Bit):

- Athlon/AthlonXP (Main Processor)
- Duron (Old Budget Processor)
- AthlonXP-M (Mobile Processor)
- Sempron (Budget Processor)

AMD (64-Bit):

- Athlon64 FX (Flagship Processor)
- Athlon64 (Main Processor)
- Athlon64-M (Mobile Processor)
- Athlon64X2 (Dual-Core Processor)
- Opetron (Server Processor)
- Sempron64 (Budget Processor) **Coming Soon**

Intel (32-Bit):

- Pentium 4 (Main Processor)
- Celeron (Budget Processor)
- Centrino (Moblie Processor)
- Xeon (Server Processor)

Intel (64-Bit):

- Pentium 4 Extreme Edition (Flagship Processor)
- Xeon(64-Bit) (Server Processor)
- Itanium 2 (Server Processor)
- Celeron64 (Budget Processor) **Coming Soon**

 

[bofhrevenge2]

I see from Toms Hardware that the Sempron is the old Athlon XP now. They are a site better that the Celerons and Durons of old, i think i might go with them as it's only for kitting out a classroom with PC's.

Cheers.

"Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar." - Sigmund Freud

 

[DragonQ0105]

PCs for schools is a tricky situation....you see on one hand, you want cheap stuff - so a Sempron or Celeron makes sense. BUT, on the other hand, these Processors become "old" faster than their better counterparts (AthlonXP or Pentium 4), so may need upgrading sooner.

My school has a class with 17 PCs (Celerons) and another room with 40 PCs (Pentium 4s), but they're joining the smaller room with the room next door over the Summer and they're all going to be Pentium 4s.

If the PCs are only used for Word Processing etc., then Celerons/Semprons should be fine - but if you use them for stuff like programming in Visual Basic, Graphics editting and flash/shockwave (like I do in my 6th Form), then a P4/AthlonXP may be a better bet to stop the students moaning about crappy slow PCs....

 

[bofhrevenge2]

I can agree to a point but we stick to a four year cycle and these PC's will only ever see XP in their lifetime, i really can't see 3Ghz processors struggling to run Office and a few multimedia presentations. The 6th form have been treated to some monsters recently so they're ok. I think hardware has come a long way since the 500 Mhz celerons we just got rid of and the jump from 2k to XP doesn't seem as heavy going as the 98 to 2k jump.

I have an Athlon XP 2200 in my laptop and it romps along no probs even with some fairly recent games, so if these are the processors that have been rebranded Sempron according to Tom the i can't really see us having a problems.

"Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar." - Sigmund Freud

 

[DragonQ0105]

Kewl for you!

My school made a mistake IMO when they bought every teacher in the school (well one per classroom) a 3.2GHz P4 Machine just to run the software for the Interactive Whiteboards. 1.5GHz Celerons could have done that, no problem, for much less cost. Teachers never use the machines for anything else!

And then they say that they cannot upgrade the 6th Form PCs due to lack of money! (the 10 PCs in the 6th Form Centre are old Pentium 3 1GHz Machines) - then they go and say they're doubling the size of the secondary computer room!! Jebus! lol. It wouldn't be so bad if the room wasn't booked all the damn time.

I wish they'd actually take into consideration our opinions and needs as a 6th Form once and a while (how am I supposed to complete my Computing A-Level next year in my own time when only 3 PCs in the whole school have VB6 on them - and they're hardly ever free!? AND they have about 10 spare liscences but refuse to install them on any other machines!).


Wow that was one hell of a moan. I'm gonna go now, my arm hurts

 

[bofhrevenge2]

Hahahahaha well i went down the line of buying Tools for schools (second hand P600's) PC's for our whiteboard PC's as i knew they would get practically no use.



I know where you are coming from.

"Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar." - Sigmund Freud

 

[DragonQ0105]

Now you see THAT makes sense.

 

[paparazi]

bofhrevenge2
Just be aware of the lower clock speeds (and thus performance) of semprons compared to AthlonXP's

Their "rating" is a comparison to an equivelent Celeron where as the Athlon XP was a comparison to a full P4.

What this means in practise is: a Sempron 2.4 performs somewhere around the rating of an XP2.1+

Basically each Sempron performs a couple of ratings lower when compared to an Athlon.

This GAP in performance between the two ranges is even greater when compared to the FULL 333fsb BARTON core XP's with 512L2 Cache.

Martin

We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[bofhrevenge2]

paparazi, is the statement on Toms Hardware incorrect then?
Or is it the chipset that differs from the old Athlon XP, thus causing a difference in performance.

Left are the "old" ones, on the right we have the recycled cores. AthlonXP becomes Sempron without any changes,

At the bottom of this link.

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040728/sempron-01.html

"Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar." - Sigmund Freud

 

[bofhrevenge2]

Anyway i wouldn't worry i'm sure any PC over 2Ghz will be ok for this room.

"Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar." - Sigmund Freud

 

[njwcad]

Any current proccessor will run all mainstream applications untill the next great round of planned obsolesence in one to two years time. Longhorn will mean nealy every PC will need to be replaced with highend 64 bit processers (Yes there will be a 32bit version but I have a feeling it is not going to be around long).

Pete.

 

[bofhrevenge2]

Yep you are correct, although from what i've seen so far there will be three install options for Longhorn ranging from basic GUI up to the super Avalon 3D interface. Also MS will be supporting XP untill 2012 and this will also get the Avalon interface backported to it. I think MS are well aware of those concerns and are beginnig to support older hardware, mainly to keep Linux at bay.

"Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar." - Sigmund Freud

 

[Freestone]

paparazi, is the statement on Toms Hardware incorrect then?

The second paragraph of the link you gave confirms Martin's assertions (bolding mine):

As the focus of value systems is different from gaming or higher-end multimedia machines, this seemed to be an opportunity to adjust the speed rating according to the clock speed of the competitor, namely Intel Celeron D. The following table shows all available AthlonXP processors and the corresponding Sempron models.

And, as Martin says, examining the table does reveal the Sempron's numbers are inflated when compared to its equivalent AthlonXP processor.

The reference to left ("old") and right is simply showing the chips as being the same.

 

[paparazi]

Based on the (cheaper core design)Thoroughbred b, Semprons are indeed slightly reworked 333fsb XP's.

BUT! AMD took the oportunity to adjust each processors rated performance banding.

The first Athlon XP to hit 2.0GHz was the Athlon XP2.4+

But you have to go right up to the Sempron 2.8+ before you hit the same TRUE 2GHz clock.

Thats all I'm saying.

Given the choice, the same rated Athlon will always perform better especially when you buy Athlon XP's with Barton Core (because not only do they have the same 333fsb as a Sempron but twice the L2 Cache)

Martin


We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.