Hacp said:
If your into ocing, the Sempron3100+ with SSE3 instructions is pretty good. Can get to 2.7 on air with DFI.
First, the SSE3 instructions make very little difference, showing almost no performance gain in benchmarks showing the Winchester vs. Venice cores.
Also, if the guy is asking for a core-type suggestion, do you really think overclocking is a good thing to recommend?
Lastly, there have been some Sempron 3100+'s taht have gotten to 2.7 GHz on air with DFI boards. However, not all 3100+'s are capable of that, most will never even sniff 2.5 GHz, much less 2.7. Also, who cares how high the CPU can hit on a DFI board? if he doesn't have a DFI board, then that means nothing. I doubt he's going to go out and purchase a new motherboard simply so he can overclock a sucky Sempron.
Hacp said:
And wow, no 64 bit support. Its 2005. Microsoft will release longhorn 2007.
People aren't buying the AMD 64 CPU's for the 64-bit capabilities, they're buying them for their superior architecture in the 32-bit realm. As you can see
here the Sempron 3100+ is utterly destroyed by AMD's 64-bit line, even getting beaten by the 64 2800+, the lowest of AMD's line.
In conclusion, if not obvious, I would HIGHLY discourage against getting a Sempron, and would recommend a 3200+ or 3400+ Newcastle core. The 3400+ Newcastle is about $100 more than a 3100+ Sempron, but beats it by 33 frames per second. Unless you're into extreme overclocking, DO NOT go with the Sempron.