Sempron 2800

[Zephr]

Hello,

I have a question about the Sempron 2800 .I was told this is a great processor but I was reading the multiplier is locked at 8. It this true? I am thinking about getting a LAN PARTY UT nF3 250Gb with it. This should hold me off until I get into full blown 64 bit and socket 939's. I see that the Sempron overclocks nicely but how are people using 9 and 10 multipliers if it is locked?

Thanks,

Zephr

[GrahamGarside]

It is locked, both upward and downward unlike an A64. There are higher end semprons available, the 3000/3100+ has a 9x multiplier, and the 3300+ has a 10x multiplier.

Even with an 8x multiplier overclocking still holds some large gains. 2.4ghz would be a doddle. And the dfi board can cope with about a 330mhz HTT clock, which would be 2.65ghz or so, but this means having good memory capable of 440mhz or droping to 352mhz for the memory, something you would need to benchmark to see where the best performance would be

[Zephr]

Originally Posted by GrahamGarside

It is locked, both upward and downward unlike an A64. There are higher end semprons available, the 3000/3100+ has a 9x multiplier, and the 3300+ has a 10x multiplier.

Even with an 8x multiplier overclocking still holds some large gains. 2.4ghz would be a doddle. And the dfi board can cope with about a 330mhz HTT clock, which would be 2.65ghz or so, but this means having good memory capable of 440mhz or droping to 352mhz for the memory, something you would need to benchmark to see where the best performance would be

Hello,

Thanks for the help .I am going to give it a try .Not sure my Balistix Ram can do over 400 but I will see. Thanks again.

Zephr

[GrahamGarside]

Like I said a drop below 400mhz for the memory may not hold performance back as much as it gains from the higher cpu clock.

Also chances are you can manage slightly better ram timings at less than 400mhz

[Zephr]

Hello,

You keep saying HTT clock .I have not used 64 bit cpu yet. Since I am going with a 32 bit cpu will it still be HTT or is that just FSB? I hope this question is not a crazy question.

Thanks,

Zephr

[GrahamGarside]

Yeah it's exactly the same as with the full 64bit chip.

[fatfreepork]

why not go for a 3000/3100? they're only a few bucks more but 9x multiplier comes in really really handy. what type of ballistix is it? it may hit up to 250-280 (500-560 ddr)

[GrahamGarside]

The 3100 is actually a good $30 more than a 2800+ and the upper limits for these cores seems to be 2.6-2.7ghz, so overclocking is going to be close, I'd say less than 10% for 36% more money

If the chip can reach a 300mhz HTT clock, then the 9x multiplier makes keeping the DDR speed at 200 possible and I have seen a review where they reached 298mhz which is close enough.

All depends on how tight your budget is.

[fatfreepork]

Europe pricing must suck.

[GrahamGarside]

Thats american pricing from newegg but yeah eurpean pricing does indeed suck

[Rondog]

Australian computer pricing is OK i suppose. But the part selection sucks. We are a bit behind the 8 ball when building "the best" possible system. Because we still cant buy anything over 4000+. I havent seen any dual cores for sale. And FX-55's are few and far between.

The X850XTPE. If you see one, and have the money, even if you dont want it, its worth buying because people who are looking for them, pay whatever you ask. Because they are so rare.

[Zephr]

Hello,

I will take a look a the 3100 for sure. My ram is DDR PC4000 • 2.5-4-4-8 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR500 • 2.8V • 64Meg x 64 .I have not been able to get much above 270 with it. It starts getting errors from memtest and it does not like to much voltage either(strange).

Thanks,

Zephr

[Rondog]

PC4000 is rated to run at 250mhz. So 270mhz isnt that bad.

[Zephr]

Originally Posted by Rondog

PC4000 is rated to run at 250mhz. So 270mhz isnt that bad.

Hello,

This is true. That is why I might go with a chip that has a higher multi. I know I could always turn down it down in the bios to 360 but would be nice to not have to put fsb up that hi.

Zephr

[Rondog]

So your not, buying more RAM?

Even if you dont get a higher multiplier chip, a RAM divider wont make a great deal of difference. Only a slight difference on load times. Thats about it. Lowering the latencies will help that a little too.

[GrahamGarside]

That ram is fine then and I'd say go for the 2800+ as you're not gonna have any problems reaching high fsb speeds.

If you can reach 270mhz with the ram, then hopefully it will be that overclockable with the semprons memory controller. Fingers crossed I'd say the best setting would be a 325mhz fsb with the memory set to 166mhz. This would put the memory at an actual clock of 270mhz and the cpu at 2.6ghz, likely the best performance balance.