"Athlon xp 2600+ or sempron 3000

What is better?

[Coconut Monkey]

The Athlon XP would be faster, but how much does each cost?

The Sempron has a 2Ghz clockspeed and 256Kb of L2 cache.

The 2600+ Thoroughbred has a clockspeed of 2.083Ghz and 256Kb of L2 cache and the 2600+ Bartoon has a clockspeed of 1.917Ghz and 512Kb of L2 cache.

[1o0oBhP]

I would go for the sempron - grab a 3100. Ive had better results from semps than low spec XPs but looking at what Coconut Monkey says it would come down to price/motherboard/over clocking ect...

NOTE: The XP uses socket A, which is being phased out, the sempron uses socket 754 which is the mainstream budget AMD socket (their high end is 939), so its not going anywhere yet! plus if you go for 754 and a sempron you could upgrade to a 754 athlon 64 later.

I have it on good authority that semps run cooler and are easier to overclock. Its up to you though!

Sempron 2600 - Frequency: 1.833 Ghz
L2 Cache:
256KB (exclusive)
Total Effective Cache: 384KB
L1 Cache (Instruction + Data): 128KB (64KB + 64KB -83.00
AMD Athlon XP 2600+ 1.91GHz 333FSB 512KB Processor Retail -115.00
Sempron 3100 - 123.00

[Coconut Monkey]

NOTE: The XP uses socket A, which is being phased out, the sempron uses socket 754 which is the mainstream budget AMD socket (their high end is 939)

Incorrect. The first Semprons came out in socket A format, and were based on the old AthlonXP thoroughbred cores. The 3100+ Sempron is the socket 754 model and is based on the Athlon 64 core, minus 64-bit support.

[jaredhite1]

The Sempron has a 2Ghz clockspeed and 256Kb of L2 cache.

The 2600+ Thoroughbred has a clockspeed of 2.083Ghz and 256Kb of L2 cache and the 2600+ Bartoon has a clockspeed of 1.917Ghz and 512Kb of L2 cache.

Not quite true...The other Socket A semprons I've looked at do have 256KB of L2 cache, but the Sempron 3000+ has a barton Core, and has 512KB of L2 Cache. I think that puts it a hair faster than the 2600+ with either the Barton or the Tbred. Depending on what price you can get them at, the difference may not be worth the extra $$$ though. I had some store credit at Fry's so was forced into getting the 3000+ because it was the best socket A chip they had.

[Coconut Monkey]

Not quite true...The other Socket A semprons I've looked at do have 256KB of L2 cache, but the Sempron 3000+ has a barton Core, and has 512KB of L2 Cache. I think that puts it a hair faster than the 2600+ with either the Barton or the Tbred. Depending on what price you can get them at, the difference may not be worth the extra $$$ though. I had some store credit at Fry's so was forced into getting the 3000+ because it was the best socket A chip they had.

Ahhh, you got me there.

There's too many core revisions for my liking. :confused:

[1o0oBhP]

Incorrect. The first Semprons came out in socket A format, and were based on the old AthlonXP thoroughbred cores. The 3100+ Sempron is the socket 754 model and is based on the Athlon 64 core, minus 64-bit support.

My brother (an MSCE technitian) still insits Socket A is on the way out so its irrelivant really. the new semp is the one to as like you said it is on the Socket 754 NOT the Socket A which the XP is on. btw I DID mean the newer semps on skt 754 so i was right surely?

[Coconut Monkey]

My brother (an MSCE technitian) still insits Socket A is on the way out so its irrelivant really. the new semp is the one to as like you said it is on the Socket 754 NOT the Socket A which the XP is on. btw I DID mean the newer semps on skt 754 so i was right surely?

Socket A is still a very tempting ultra-budget platform. :cheesy:

[ian_tec234]

yes in deed depending on what price you can have it and what you will be using it for. i think if you can get 2500+ bartons cpres they are still a good bang for the buck

[1o0oBhP]

IMHO the best bang/buck CPUs at the moment (in no particular order) are ath 64 3000, ath 64 3400, semp 3100. They scored highly in a recent CPU super test against all the p4s ect... you can pick up the semp 3100 for £65 from some sites so its not really expensive and the 64s can be had for under £100....

