I want to get a Sempron 3100+

[old gamer]

Hi guys

I want to get a new PC mainly for video recording and some gaming (e.g. my favorite game types are C&C, warcraft & Simcity). I have a PCI Winfast tv tuner card for the recording in MPEG2 and burning to DVD (or sometime encode in RM or divx), an old GFMX440 4X AGP card and a 40GB pATA HD. Originally, I foucs on Intel based P4 prescott LGA775 platform. However, I note the budget AMD Sempron may do the work with lower cost and samller heat problem. I know little about the AMD platform, would you guys tell me more.

1. Is the 3100+ with socket 754 a good choice for my intended use?
2. I want to use my existing AGP 4X graphic card until I find a game justify to get a new card, would it be possible on a AGP8X mobo?
3. Should I wait for the nForce4 chipset or go for nForce2? I have no idea on the other brandname e.g. VIA!
4. There is US$30 difference in the mobo for DDR and dual channel DDR RAM, is it ciritical for Dual Ch. on AMD platform?
5. Is it difficult to install a SATA HD with pATA on a non-Intel based chipset mobo?

Thanks

 

[magomago]

Caveat: there is sempron S754 and Socket A. The only S754 sempron is the 3100+. If you got that, don't bother with nforce2 because that is Socket A (ie: 462)

1) Sure. Although S754 Ends at 3700+, so you may want to consider looking at the S939
2)Yes
3)I would go S754. Both via and nforce are excellent this round, though i would go with VIA unless you plan on getting a dual SLI mobo (which is only avalible on nforce4 S939)
4)For nforce2, there is almost no prefroamcen difference unless you have Integrated Graphics. For nforce3/4 its about a 5% difference...
5)Not sure~ ask all the Gamers here with A64s and Raptors

edit: sice you are looking at atlesat 3.0 P4Es since you are looking at LGA775....I would consider getting a S939 Athlon64 and nforce3. The 3100+ Sempron is slightly slower than a 2800+ Athlon64. It really depends what you want in the future.

Personally I would get a 3100+ Sempron and in a year and half when the price of the 3700+ hits its minimum, buy that and use it for another year and half (and then sell it for a higher price since the last processor in a line always seems to rise in price)

 

[Budman]

Originally posted by: old gamer
Hi guys

I want to get a new PC mainly for video recording and some gaming (e.g. my favorite game types are C&C, warcraft & Simcity). I have a PCI Winfast tv tuner card for the recording in MPEG2 and burning to DVD (or sometime encode in RM or divx), an old GFMX440 4X AGP card and a 40GB pATA HD. Originally, I foucs on Intel based P4 prescott LGA775 platform. However, I note the budget AMD Sempron may do the work with lower cost and samller heat problem. I know little about the AMD platform, would you guys tell me more.

1. Is the 3100+ with socket 754 a good choice for my intended use?
2. I want to use my existing AGP 4X graphic card until I find a game justify to get a new card, would it be possible on a AGP8X mobo?
3. Should I wait for the nForce4 chipset or go for nForce2? I have no idea on the other brandname e.g. VIA!
4. There is US$30 difference in the mobo for DDR and dual channel DDR RAM, is it ciritical for Dual Ch. on AMD platform?
5. Is it difficult to install a SATA HD with pATA on a non-Intel based chipset mobo?

Thanks

1> yes it should be plenty for your needs.
2> Yes agp 8X is backwards compatible so no problems there.
3> no use waiting for Nforce 4 since you will be using an agp card & nforce 4 doesnt have an agp slot.
4> since you want socket 754 cpu only single channel is supported.
5> no it shouldnt be difficult at all,read your manual.

 

[old gamer]

Originally posted by: magomago
Caveat: there is sempron S754 and Socket A. The only S754 sempron is the 3100+. If you got that, don't bother with nforce2 because that is Socket A (ie: 462)

3)I would go S754. Both via and nforce are excellent this round, though i would go with VIA unless you plan on getting a dual SLI mobo (which is only avalible on nforce4 S939)

Thx very much for all your prompt replies.

