AMD Sempron processors

[mega_monty 10]

Im currently thinking of building a PC, as I dont require a top end machine and not flush with cash, just wondered if any others have built systems using AMD's Sempron processors or have any comments about them

[Martin_s 10]

Been looking at those myself... I don't have much in the way of technical information to be honest but from what I can see they are actually not as good a processor as an Athlon barton chip as the latter has 512Kb cache as opposed to the 256 that the sempron carries..

 

Essentially it's the Duron of the next AMD chip generation...

 

 

Note: this is me doing a like for like comparison on the frequency listed for each eg: 2500+ XP barton vs' a sempron 2500+

[Speedy_Jim 10]

I've not read much about 'em, but aren't they a standard Athlon64 with the 64 bit stuff disabled? Worth finding out, cos if that's the case they should actually be better than the old 32 bit Athlon XPs, even with less cache. The Athlon64 is a more efficient chip - has better memory bandwidth and stuff, so less cache doesn't necessarily make it slower.

 

And, as you probably know, the 64 bit stuff on current chips is entirely unused. Which might well make the sempron a pretty good buy

[HotPhil 10]

Isn't the speed of cache as well as size of cache a BIG factor as well? I don't know these chips specifically, but it might be worth looking into if you're thinking of buying one - smaller cache at higher speed is likely to be better than larger cache at slower speed(?)

[Speedy_Jim 10]

sempron and athlon xp cache are both the same clock speed as the CPU core, but there's more memory bandwidth between the Sempron cache and core, and the system ram and Sempron cache than the equivalents on the Athlon XP. However, I've not seen any comparative benchmarks so it's worth doing some digging. To be honest, I'd be fairly suprised if the XP is as fast as the Sempron but like I say, don't take my word for it