Need Help Buying a Budget System

[irenealan]

Hi everyone, just wonder if the Sempron 64 2800+ or above with a TF6100 MB still the best budget combo with the highest Price/Performance ratio?

I just read Anandtech's March CPU guide and it suggested that Celeron D is a better choice for building a budget system. However, I have never built a Celeron system, just wonder what you guys think about building a Celeron D over a Sempron 64 system. If I were to go on the Celeron path, what specific Celeron model and motherboard would you guys suggests (a combo that gives a high Price to Performance ratio).

What about moving all the way up to a budget Dual Core, like a 805 or 920? However, for that I would have to fork out another $100 at least. What do you guys think?

Thanks everyone for all your help! Cheers!

 

[cubeless]

if u game the sempy 3100 in the hot deals section is probably the best choice in this space... the intel stuff may be a bit harger to get the same kind of performance out of... if u just work and/or browse the intel stuff might provide a smoooother experience being multicore...

 

[BlueWeasel]

A 64bit, 90nm Sempron overclocked to 2.5Ghz with the TF6100 board is pretty hard to beat.

 

[skillyho]

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
A 64bit, 90nm Sempron overclocked to 2.5Ghz with the TF6100 board is pretty hard to beat.

I agree. My 3100+ and Biostar TForce6100 are doing everything I reasonably ask of them, far better than most equipment in this price range.

 

[o1die]

Yesterday, another Fry's ad interested me. My local store has the celeron 326 with ecs board that uses either ddr or ddr2 and an oem copy of windows xp for $129. I've never even owned windows xp before. Been using win2k for years.

 

[irenealan]

yes, the Frys ad is what captioned my attention on the Celeron... without the OEM WinXP, the combo Celeron 326 with ECS MB is selling for $70 plus tax... that's the cheapest combo ever, but I wonder is he will do as well as the Sempron... hence my post of this topic =)

 

[o1die]

I guess it all depends on whether you want to try overclocking the celeron. It might run fine at 166 or 200 without a voltage boost. None of the ecs boards I've used have any voltage adjustments except one, and it was running undervolted at the higher setting. The 326 celeron d is supposed to have 64 bit support. I haven't seen any Fry's ads lately with the 64 sempron on sale. They sell the older cores without 64 bit support.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
A 64bit, 90nm Sempron overclocked to 2.5Ghz with the TF6100 board is pretty hard to beat.

Bwahahahaha, mine got to 2.75GHz and may be able to get more!

Regarding Celeron D... at stock I'd prefer the Sempron for lower heat output and possibly better performance. Same reasons for overclocked. As for overclocking with the "combo" I'm not familiar with the particular ECS boards sold with the Celeron D but I seem to recall that they used the VIA PM800 chipset which is not known for being overclockable.

Regarding ECS boards, overclocking and voltage, just read some of my mini reviews in Motherboards. I've reviewed THREE ECS boards (NFORCE4-A939, NFORCE4-A754, NFORCE3-A) and all three were reasonably overclockable with FSB adjustments and vcore/vDIMM adjustments. Some of these went pretty high! The ones with Nforce4 chipset had a ceiling of 400MHz HTT and can overvolt by +375mV (1.775v) and can run RAM at 3.11v. I don't know about their Intel offerings though, the last ones I tried weren't very overclockable.

Regarding Semprons with 64 bit, even the old Paris core OEM chips we've all been getting have universally been 64 bit enabled even though that fact isn't advertised. Besides CPU-Z claiming so, some people have successfully run Windows XP 64 bit and various Linux 64 bit on these CPUs, so the chances are pretty much near 100% that any Sempron you get now will be 64 bit enabled regardless of whether it is advertised. Now, if someone happens to get one that isn't, don't come crying to me. I just state the facts as I see them.

The best deals are the occasional ones at Fry's with a Sempron and the ECS NFORCE4-A754 board. Outpost and Fry's often have the Sempron with an ECS NFORCE3-A board which is good, but is limited by AGP. Besides that, if you have to buy these separately and intend to overclock then get the Biostar Tforce6100 board and any Palermo core chip (preferably E3 or E6 core). You can thank me later.

BTW, not exactly sure what core it is, but Outpost has a retail box Sempron 3100+ for $59.90 (look in Hot Deals). They don't state the core but my money is on it being a D0 core. Perhaps I'll snag one just to "prove" it.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
A 64bit, 90nm Sempron overclocked to 2.5Ghz with the TF6100 board is pretty hard to beat.

Bwahahahaha, mine got to 2.75GHz and may be able to get more!

Ha! Everyone knows that Sempron of yours gets too hot at LAN parties, and it only runs stable at 2.6-2.65Ghz.

Besides, you're just jealous of letting the Epox NF3 board that runs at 325Mhz HTT slip out of your hands!

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel

Originally posted by: Zap
Bwahahahaha, mine got to 2.75GHz and may be able to get more!

Ha! Everyone knows that Sempron of yours gets too hot at LAN parties, and it only runs stable at 2.6-2.65Ghz.

Shhhh, I thought I paid you off already to agree with me.

That 2.6GHz was on a Biostar Geforce6100-M7 board in a slimline mATX case with crappy ventilation. Originally it was on the Tforce6100 board and it was locking from overheating and even clocking it down I had problems - until I knocked out the FDD bay cover for extra ventilation. Just that bit helped stabilize it and I didn't try clocking it back up in that case. Outside of the case and on the Tforce board I hit 2.75GHz and didn't try very hard to go higher.

 

[catalysts17az]

i did extensive research here.
Starting off with socket 478 (yeah thats right, the key word up on top was budgey, 478 is not that bad either)

Socket 478 CPU choices
Celeron D 310 (2.13) $ 42
Celeron D 331 (2.66) $53
Celeron D 336 (2.8) $58
Socket 478 Mobo choices
MSI Pm8m-v (micro atx) $45
Asus P4 800D-X (atx) $ 53
Asus P4 800SE (atx) $93 (Expensive but listed this board cause it got incredible ratings from customers)

Socket 754 CPU Choices
sempron 2600+ (90nm) $68
DTR 3000+ (13nm) 1.8Ghz $115 mobile processor, low wattage
Turion MT32 (1.8Ghz) $160 mobile processor low wattage

Socket 754 Mobo choices
Biostar K8NHA Nforce3 250Gb (atx) $60
Biostar TForce 6100 (micro atx) $64


Socket 939 CPU choices
amd64 3000+ (90nm) $113

Socket 939 mobo choices
Biostar TForce 6100939 $70
DFI LanParty UTNF4 Ultra D $113 listted this board cause it OC like crazy

Memory picks
PQI Pc 4000 2 X 256 $55
GSkills Pc 4000 2 X 1GB $171 expensive, but look at the speed and amout of ram for the money. only if you can afford it.

you never stated if you wanted to overclock. none the less here are my personal picks with emphasis on budget and performance (best bang for the buck) Have fun and good luck!
Fred