Any reason for recommending VIA?
Normally, I will not do any overclocking. Stability is rather important to me.
BTW, any suggestion for the mobo (Aopen, Gigabyte?)

 

[Vernor]

What's the price differential between a sempron 3100 and Athlon 64 2800 ?

 

[xsilver]

Originally posted by: Vernor
What's the price differential between a sempron 3100 and Athlon 64 2800 ?

price diff is very little $10 approx (depends who u buy from and where u are)

sempron has only 256k cache while 64/2800 has 512k
but this doesn't hinder performance much -- only 5% or less in most apps

also missing the 64 bit instructions -- deliberatley neutered? to keep the sempron "value"
not much use anyways until winxp 64bit comes out

apparently though the sempron is a better overclocker

 

[old gamer]

Originally posted by: Vernor
What's the price differential between a sempron 3100 and Athlon 64 2800 ?

less than US$5, should i go for Athlon 64 2800

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: old gamer

Originally posted by: Vernor
What's the price differential between a sempron 3100 and Athlon 64 2800 ?

less than US$5, should i go for Athlon 64 2800

Definitely.

 

[old gamer]

Originally posted by: old gamer

Any reason for recommending VIA?
Normally, I will not do any overclocking. Stability is rather important to me.
BTW, any suggestion for the mobo (Aopen, Gigabyte?)

I got the answer of via vs nforce3

from this link

 

[jbh129]

The 3100 overclocks very well. Right now I am at 2.5ghz and I dont think Ive hit the limit. Mine is water-cooled though.

 

[old gamer]

Originally posted by: jbh129
The 3100 overclocks very well. Right now I am at 2.5ghz and I dont think Ive hit the limit. Mine is water-cooled though.

what mobo and RAM are u using?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

The 2800+ overclocks just as well on average and has more features for almost the same money, it is a no brainer as far as I'm concerned.

 

[jbh129]

I am using a Chaintech VNF3-250 and Corsair XLS PC3200. I would probably get the 2800+ now as well but at the time, the 3100+ was only $99.

 

[w00t]

Originally posted by: old gamer
Hi guys

I want to get a new PC mainly for video recording and some gaming (e.g. my favorite game types are C&C, warcraft & Simcity). I have a PCI Winfast tv tuner card for the recording in MPEG2 and burning to DVD (or sometime encode in RM or divx), an old GFMX440 4X AGP card and a 40GB pATA HD. Originally, I foucs on Intel based P4 prescott LGA775 platform. However, I note the budget AMD Sempron may do the work with lower cost and samller heat problem. I know little about the AMD platform, would you guys tell me more.

1. Is the 3100+ with socket 754 a good choice for my intended use?
2. I want to use my existing AGP 4X graphic card until I find a game justify to get a new card, would it be possible on a AGP8X mobo?
3. Should I wait for the nForce4 chipset or go for nForce2? I have no idea on the other brandname e.g. VIA!
4. There is US$30 difference in the mobo for DDR and dual channel DDR RAM, is it ciritical for Dual Ch. on AMD platform?
5. Is it difficult to install a SATA HD with pATA on a non-Intel based chipset mobo?

Thanks

some gaming simscity warcraft what 1?
that should be illegal to call that gaming

 

[Remedy]

If you keep looking around on eBay and sometimes Monarch, You can find it for less than $99 on eBay brand new in the box. I missed an auction by 30 seconds for a Sempron 3100+ brand new in the box for $75 the other day. But then, I already bought my sRon from Monarch last month for $99.

 

[Antoneo]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
The 2800+ overclocks just as well on average and has more features for almost the same money, it is a no brainer as far as I'm concerned.

Really? That's strange I thought the .09 die shrink would allow the Sempron to overclock further.

