Amazing chip that low end sempron64...

[Beomagi]

My sweetie back home and myself were running up rather high phone bills, and her pc wasn't reliable enough to stay alive long enough for a chat or even boot sometimes. So i decided to make her a small pc (christmas present). Painted the mouse and one panel of the computer pink. (i'll post pics later  )

Anyway i went cheap - sempron64 2800+ (1.6GHz), Asrock 6100 motherboard, 1 GB of memory.  If you want more details, I started a thread elsewhere http://www.maximumpc.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=333145#333145 on how it handles games, the parts, and general impressions.

Overall, the results were ok at first, but the overclocking was amazing. The chip skyrocketed from 1.6GHz to 2.32GHz - a 45% increase in speed.
no voltage increases to the chip

The ram was also impressive going to 440MHz without error (no voltage increases here either)

testing was a night of prime 95 - a-o-k.

Happy Overclocking this Christmas, to all!

[richjob]

This is indeed interesting.  I'm in the midst of rebuilding my "office" Windows box with that speed of Sempron (don't think that it is a 64-bit, though.)

So it overclocks well, eh...


*thinks*

Stock fan, right?

[Beomagi]

stock fan - brought my room temp up, and had a heater blowing at it so even though it's winter, it was hotter than any room i've been in back home, brought the cpu up to 48C, though overclocked, normally it's only at 36C tops- i test my pc's like this because after i'm done with it, they end up back home.

and the new semprons do support 64 bit and have a "sempron64" moniker to compete with intel's inclusion of 64 bit instructions to celerons.

[Arcmanov]

Very true what Beomagi said.  I recently built a system for a pardner with that Sempron 64 2800 (socket 754), and was MIGHTY suprised with its performance.  Even with games.  Fling a 6600 GT or a 6800, and it will actually run all current gen games very comfortably.

[TriniXaeno]

Not wanting to rain on the OC parade, but we have built countless sempron socket 754 machines and to be honest, I don't even see the need to overclock them.

They are plenty fast enough at stock.

Don't have a single game that runs "slow" as a result of the CPU.

Better to increase the video card performance (by oc or otherwise) than to muck about with the processor.

[Beomagi]

Not just for gaming!!!!!

and a 45% oc helps greatly - period.
some aspects in games are amazingly hard on cpu - shadows especially. Try killing shadows in doom 3. It's a BIG change, and almost fully CPU dependant.

[TriniXaeno]

like I said, we've played Doom 3 just fine on those systems without need of the overclock.

No one has yet to complain that the shadows need to run faster. lol

Video Card being the key.

Let me here what else your girl friend would intend to do that requires that CPU speed boost? What other app would need more oomph than a stock 2800 Sempron 64 could provide?

I will be very impressed if you could come up with more than five. (If any at all)

[Beomagi]

I agree she doesn't need the speed, but you're arguing against a 45% oc that didn't affect stability or temperature... Why wouldn't you OC it anyway?

For the moment, it's encoding blockbuster dvds, my pvr recordings, and folding.

My gf probably wont mind my old p2 400MHz, but i'm not going to give her something like that. The computer is more responsive after the overclock, and while it's not amazingly faster or responsive, it's noticable.

If you read the system specs, you'll realize WHY the cpu boost was bigger for me than normal. Given that this is going to be her pc, the toughest thing she's probably going to run would be google earth - so i went with a 6100 to cheap-out on video. Taking off shadows gave a huge boost, with this collection of hardware. I went from an 11fps max, to 15-40 fps.

Of course videocard is key for gaming, no argument there. But in this case, it makes a bigger difference.

[TriniXaeno]

lol

A for effort.

Though I am surprised that a 45% cpu OC would cause a 300% increase in FPS performance. (From 11 - 40)

To me, unless she was into encoding and folding herself, I wouldn't go down the OC route.

If she was into Doom 3, I'd slap in a better video card to get her up to 60fps +. Even if it meant going with a cheaper CPU to afford it.

That's the angle I was coming from.

