Socket A Sempron vs. Socket AM2+ Phenom

[wingedgecko]

Hello everybody! I am finally going to upgrade my rig. Now I know some of you are probably starting to laugh when you realize the system I have now, but truth be know...it did run Doom 3, Quake 4, & Half Life 2 on the medium settings. :lol: So yeah, I am way, way behind in the upgrade game. A friend gave me the Sempron 3000+ chip back in 2005 as a gift...so instead of going socket 754 or 939, I decided to let those newer technologies mature a bit. ie PCI Express, SATA, SLI, Crossfire, Dual Core, etc. Well now I am ready for that big upgrade. So my question to ya'll is, shouls I go with the Athlon 64 X2 6400 BE or the new Phenom 9600 BE??? I see allot of you not saying it is not worth it to upgrade to the Phenom since you already have a dual core processor. However, what if you skipped over all of that and were now poised to get a quad core???? What do you think??? I will be going with a MSI or Gigabyte AM2+ board with a crossfire x setup. (graphics cards are being weighed in on) My goal is to build the best gaming system for an above average...not ridiculous...price. I want to be able to play my old games on their top settings, and play Lost Planet or Crysis at near to top levels on my 22" flat panel. So guys, which would you choose??? I know I will see a HUGE performance increase in everything I do, but I am looking towards to the future. Please help out with some feedback. Thanks, WG :lol:

 

[zenmaster]

If you want an AMD system, then the X2 64BE will run games better at this point in time. Most games can't use more than 2 cores and the X2 will run clock fast enough that it should run faster than the Phenom.

If you want the fastest system, for you money then the Chips to look at are the E2160, E4500, and E8400 for ($75/$125/$210). The E2160 should outperform any AMD Chip for gaming. You can then spend more to get improved performance as your budget permits.

Don't skimp on GPU for CPU.
The 3870X2 right now may be a good choice if you have lots of Funds.
Shortly you will be able to put that into a CF board for a very fast setup.

Of course NVIDIA should have their response out within a month.

 

[rallyimprezive]

The cool think about you waiting so long is that the performance increase will be a HUGE leap, and it should be really fun for you!

It this point in time, it seems like Intel is able to offer a better value for their processors. AMDs newest offerings are still suffering from some design flaws and bugs...whereas Intel is churning out a lot of stellar performers.

That being said, I am slowly building up my rig and my plans are:

780i motherboard & E8400 CPU, OC'd to 4ghz.
That with my current 8800GTS G92 video card, and I think I will be very happy!

 

[B-Unit]

If your heart set on AM2+, you should defanatly wait for the SB700 boards. The current crop use SB600 which has had some issues with Vista. I havent heard a good date for when SB700 will be available.

 

[IndigoMoss]

Yeah I'd agree with B-unit on that one if they don't take forever to come out, but I'd go with an Intel rig at this point in-time, especially if you want to do some OCing. With a Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 and a e2160 on a P35 chipset, you can easily beat every single AMD processor when clocked at @3.0Ghz. Overclocking on these boards is about as simple as turning the computer on.

 

[speedbird]

I remember when I went from my old AMD Athlon XP 2000+ to a 2.2Ghz AMD dual core, the performance boast was huge.
You should notice a noticeable boast too from that Sempron CPU to a Dual or Quad, out of the two you listed (some will disagree) the Phenom is the better choice. Quad Core has more potential and despite the Phenom not matching Intel offerings the Performance still looks decent from the Benchmarks. Put the the Phenom with a good graphics card and you have a fast gaming rig.

 

[chargerchamp]

IMO stay away from the Phenom until AMD gets the issues resolved. You'd be fine with a higher end X2. Remember the 6000+ and 6400+ use alot of energy and produce plenty of heat. Choosing a 65nm chip like the 5000BE+ or 5200+ would be a good option and could tide you over until Kuma or whatever is ready later this year.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103194

 

[Dekasa]

If you're looking into AM2, I feel someone should mention the x2 5000BE. Thing overclocks very nicely, and is much cheaper than the higher end AMD chips. I'd wait on the Phenom for awhile, upgrade in 6 months to one, maybe.