 

[rbownes]

I have a 3100+ Sempron and I am very happy with it. I was thinkin of the AMD Athlon 64 3000+ but the Sempron was way cheaper for very similar performance. For games the cpu is not too important as long as it is about 2ghz. Make sure you have lots of ram and a good vid card. I have 1gb ram and a x800pro 256mb vid card.......my system rocks for gaming!

 

[Remedy]

Originally posted by: Antoneo

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
The 2800+ overclocks just as well on average and has more features for almost the same money, it is a no brainer as far as I'm concerned.

Really? That's strange I thought the .09 die shrink would allow the Sempron to overclock further.

Sempron 3100+ socket 754 is .13 not .09.

 

[justinian1978]

Hi!

I've heard great things about the Sempron 3100+, but since S754 CPU's are also much cheaper than Intel's lot, I'd go Athlon 64. The Sempie 3100+ is only S754, not S462. Most S754 mobo's are compatible with 4X AGP cards. nForce2 is only used on S462 boards (AthlonXP and lower Semprons), so you'll either go with a VIA K8T800 chipset or NVidia nForce3 chipset. Dual-channel RAM is nice, but if you're budget conscious, some dependable name-brand single-channel is all you'll need. Upgrade slowly, that's how I do it. SATA is really easy to install after you do it a few times. Most of the time the drivers are either native or on the mobo driver disk.

Before I bought my CPU in August, I toyed with getting the Sempron 3100+, but for $10-$25 more you can get an Athlon 64 2800+ or 3000+, which would be a better investment.

-B

 

[old gamer]

Originally posted by: justinian1978
Before I bought my CPU in August, I toyed with getting the Sempron 3100+, but for $10-$25 more you can get an Athlon 64 2800+ or 3000+, which would be a better investment.

-B

Your ASUS is quite expensive and I have bad exp in P-I era with ASUS, do you have any exp. on MSI or Abit?

 

[old gamer]

Thanks all for your replies. I am going to get a Sempron 3100+ or Ahtlon 64 2800 depends on the price difference when I visit the shops.

For this AMD platform, I still have some questions not sure and would like to have your advice pls:-

1. If s754 does not support dual channel or have little difference in performance, may I get a single module of DDR 400 512MB first and if ncecessary get antoher 512MB module later to have a total 1GB Ram?

2. Some mobo manufacturers do not have a complete or update list of CPU supported (Gigabyte doesn't mention A64 2800 and other like MSI doesn't mention the Sempron). When I choose the mobo, what should I look for other than s754? FSB?

3. Will A64 2800 generate much more heat than Sempron 3000+ (provided I won't do overclocking)?

Thanks again

 

[Remedy]

Originally posted by: old gamer
Thanks all for your replies. I am going to get a Sempron 3100+ or Ahtlon 64 2800 depends on the price difference when I visit the shops.

For this AMD platform, I still have some questions not sure and would like to have your advice pls:-

1. If s754 does not support dual channel or have little difference in performance, may I get a single module of DDR 400 512MB first and if ncecessary get antoher 512MB module later to have a total 1GB Ram?

2. Some mobo manufacturers do not have a complete or update list of CPU supported (Gigabyte doesn't mention A64 2800 and other like MSI doesn't mention the Sempron). When I choose the mobo, what should I look for other than s754? FSB?

3. Will A64 2800 generate much more heat than Sempron 3000+ (provided I won't do overclocking)?

Thanks again

Answers;

1) s754 does not have a dual channel memory controller. It's single channel memory controller design. So you can buy 1 module now, and 1 later as you desired.

2) Most, if not all vendors have BIOS updates for Sempron since June and July of this year. Any company who hasn't made the attempt, I would avoid them for tardiness supported. I have a Aopen AK-86L(Anandtech gave it editors choice I believe if you research Socket 754 board articles)

3) Thermal disspation should be slightly different between 2 processors when under 100% activity. The consumption or TDP has a difference of 22watts I believe.

My info is not accurate, so I'd take it with a grain of salt.