AMD Athlon Xp 1800 vs Sempron 3000

[kenmo]

Would I notice much performance gain by upgrading my homebuilt AMD Athlon XP 1800 to a Sempron 3000... I would be swapping out the CPU, mobo and ram myself...

This would also result in my server currently a Duron 750 inheriting the AMD XP 1800 cpu & mobo... SO I would see a big performance hit on my server...

The XP 1800 is used exclusively for video editing.... I also have a Athlon 2500 used for graphics, photos and 3D work...

Comments are most welcomed...

Cheers

Kenmo

[rallynavvie]

The faster clock alone will make it faster when using a software encoder. Wouldn't the money be better spent on different hardware than a Sempron system though?

[Dv8ted2]

Would I notice much performance gain by upgrading my homebuilt AMD Athlon XP 1800 to a Sempron 3000... I would be swapping out the CPU, mobo and ram myself...

This would also result in my server currently a Duron 750 inheriting the AMD XP 1800 cpu & mobo... SO I would see a big performance hit on my server...

The XP 1800 is used exclusively for video editing.... I also have a Athlon 2500 used for graphics, photos and 3D work...

Comments are most welcomed...

Cheers

Kenmo

You would in effect be getting slightly better performance from the increased clockspeed, but the athlon xp, duron, and sempron is basically the same cpu. It is the low-end value processor.

The duron was discontinued. The athlon xp was discontinued, and in their place, the sempron emerged.

[ofbarea]

Try Tom´s Hardware CPU Charts.

[kenmo]

Thanks muchly

[Faustus]

I just went from a Sempron 2800+ to a XP 2800+ off of ebay because of the fact that the Sempron is fast but really sucks at both games and any heavy multi tasking.

I advise anyone who uses their machine a lot to stay away from budget processors. They are good for people who surf the web and check their email and maybe run office or print. Fine for doing digital pictures. Beyond that you need a real CPU.

Now if I can just figure out which of the 3 new componets causes my system to suddenly shut down.

[ROF]

Which socket board are you looking to work with your new CPU? You will get more mileage by going with a 939 board over the 754 socket.

[kenmo]

I can't find a socket 939 Sempron locally... Does AMD offer such a beast....???

I really want a AMD X2 3800 or 4200 but they are currently too expensive...

[MJA]

no.not yet
Just wait few months for socket M

[kenmo]

Socket M...????

[MJA]

thats AMD new socket

[RLT69]

Socket M or AM2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socket_M

AMD's next socket.

If you are on a budget, then don't wait. Socket AM2 will not be cheaper than what is available right now. That's assuming you can get a motherboard before the end of the year!

If you are replacing your motherboard and like AMD processors, then get a motherboard that supports Socket 939. I don't believe AMD makes a sempron for Socket 939 but then if you are doing video encoding, you wouldn't want one.

[SingSing]

I run a few benchmarks on the Tom's hardware tool posted here. In general, the Sempron is much slower than Pentium 4. I did a similar excerise before, but the outcome was a 2.93 GHz Celeron D, because I found the newer Celeron with more cache can performed pretty well against P4.

The socket 775 MOBO and 512MB DDR400 RAM with a 2.93GHz Celeron D, cost about $150.00. It also can takes advanatge of Celeron and Pentium always share the same socket.

[RLT69]

The socket 775 MOBO and 512MB DDR400 RAM with a 2.93GHz Celeron D, cost about $150.00. It also can takes advanatge of Celeron and Pentium always share the same socket.

Are you kidding me! $150!! For under $70 you can get a really nice Socket 939 motherboard.

Don't waste your time with Celeron processor, it's a commodity processor like the Sempron. For $158 you can get an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ processor - which would be better than any Celeron or Pentium 4 processor. The nice thing about the Socket 939 MB is you can plugin a Dual Core prcessor. So later when you have the cash you can upgrade to even more powerful processor.

[RLT69]

The socket 775 MOBO and 512MB DDR400 RAM with a 2.93GHz Celeron D, cost about $150.00. It also can takes advanatge of Celeron and Pentium always share the same socket.

Sorry about that . Dind't read the ANDs

Yeah that's a good deal. Well unless we know what your budget is it's hard to spec out a system.

However if you are building a new system to do video encoding - avoid Celeron and Sempron processors. Go with a Pentium 4 with HT or Athlon 64 processors. Typically the Athlon 64 processors will be cheaper - especially when considering the motherboard - some of the Intel boards you just too damn expensive. But unless you end up with an Extreme Edition Pentium processor you won't have a 64 bit processor. Athlon 64s or 64 bit. If you plan on using Vista or some 64 bit OS, you might want to go with a 64 bit processor.