To me, since the CPU isn't such a bottleneck anymore, especially at Sempron 2800+ level, it isn't worth the stability risk to have every tom dick and harry trying to OC the bejezus out of 'em.

Hard Core Techies like yourself, Richjob, W1ntry, Synth, etc....by all means!

but gf, moms, grandma?? Hell No! lol

[Beomagi]

no, the oc didn't cause that - the dropping shadows did. the oc just made a playability difference at that res.

She isn't here yet - so that chip is going to enjoy stretching it's legs for now.

when she takes it home, it would be chucked back to 2.13 GHz, but i dont see a need to drop it lower than that - it's proving plenty stable running prime/folding, and the OC didn't raise temps much.

Either way, It's great info to all us techies. I decided to share, that it's a cheap chip that can garner a pretty high OC, and while as you pointed out she may not be one to utilize it fully, we can.

edit : she may absorb my geeky nature over time - she's going to have to teach IT next year...

[TriniXaeno]

lol, well done.

Spread the geek influence

Good post, no...great post.

[JoKeRs]

GREAT TAKE ON HOW OC AFFECTS  EVERYONE

LOL ONCE AGAIN GREAT POST

SEMPRONS HAVE BECOME THE ULTIMATE CHEAP OC CPU

I HAD A SEMPRON 2500+
STOCK WOULD RUN 1.75 GHZ

OCED TO 2.3GHZ STABLE

ON ROSEWILL 1 GB STICK
AND .75 GHZ (512+256)OFF LEFT OVER RAM STICKS ALL PC 3200
SATA 160GB
ATA 120GB

FX 5200 PCI 256 MB LE


RAN OK
PROBLEM DISCOVERED LATER IS FX SUCKS
SO GAMES LAGGED MODERATELY

JUST TO REITERATE SEMPRONS ROCK FOR OCING

ALL HAIL THE OUT SIDERS

[Netizen1]

indeed, take chakura iymc

although I did get a lil tief head when I read the topic. thought it was the S939 version of the sempron that was finally available...

* Voyd goes back to waiting patiently...

Good Post

[theShark]

like I said, we've played Doom 3 just fine on those systems without need of the overclock.

if 800x600 low quality is good for you don't rain on the man parade

[TriniXaeno]

We run it with higher settings than that.

Is Nvidia 6600 GTs in those machines we talkin bout here.

This man runnin 2800 with onboard video.

The point still stands. If you want even better quality Doom 3 with better performance, get a better card.

Not a better CPU.

Even a 2500 Sempron with a 6600GT will do better than a AMD 4800+ and onboard video at Doom 3.

[theShark]

experience does not mean accuracy of fact

your point is valid but in your scenario based on your needs. Your needs does not = needs of the rest of the world.

Doom is not the be all end all of games, there are games that are more cpu intensive than gpu intensive.

ON TOPIC, the man said he gets free performance increase by overlcocking, who are you to tell the man he should buy a new video card for better performance instead of overlcocking? It wasn't even an issue.

Also, there is performance increase from higher MHz other than gaming.

[TriniXaeno]

Keep your panty on.

It was a comment not an instruction.

Doom is just one of a billion gaming examples where the GPU affects performance moreso than the CPU. This is the age that we live in. CPU is no longer king.

Ofcourse I am speaking from a gaming stand point.

For the vast majority of games GPU = first priority.

OC of the CPU = second.

Remember, an elcheapo Sempron 2500 is no slouch. It is not like Beomagi was running a Celeron 600Mhz.

[theShark]

Doom is just one of a billion gaming examples where the GPU affects performance moreso than the CPU. This is the age that we live in. CPU is no longer king.

Ofcourse I am speaking from a gaming stand point.

For the vast majority of games GPU = first priority.

OC of the CPU = second.

Remember, an elcheapo Sempron 2500 is no slouch. It is not like Beomagi was running a Celeron 600Mhz.

you don't need to repeat this like a da

[TriniXaeno]

no need to spam either

[theShark]

*Offensive Language*