AMD Sempron - bargain or bogus?

ltracy · n00b Joined: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 24 Location: Seattle, WA

Simple question. I'm a recent gentoo convert, and pretty new to linux overall. I'm in the market of buying a new, but cheap, system. The primary function of the system will be file and print sharing and possibly a sort of personal web server, but I would like it to be able to run a desktop and such incase the need arrises.

I am thinking about getting a system that uses an AMD Sempron as the processor, but I don't know anything about them. Are they the equiv to a celeron? Or are they an upgraded Athlon XP. I have seen some systems selling for 200$ that use these.

What are the performance characterisitics of these processors???

micmac · l33t Joined: 28 Nov 2003 Posts: 996

Hi!

I think they're ok. Afaik they're just differently labeled Athlon XP's. I had an old Athlon XP 1700+ Thoroughbred B until it went to processor heaven some weeks ago. Went to the store and got a Sempron 2400+ as replacement for 60. They're not so different as the name suggests. The Athlon XP had 133 MHz FSB, the Sempron has 166 instead. They both have 256kB Cache. So I think they're mostly the same. For sure the new Sempron is a little quicker, but that's what you expect when you replace a 1700+ with a 2400+.

But if I had to get a whole new computer I'd think about a Socket 939 AMD64. Maybe those need less power then the older Athlon XPs/Semprons. But I don't have the specs. But the AMD64's Cool'N'Quite comes to mind. But hey, it's not only your cpu that drains power. Newer mainboards usually drain more power than older ones. In the end you have to figure that out.

Cheers

mic

dsd · Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2005 10:53 pm Post subject:

they are like Athlon XP's but they have a smaller cache. it appears that sempron's are the only 32-bit CPU that AMD still manufacture

there are also some socket 754 semprons. although these go in a board primarily designed for 64-bit processors, but they are infact only 32bit.
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metalhedd · Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 12:31 am Post subject:

pretty much any machine you can buy brand new these days is incredibly overpowered for simple web/ftp/file serving on a small network. I use a Pentium 166MHz with 96 MB of ram for my home server, never had a performance issue before and it runs a php driven photo gallery that I use to serve images to the internet. obviously not high-traffic by any means, but still, the bottom line is nearly ANY Machine is sufficient and a Sempron is most definitely overkill unless you intend to serve hundred(s) of clients.

webcliff · n00b Joined: 25 Mar 2005 Posts: 2 Location: DE, USA

My notebook uses AMD Sempron 2800+, have been using it for a year, no complains. :wink:

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Hamman · n00b Joined: 09 Jun 2005 Posts: 49 Location: Sweden

Sempron Socket A: Stripped-down XP's, can't remember what core. Quite obsolete, and abit slower than the equalient Athlon XP.
Sempron Socket 754: Stripped-down Athlon64-processors (128-256kb instead of 512-1024) with the "Paris" core (130nm) or "Palermo" core (90nm). The Palermo is the fastest of the two.
A bit slower than their Athlon64-equaliens (a Paris@2.0ghz was about as fast as a Venice@1.8ghz). Semprons are 32--bit, and Sempron64 is 64-bit.