[kenmo]

I'm using this computer for dvd authoring.... I'm not doing any mpeg encoding as I have a Hauppauge PVR250 that does hardware mpeg encoding....

[jagabo]

I'm using this computer for dvd authoring.... I'm not doing any mpeg encoding as I have a Hauppauge PVR250 that does hardware mpeg encoding....

Then there's no need to upgrade.

[kenmo]

The intent would be (as stated previously) my Duron 750 file/print server would then inherit the cpu and mobo from my upgraded pc....

I would really like to upgrade my photo editing/graphics/3D computer to a AMD X2 4200 (presently an Athlon 2500) but the cpu alone is close to $450.00 in Canada...

When I upgrade one of my 3 computers, the less powered computer will inherit the cpu & mobo (if it is more powerful then what it already has)...

I presently have three computers

AMD Xp 2500 1gb ram (photo editing, graphics, 3D modelling)

AMD 1800 640mb ram video/Dvd

AMD Duron 512mb ram - file/print server

Cheers

Ken

[SingSing]

The more is not necessary better. The trend now a day is Replacing desktop with laptop.

[RLT69]

The trend now a day is Replacing desktop with laptop.

A laptop will not outlast a desktop computer. Laptops also cost alot more than a desktop and don't have nearly the power.

Still waiting for a budget.

www.newegg.com :
ASUS A8N-VM Socket 939 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX - $64.99
CORSAIR ValueSelect 512MB (2 x 256MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 - $39.00
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Socket 939 Processor - $135

Total Price: $238.99 US + shipping

The advantage to this system is you can upgrade to the AMD X2 4200 processor. Not too mentions it's dual channel memory.

For a Socket 939-64 bit system that's pretty damn good.

[ROF]

@RLT69

For the money you're planning to spend on the A8N-VM I'd seriously consider the A8R-MVP. It's a much better board, isn't a microATX configuration, and will support alot more upgrades. You may also want to check some of the reviews for that board and heed the advices given. The BIOS on that board is horrible. I returned one last year and have a posted review there. Chip support is hit or miss, it's also hard to tell from the pics but if you have a longer x16 card you will have to shave the RAM clips in order to seat it properly. You will also want to avoid buying a larger heatsink because of the capacitors seating so close to it prevent proper installation not to mention some of the larger thermaltakes will actually touch the northbridge heatsink. I understand it's a microATX but the architecture layout is not conducive to proper building specs. I'd avoid this board also if overclocking is in your future.

For a few dollars more the A8R-MVP offers more PCI Slots, 2 x16 slots for crossfire support, 4 - 3G SATAs, Gigabit LAN, a much more user friendly BIOS, plus more. Remember the backbone of your computing experience is your motherboard, the speed of your computing is processor, and the multi-tasking component is both of those and your RAM. Cutting corners on any of those to save a few bucks reduces the capability of your system.

[wayne421]

How about this setup from www.newegg.com?

ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 Socket 939 - $67
-this board has both AGP and PCI-Express slot, and has both Socket 939 & a Socket M2 slot - I have this board and it is VERY flexible, and supports all the current Athlon CPUs

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz Socket 939 Processor - $158
-good CPU, plenty of horsepower to start with, bests Celeron/Pentium4/Sempron in many benchmarks

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR400 memory modules - $67
-solid, cheap, and lifetime warranty

TOTAL=$292

I have the ASRock board and the Corsair memory modules myself, and they are dino-supreme for the money.

You could save $35 or so by going with just 512mb of RAM, but 1GB is the sweet spot IMHO.

Hope this helps!

W

[mikehaney]

I can't find a socket 939 Sempron locally... Does AMD offer such a beast....???

I really want a AMD X2 3800 or 4200 but they are currently too expensive...

IMO, save up and get the X2 if you are upgrading. I've had a lot of computers over the years, and the upgrade to the X2 made the most significant impact on useability I've ever seen. Nothing like being able to capture/encode/rip/etc. in the background while still using regular apps, with no loss of performance.

[RLT69]

@ ROF

Could be more specific as to the problems with the BIOS?

Over-clocking was not mentioned by the OP. I was giving an example of a low-cost Athlon64 system that would allow the OP to upgrade to an AMD X2 4200 processor.

Not knowing what the OP's demands were, I went with an Asus microATX board. I have had great sucess with Asus microATX boards and they are quite powerful. Based on what info the OP provied it did not appear he would need anything more than that. Spending $96 on a board when you don't plan on doing anymore than upgrading the processor is a waste of money. Again it depends on the needs.

