Page 1 of Athlon 64 Vs Sempron

I`m looking to replace my current motherboard/cpu/memory (currently a Duron 700).

I want something with more processing power mainly for encoding video, it currently takes over four hours to encode a picture slideshow using Ulead DVD Pictureshow.

Does anyone know if the Athlon 64 is worth the extra money over the Sempron, or is the performance difference marginal?

There`s no comparison really.
The Athlon 64 is about as future proof as you can get right now.
If you`re looking at really `using` a PC (encoding video etc.) then it has to be the 64 bit one..

Ste

whats the difference between the Athlon Vs Sempron

Quote:
whats the difference between the Athlon Vs SempronFor a given clock speed, I`d go for the Athlon still. Is that right anybody?
Although Celerons (Pentium equivalent of Sempron?) have come on, I think they`re still regarded as more budget processors.

Ste

Ste - you`re right.

Basically the Semprons are Athlons with cut-down L2 cache (same deal as the difference between the Pentium4s and Celerons).

I would (if having the choice) always go for the AMD 64-bit chip. You will not look back.

Miles

Does anyone know roughly how much faster a Athlon 64 3000+ would be as compared to a Sempron 3000+? The price difference is about £40 I was wondering if it would be worth it.

Definitely go for the 64bit chip.

The Semprons only have 333Mhz FSB (if I remember rightly). Whereas the 64bit chips use the DDR400 (400Mhz FSB).

In terms of pure Mhz speed they are the same (2.0Ghz) ...but in real terms (ie how fast they process things) the 64bit chip will win because of the additional L2 cache & 64bit architecture

In other words...for the sake of £40 I wouldn`t think twice :D

OK I`ll probably go for the 64.

One last question. Is there a big difference between a 64 3000+ and a 64 3200+? The price difference is about £70. Will you only get a 7% increase in number crunching power (200/3000=6.67%)?

Stating the bleedin` obvious, but whatever processor you select, make sure you get the appropriate motherboard too - that might add more to the cost differential.

This item was edited on Friday, 4th March 2005, 12:53

I`m looking at sets containing motherboard, CPU and memory so compatibility is not an issue.