sempron vs athlon

[Veatch]

Hi, I'm building a computer for a friend and need some input regarding the processor. He's planning to use the computer mainly for word processing and web browsing, with some low-key gaming. I had been planning on getting a AMD Sempron 64 2800+, but I talked to him today and he said that he'd like to get "as far ahead of the curve as possible." I think that means he just wants this computer to work well for awhile. So now I'm thinking of getting him an Athlon, but since he probably won't be doing anything too processor-intensive I'm not sure that the extra cost would be justified. Any thoughts would be great.

 

[chocobocorey]

no semprons come on 939 yet, so wont be upgradeable.

 

[ShortyNumber45]

You're talking about socket 754 or socket A? If you mean socket 754 a Sempron will just do fine but If you mean socket A you should consider an Athlon XP cores w/ T-Bred B or Barton will be good.

 

[ms2005]

The newest Sempron 90 nm cores such as the Palermo 3400 I have are very good. They have 64 bit and run very cool so lots of OC headroom.
Performance is better than Athlon 64 of same $. S754 is not upgradable without a MB swa, but not that many do. Mine (Kids) is paired with an NV 6600 GT video card and general performance is excellent.

If gaming was in the picture, my 64 3800 S939 and NV 7800 GT is much better, but close to twice the price.

 

[Anoobis]

It depends, is this a person who sounds like they're an upgrader, or will they probably buy a new system altogether farther down the curve.

If you think they would just upgrade in the future then (and I'm sure somebody will disagree) you could go the Intel route and go with a Cely D. You'll should be able to get a board that supports PCI-E as well as DDR2, which AMD plans on switching to this year, giving the board a little more life. Later on if they feel like upgrading, you can toss in a faster vid card, processor or more RAM.

If you think they plan to just buy all over again once past the "Curve" then you're probably ok with the Sempron 754 like Shorty said.

 

[Sargeras]

Did u say that he wants to upgruade his comp later or to be good 4 a while.
i really wouldnt take the sempron for the work bcs it only has 256 kb l2 so the athlon is better for some things say adobe.

 

[Veatch]

I doubt he'll upgrade this computer, he wants it to be good for awhile.

 

[dvdpiddy]

well i would say to go for the sempron too if cost is your concern but if your freind needs performance then athlon would be better. or can your freind wait for socket m2? it comes out in a few months and it will be much more future proof. semprons will debut with it at a speed of 1.6 ghz that reminds me buy some ram right now in order to save a few bucks for when the price goes crazy.

 

[judey]

go for the sempron, it's kicks butt for cheap. by the sound of it, when it comes time that your friend wants a dual core chip, he'll probably want a socket M2 boards will be out and need to upgrade the motherboard anyway or you'll be able to get a 939board and chip for cheap.

you can get a sempron 3100+ w/o 64bit for $84 and with 64bit for $99. Only go for 64bit if you plan on installing windows vista (if it ever gets released).

Check this article to see what a sempron can really do if you let it out of its cage:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/sempron-3100e_5.html