[RLT69]

Would I notice much performance gain by upgrading my homebuilt AMD Athlon XP 1800 to a Sempron 3000... I would be swapping out the CPU, mobo and ram myself...

kenmo, I believe we are all giving you bad advice. I think a number of us jumped to some conclusions and came up with some unwarranted assumptions.

I went back and looked over your original post and did some research.

This is what I can tell you:

Assuming you are refering to the Socket A Sempron processor - AMD makes Socket 754 and I guess Socket 939 version - these are the specs for the Sempron 3000:

Socket A 2GHz - 512KB of L2 cache
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/17/amd_ships_sempron_3000/

Your current processor, AMD Athlon XP 1800, rates as follows:

Socket A 1.6 GHz - 256KB L2 Cache
http://techreport.com/reviews/2001q4/athlonxp/index.x?pg=4

Based opn the above specs, yes you would benefit from the Sempron 3000 processor. From what I gather the Socket A Sempron 3000 processor is based on the Barton core (similar to the XP 2500+). That's a powerful processor. Based on your current setup you would gain.

However, you mentioned REPLACING your motherboard. This, I think, confused us. If you are going to BUY a new motherboard then, I think, everyone would agree not to buy the Sempron 3000 and to go out and get an Athlon64 processor.

If you don't need to replace your board, then I would suggest getting the Socket A Sempron 3000 processor. If you need to replace your board in order to get the Socket A Sempron 3000, then I would suggest getting an Athlon 64 processor instead.

good luck.

[jagabo]

This older version of Toms's "Mother of all CPU Charts" shows both the XP 1800+ (SDR and DDR) and Sempron 3000+ processors:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/12/21/the_mother_of_all_cpu_charts_part_2/index.html

The latter is typically 30 to 40 percent faster at encoding. But you won't notice much difference in DVD authoring (with no encoding since you start with DVD ready MPEG2 files).

[SingSing]

I run a few benchmarks on the Tom's hardware tool posted here. In general, the Sempron is much slower than Pentium 4. I did a similar excerise before, but the outcome was a 2.93 GHz Celeron D, because I found the newer Celeron with more cache can performed pretty well against P4.

The socket 775 MOBO and 512MB DDR400 RAM with a 2.93GHz Celeron D, cost about $150.00. It also can takes advanatge of Celeron and Pentium always share the same socket.

That's what I mean.

[lacywest]

The socket 775 MOBO and 512MB DDR400 RAM with a 2.93GHz Celeron D, cost about $150.00. It also can takes advanatge of Celeron and Pentium always share the same socket.

Are you kidding me! $150!! For under $70 you can get a really nice Socket 939 motherboard.

Don't waste your time with Celeron processor, it's a commodity processor like the Sempron. For $158 you can get an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ processor - which would be better than any Celeron or Pentium 4 processor. The nice thing about the Socket 939 MB is you can plugin a Dual Core prcessor. So later when you have the cash you can upgrade to even more powerful processor.

Interesting ... I'm using a MSI K8N Neo2 MOBO ... socket 939 ... 3500 XP ...

CPU temp right now is 84 degrees and chassis temp is 87 degrees.

........ so I can pop in a Dual Core processor huh ? ...

Can you show some links on this info .. for me ... Thank You ...

[redwudz]

kenmo, I had a XP1800 and one of my computers is now running a Sempron 3000+ 754 socket CPU. From my experience, you will see a big difference in performance. For AMD CPUs, go for a Nvidia chipset motherboard. I run a Nforce3 250 chipset in my multimedia computer with the Sempron. The 754 socket Semprons are a good value at present as they are nearing the end of their lifecycle.

The 3000 goes for about $85US with the CPU cooler included, along with a 3 yr warranty. I use a Gigabyte GA-K8NS MB, about $60US. THe Nvidia chipset overclocks easily, if you want a little extra boost. The VIA chipsest MBs don't.

Another advantage with the 64bit AMDs, is they run much cooler than the XP1800s. The Sempron is running at 22C presently at idle.

If you just want an economy system, it's a good deal.

EDIT: If you are asking about a Sempron socket A CPU, I wouldn't bother. The 754 CPUs are a better deall for the price.

[SingSing]

Another advantage with the 64bit AMDs, is they run much cooler than the XP1800s. The Sempron is running at 22C presently at idle.

Room temperature is pegged at 25degree C, in U.S.
How's did a CPU runs cooler lower than room temp ? Is liquid Nitrogen Involved ?