 

[Hellboy]

Hello everybody! I am finally going to upgrade my rig. Now I know some of you are probably starting to laugh when you realize the system I have now, but truth be know...it did run Doom 3, Quake 4, & Half Life 2 on the medium settings. :lol: So yeah, I am way, way behind in the upgrade game. A friend gave me the Sempron 3000+ chip back in 2005 as a gift...so instead of going socket 754 or 939, I decided to let those newer technologies mature a bit. ie PCI Express, SATA, SLI, Crossfire, Dual Core, etc. Well now I am ready for that big upgrade. So my question to ya'll is, shouls I go with the Athlon 64 X2 6400 BE or the new Phenom 9600 BE??? I see allot of you not saying it is not worth it to upgrade to the Phenom since you already have a dual core processor. However, what if you skipped over all of that and were now poised to get a quad core???? What do you think??? I will be going with a MSI or Gigabyte AM2+ board with a crossfire x setup. (graphics cards are being weighed in on) My goal is to build the best gaming system for an above average...not ridiculous...price. I want to be able to play my old games on their top settings, and play Lost Planet or Crysis at near to top levels on my 22" flat panel. So guys, which would you choose??? I know I will see a HUGE performance increase in everything I do, but I am looking towards to the future. Please help out with some feedback. Thanks, WG :lol:

Amd are still working out the differences between socket a and socket am2+ Phenoms

atleast the Athlon dont crash as much !!!!!! on unpactched TLB machines that is

 

[runswindows95]

I agree with what B-unit and Dekasa said.

 

[wingedgecko]

If you want an AMD system, then the X2 64BE will run games better at this point in time. Most games can't use more than 2 cores and the X2 will run clock fast enough that it should run faster than the Phenom.

If you want the fastest system, for you money then the Chips to look at are the E2160, E4500, and E8400 for ($75/$125/$210). The E2160 should outperform any AMD Chip for gaming. You can then spend more to get improved performance as your budget permits.

Don't skimp on GPU for CPU.
The 3870X2 right now may be a good choice if you have lots of Funds.
Shortly you will be able to put that into a CF board for a very fast setup.

Of course NVIDIA should have their response out within a month.

Thanks for the input. I have been pretty loyal to AMD since my first K-6...but the current state of the company does have me a bit worried. That said, I do like what the 6400 be has to offer.

 

[wingedgecko]

I remember when I went from my old AMD Athlon XP 2000+ to a 2.2Ghz AMD dual core, the performance boast was huge.
You should notice a noticeable boast too from that Sempron CPU to a Dual or Quad, out of the two you listed (some will disagree) the Phenom is the better choice. Quad Core has more potential and despite the Phenom not matching Intel offerings the Performance still looks decent from the Benchmarks. Put the the Phenom with a good graphics card and you have a fast gaming rig.

Hey!!! I used to have an XP 2000+ before the Sempron 3000+...was a huge boost for me. I used to be into computer sales and always was on the front line with keeping up with top new hardware. But I got hurt on my job and stopped hanging in those circles. So I'm a bit out of the loop as far as upgrading. But I just transfered all of my components to the new Gigabyte case and I am getting that itch again. LOL :lol:

 

[wingedgecko]

IMO stay away from the Phenom until AMD gets the issues resolved. You'd be fine with a higher end X2. Remember the 6000+ and 6400+ use alot of energy and produce plenty of heat. Choosing a 65nm chip like the 5000BE+ or 5200+ would be a good option and could tide you over until Kuma or whatever is ready later this year.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103194

Ya know, I didn't even consider the 5000+ BE...thanks for that tip.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Thanks for the input. I have been pretty loyal to AMD since my first K-6...but the current state of the company does have me a bit worried. That said, I do like what the 6400 be has to offer.

I understand brand loyaltu but if you plan on spending that much on a CPU the Phenom 9600BE is not worth it especially since you can't get a guaranteed OC level with it. If anything the Q6600 is a better choice for now but if you want to stay AMD the 5000+ BE is a better choice until Phenom gets its kinks worked out.

 

[wingedgecko]

I understand brand loyaltu but if you plan on spending that much on a CPU the Phenom 9600BE is not worth it especially since you can't get a guaranteed OC level with it. If anything the Q6600 is a better choice for now but if you want to stay AMD the 5000+ BE is a better choice until Phenom gets its kinks worked out.

The big question is WHEN!!! I am soooo disappointed like many over the delay with AMD...but when are the next generation of Phenoms due to hit the market? And ya see...if it is a few months more, I'll be waiting some more. LOL So many people agree the X2's are better...but I'm coming from Socket A...the Phenom just seems logical to me if it is flawed. I just cannot compare it to Intel because I have not seen or used a Core 2 Duo before. All I have to compare my system with is a Socket 939 Athlon 64 3000+ that I built for a neighbor years ago. With fresh Windows installs, both were what and what...but as I started to load mine up, started gaming, watching video, encoding, I started to see the weak points of the Sempron. Now I'm so frustrated that I just want to grab just about anything. So maybe I'll get the Phenom AND the 6400+ BE and play around with both...then sell the loser on eBay. I will be taking a loss, but at least I will be able to play with some new product.

