I'd like your take on my problem...

[Confusednewbie1552]

Well I need a new proccessor (I thought it was the motherboard that was broken, it wasn't it).

A few months after vista comes out and all of the beta junk comes out, I will be doing a major upgrade, probabaly to dual core and PCI-E.

So for now I need a replacement. I was thinking of getting a very cheap budget Sempron to last me for the several months until my major upgrade. However I'd like good gaming performance until that day comes.

Do you think a cheap budget Sempron such as a 2800+ will be good enough to let me play most games on high quality without any lag for the next several months? Or should I just spend a little more on a 3000+ Venice core socket 754 proccesor and wait just a tad bit longer?

Thanks for your opinions!

 

[Corporate Thug]

depends on the game, the settings, and the video but semprons OC pretty well too so i think it wil hold you over with the help of an OC

 

[F1shF4t]

those semptons are good overclockers, and seriously its not worth paying almost double for the 3000+ when that sempron will overclock to like 2ghz easy at which stage it will be almost as quick as the 3000+ (almost forgot that 754 3000+ is a 2ghz chip )

 

[Confusednewbie1552]

Games I'll mostly be playing are:

Battlefield 2
Age of Empires III
Halo PC
Counter Strike Source

I'm sure the Sempron is more than enough for Age of Empires III, but what about Battlefield 2 and Counter Strike Source?

Also which Smepron do you reccomend? I'm eyeing the 2800 or the 2500 right now.

 

[Confusednewbie1552]

Bump, I just need a few more opinions.

 

[BlueWeasel]

I'd recommended the 64-bit Palermo core Semprons (Revision E6). They typically overclock better than the 32-bit Semprons (Paris) and generally run cooler because of a smaller process and lower stock voltage.

With a good overclocking board and decent RAM, you'd probably be able to hit 2.4-2.5Ghz with a 2800+, 3100+, or 3300+ E6 Sempron. My 3100+ is currently running at 309x8=2.5Ghz with just a slight bump in voltage and the load temp doesn't exceed 45C.

[Edited for mistakes]

 

[Childs]

What motherboard do you currently have? Might be better to simply replace the processor with the same model that died. If you are on S754 I would agree with BlueWeasel. That CPU can be had for $73 on newegg.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
I'd recommended the 64-bit Paris core Semprons (Revision E6). They typically overclock better than the 32-bit Semprons (Palermo) and generally run cooler because of a smaller process and lower stock voltage.

Ya got 'em reversed, Paris is 130nm CG core while Palermo is 90nm D0/E3/E6 core. Also, strangely enough they're all rated for 1.4v. The best overclockers are the E3/E6 cores. I have a 3300+ E3 core (default 2.0GHz) that can run at 2.65GHz on one board and 2.75GHz on another motherboard. BF2? No problems. I've been to six LAN parties with my Sempron and it works just fine on everything. What may be more important is the video card. I use a Radeon X850XT PCI-E with the Sempron.

For the OP, what motherboard and video do you have?

 

[Confusednewbie1552]

Thanks for the replies!

I have a DFI nforce 3 250 gb motherboard.

As for video card I have a 6800 GT.

It seems that the majority of the people here are suggesting the Sempron. I think I'll choose the Sempron route considering my major upgrade is not to far away.

 

[Confusednewbie1552]

All right I'm going for a Sempron, thanks for all the help!

 

[Zap]

:thumbsup:

You won't be disappointed.