[ian_tec234]

well it really goes down to how much you are willing to spend:)

[ez_]

well it really goes down to how much you are willing to spend:)

LOL..check out the price on here! Surely they must be going mad!!!?
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=79190

[1o0oBhP]

i thought it would have been obvious by now that the superior processor is the sempron. Now for the price. A sempron with a basic motherboard can be done for £100 if you go to the right places: for a serious overclocking board this would increase to about £120-£130. As for the XP prices are slightly lower but only by £10-£20 which anyone can earn in a day - so go on treat yourself!

[alc6379]

My brother (an MSCE technitian) still insits Socket A is on the way out so its irrelivant really. the new semp is the one to as like you said it is on the Socket 754 NOT the Socket A which the XP is on. btw I DID mean the newer semps on skt 754 so i was right surely?

No offense, but MCSE means that you're competant with Microsoft software, not neccesarily hardware. Not inferring that your brother's this way, but I've seen MCSE's who'd just assume sit on the floor, and cry while rocking back and forth than install a new hard drive in a system.

I agree with Coconut Monkey: Socket A can still be a very attractive platform. But, I would disagree for a "budget" platform-- If I were to build a brand-new system, I still might consider going for an Athlon XP Socket A system, as the price point is still there, and the performance isn't stinky, or anything.

Sure, your Athlon64 3200+ with a 6800 Ultra will spank my Barton 2500XP with an FX5700LE card frame-for-frame in any game, but when we're talking "normal" usage, you may as well keep running an 800mhz PIII or Athlon.

Socket A and even Socket 370 boards are still being manufactured, and the market is still healthy for them, in my opinion. Even though the new system I'll build in the next year or so will likely be 64-bit, I wouldn't feel like I short-changed myself if I went with an Athlon XP 3200 instead.

[1o0oBhP]

I realised its not MSCE! :( he has a hardware certification though! However i still feel that socket A would be a bad idea - mainly as most customisation options and indeed most people i know have gone for socket 754 and 939 over socket A. Personally I play a Lot of Hardware intensive games so given the choice I would still say a sempron. Interestingly -> I have seen a report of a DFI lanparty motherboard (754) with a sempron 3100 and a mid-level gfx card giving amazing framerates (50+) in Doom III (i think med settings) so thats another reason why i would advise the sempron at the moment! I am using this board myself for a new ath64 3400 (newcastle core - 2.4GHz) based system which is going to be an improvement over my old pII 350MHz.....

[alc6379]

I realised its not MSCE! :( he has a hardware certification though! However i still feel that socket A would be a bad idea - mainly as most customisation options and indeed most people i know have gone for socket 754 and 939 over socket A. Personally I play a Lot of Hardware intensive games so given the choice I would still say a sempron. Interestingly -> I have seen a report of a DFI lanparty motherboard (754) with a sempron 3100 and a mid-level gfx card giving amazing framerates (50+) in Doom III (i think med settings) so thats another reason why i would advise the sempron at the moment! I am using this board myself for a new ath64 3400 (newcastle core - 2.4GHz) based system which is going to be an improvement over my old pII 350MHz.....

That's really interesting stuff that you've mentioned there. I would disagree with you, though-- I don't think that Socket A (Athlon XP, specifically) can or should be discounted just yet from a customization standpoint-- parts are plentiful, and the price is right for making a still respectable system, in my opinion. Sure, it won't be last-week's tech, but those machines will still perform well enough, unless you absolutely crave imperceptably high framerates, and you HAVE to run your games at 1600x1200.

[Coconut Monkey]

And hey, 754 isn't very future-proof either. ;)

Video cards make the biggest difference in gaming framerates, but then some people don't really care about gaming and only want an office PC. Either way, a socket A system is still a viable option for those on a budget.

[Shadowgrip]

If all your going to be doing is web browsing and some minor gaming, then yes a socket A is all you need, and it's still a decent platform. I just recently build a 2500 socket A system for a friend of mine who plays the original counterstrike and checks his e-mail and that's it. But his computer can't even come close to my 64 3400+ on UT2K3 and barely plays Command and Conquer Generals. So it really is how much performance you need. Personally I feel that the 3200 or the 3400 64 bit proc's from AMD are the best bang for the buck, I got mine up to 2.69 GHz the first day i had it installed, and it's stable as a rock.