BTW, does PCIe v2.0 really make a difference between these two CPU's for graphics?

 

[jimmysmitty]

PCIe 2.0 makes no difference yet. Maybe later but not now. Also you can look at Toms CPU charts to get an idea of what a C2D and C2Q will do vs an X2 or even a Phenom.

Right now in the dual core arena the E6xxx series is the best and in the Quad core arena the Q6600 is the best. As a reference with the current Phenoms in order to keep up with a stock Q6600 you will need to have it running at 2.7GHz.

I wouldn't recommend the 6400+ BE but the 5000+ BE is a better buy and can OC better. Don't get the Phenom yet. Trust me from what I have seen its not worth it until it works and performs decently.

 

[caamsa]

The big question is WHEN!!! I am soooo disappointed like many over the delay with AMD...but when are the next generation of Phenoms due to hit the market? And ya see...if it is a few months more, I'll be waiting some more. LOL So many people agree the X2's are better...but I'm coming from Socket A...the Phenom just seems logical to me if it is flawed. I just cannot compare it to Intel because I have not seen or used a Core 2 Duo before. All I have to compare my system with is a Socket 939 Athlon 64 3000+ that I built for a neighbor years ago. With fresh Windows installs, both were what and what...but as I started to load mine up, started gaming, watching video, encoding, I started to see the weak points of the Sempron. Now I'm so frustrated that I just want to grab just about anything. So maybe I'll get the Phenom AND the 6400+ BE and play around with both...then sell the loser on eBay. I will be taking a loss, but at least I will be able to play with some new product.

BTW, does PCIe v2.0 really make a difference between these two CPU's for graphics?

Dude.........5000+ BE

 

[sedaine]

The big question is WHEN!!! I am soooo disappointed like many over the delay with AMD...but when are the next generation of Phenoms due to hit the market? And ya see...if it is a few months more, I'll be waiting some more. LOL So many people agree the X2's are better...but I'm coming from Socket A...the Phenom just seems logical to me if it is flawed. I just cannot compare it to Intel because I have not seen or used a Core 2 Duo before. All I have to compare my system with is a Socket 939 Athlon 64 3000+ that I built for a neighbor years ago. With fresh Windows installs, both were what and what...but as I started to load mine up, started gaming, watching video, encoding, I started to see the weak points of the Sempron. Now I'm so frustrated that I just want to grab just about anything. So maybe I'll get the Phenom AND the 6400+ BE and play around with both...then sell the loser on eBay. I will be taking a loss, but at least I will be able to play with some new product.

BTW, does PCIe v2.0 really make a difference between these two CPU's for graphics?

AMD used to be budget king, but Intel has great budget CPU's now. As others have pointed out - all the CPU's you have mentioned will not outperfrom the Intel similar priced CPU's in gaming. They also will not overclock as well.

That said - the 5000+ BE will overclock and match the 6400+ BE and it's cheaper - 6400+ BE not a great overclock.

Video encoding - well you can knock of 15-30 minutes on a full-length movie with Intel CPU's vs. AMD - yup, Core 2 is that good!!!

But if Brand loyalty is what you're after, stay away from Phenom (unless you want a faulty Core that fcuks up the whole CPU) and just get the tried and tested X2.

 

[mikeyem]

So what do you think of this config?

Catalog Number: 29 DDDOTA3
Inspiron 546 MT Inspiron 546 Minitower w/ Black Bezel
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit
Processors AMD Phenom X4 9750 (2.4GHz, 1066MHz, 4MB)
Memory 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 4 DIMMs
Keyboard Dell Consumer Entry USB Keyboard and Mouse
Monitors No Monitor
Video Cards ATI Radeon HD 4350 512MB
Hard Drives 500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™

 

[sanchz]

This thread is more than 1 year old....
I don't get it when people resurrect threads...

 

[amdfangirl]

Neither.

 

[wingedgecko]

Just an update. I'm finally ready to do my upgrade. Been limping along with this old system for 4 years now. I'll let yall know how it goes in the next couple of weeks.

 

[BadTrip]

i5 FTW!! lol

 

[Mousemonkey]

Just an update. I'm finally ready to do my upgrade. Been limping along with this old system for 4 years now. I'll let yall know how it goes in the next couple of weeks.

In a new tread if you would please.