newbie - Which AMD processor?

[donduck]

Hi all,

I am planning to put together a computer. I had SOME experience previously, but that was done without doing any research at all.

Now I've come to the first critical question: "Which processor to use, and How fast?"

I have been using Intel for almost 15 yrs, and I haven't had any experience with AMD, so now I've decided it's time to give AMD a shot for a lower cost solution.

I'm looking for an AMD processor that is about as fast as Intel's 2.8-3.0 Ghz (performance-wise).

Just to let you all know, I know nothing about AMD processors, so please be considerate and throw me with some constructive suggestions. To be honest, I don't even know what are the differences between Athlon XP, Athlon 64, or Sempron.

Your help would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
Don

 

[KorKwin]

I would recommend this processor.

That one would give you equal performance if not more than a Pentium 4 3.0ghz.

 

[Nubius]

Semprons are the newer AMD64 version of the Durons which were last generation....Durons would be the equivelant to an Intels Celerons....the "Value" chip.

My suggestion for you would be to look for a 3000+ or 3200+ venice core AMD64....it's a Socket 939 so you'd want a socket 939 mobo....

the AMD64's are not only..you guessed it...64 bit...so you'll be ready for whenever Windows officially releases it's fully loaded 64bit OS, but beyond that they are awesome 32bit processors as well.

The memory bandwidth differences between AMD64's and the XP series is quite a bit...PC3200 RAM would get about 3gb/sec realistically (supposed to be 3.2Gb hence PC3200 but realistically it never hits that) in an AMD64 system the memory bandwidth will be 6gb/sec+ depending on the CPU, motherboard, and little things like that...

The 3000+ is 1.8GHz and the 3200+ is 2GHz....I'd suggest getting the venice core as it's the latest and greatest core in that speed range...90nm architecture, SSE3 instructions, runs cooler and all that good stuff.....if you're lucky and get an earlier week they'll OC quite well....I got a somewhat later week so my 3200+ only hit 2.575GHz which is decent considering it's 2GHz for stock, but the earlier weeks people were hitting 2.8GHz+ on air.

a 3000-3200 will be in that 2.8-3.2GHz Intel range...of course it's not an exact science and depending on the Intel chip a 3.2GHz could very well outperform it, but it depends on what you're running....as far as gaming goes the AMD will excel.

 

[donduck]

The 3000+ is 1.8GHz and the 3200+ is 2GHz....

So can you actually feel the difference between 1.8Ghz or 2Ghz? is the 200 mhz worth the money?

Also, so out of the 2, Athlon64 and Sempron, given the same frequency (ex. 2800+), Althlon64 will out perform Sempron, am I correct?

 

[upallnighter]

Thats correct because the Athlon 64 has more cache space which allow it to be more efficient.

Haha I was gonna recommend a Athlon 64 Venice 3200+ but Nubius beat me to it, so I'll definitely second his opinion and say that I just got that processor and its worked well for me. Stands up against my P4 3.2 quite well.

 

[donduck]

To my understanding, I know the price gap is quite big for the 3000+ and the 3200+.

Is 3200+(2.0 Ghz) worth the money than the 3000+(1.8 Ghz)? can you actually feel the difference between the 0.2Ghz?

Sorry if I sound very cheesy, but I want to get a clear idea on what the major PERFORMANCE difference will I get.

 

[003]

Get a 3700+ San Diego.

 

[majistic]

You should just go with the 3200+ Venice. It OC's well and keeps cooler as Nubius said.

 

[ThE_MarD]

Heyyo,

I say get the 3000+. You guys, he wants to know the preformance diff. You might see a framerate diff of maybe 7F/S at the most between the 3200+ and the 3000+. You could always OC the 3000+ to the speeds of a 3200+ anyways.

if you go to www.tomshardware.com you could find benchmarks of a lot of cpus, you'll see the preformance gap is small. I have an AMD AthlonXP 3000+ myself, and I'm satisfied with it.

Now, do you have an idea what your motherboard (mobo) will be man? Cause this will directly affect which CPU you can get to go with it. You see, all CPU's use a certain socket. Socket's are the part of the mobo the CPU chip goes into. An AMD AthlonXP uses Socket A. So the mobo would have to be Socket A. But if you bought an AMD Athlon64, it would probably be Socket 939 (S939) but there are also older Socket 754 or something like that. So yes, match the socket types for your CPU and mobo.

Btw folks, Athlon64's do get a preformance boost in 32bit mode. They work as 32bits + 8bits or so. Read some reviews onnit or visit the amd website, I'm sure it'll explain it something like that.

So yes, quick review:

AthlonXP = Socket A

Athlon64 = Socket 939 (usually)

Semptrons = Socket A (usually) or Socket 754

 

[donduck]

I'm debating on whether getting a MSI or Asus mobo.

for the MSI, this is the product I'm looking at:
MSI MOBO

for the Asus, this is the one:
Asus Mobo

Please give me a suggestion on which one i should be purchasing.

Thanks,
Don