- Oct 13, 1999
- 22,377
- 7
- 81
Sempron 3300+ E3 tray
Got that CPU from Monarch for $79+$1.99 shipping, so basically $81 shipped. Ordered on Thursday and was really suprised to see it Monday morning. My last order from Monarch showed up on Pony Express... about 1½ weeks or so (mobo/CPU combo).
Testing this chip in my Epox 8KDA3I board in 5MHz HTT increments and on the default detected vcore (which it claims to be 1.5v ???) it will POST at 2.8GHz, but not at 2.85GHz. Locked on Prime at 2.75GHz with the minimum 0.05v vcore boost, but at 2.70Ghz is passing Prime. With this CPU installed, the board gave me a bunch of new memory settings above DDR400, up to DDR500. Wish it had extra below it, but ahhh well.
Oh yeah, tested multipliers and it works so this has Cool and Quiet - we already knew that right?
Using the retail box HSF from my Sempron 2600+ and running Prime it's barely warm.
I think I can safely say that for new budget system builds, socket A is officially dead. Highest end is the Sempron 3000+ Barton core at 2GHz 333MHz FSB.
Pop one of these under $100 Semprons in a $60 Biostar board with a mild overclock and you've got the basis of a nice little system that'll be sufficient for most non-gamers.
I think paying a bit extra for a higher multiplier is worth the money. Lots of people are getting the 2800+ and then finding that they're hitting the motherboard limit before the CPU limit, so some go out and spend extra on a better overclocker board like the DFI. I say instead of spending the extra on the board, spend the extra on the CPU itself and get the next up multiplier such as the 3000+/3100+. Pretty much any board that's an overclocker board can hit 270-280MHz HTT for 2.4-2.5GHz clocks with the 9x multiplier. The better boards can hit around 300MHz for 2.7GHz which may be the limit of my single sample (not representative, but a possibility). If you get the 2600+/2800+ with the 8x multiplier you'd have to be running darn near 340MHz HTT to hit around 2.7GHz.
I'm not sure that paying extra for the 10x multiplier is worth it because at the limit of my particular chip the board is not my limiting factor. However, in my case it really wasn't paying extra since it was so inexpensive.
Too bad this chip didn't overclock to an even 3GHz. :brokenheart:
Next up on the test bench... my Biostar Tforce6100 and Sapphire Radeon X800GTO Ultimate Edition from Newegg refurb... board didn't come with ATX back plate but the video card looks brand new in box with everything.
Later this week, another Sapphire Radeon X800GTO (normal edition?) also from Newegg refurb... gosh there are a LOT of Radeon X8-- series on refurb for pretty cheap. What's up with that? We're talking about X800 128MB for $82, up to the X800XL with 512MB for $170 - I didn't even know they made 512MB versions of those...
Sometime next week, Monarch shipping department willing, my first Opteron, a 144 for $130 and a DFI LANPARTY Ultra-D for $120. My cheapest socket 939 CPU to date and my most expensive motherboard since the early socket 478 800MHz FSB days...
Good times, good times...
Got that CPU from Monarch for $79+$1.99 shipping, so basically $81 shipped. Ordered on Thursday and was really suprised to see it Monday morning. My last order from Monarch showed up on Pony Express... about 1½ weeks or so (mobo/CPU combo).
Testing this chip in my Epox 8KDA3I board in 5MHz HTT increments and on the default detected vcore (which it claims to be 1.5v ???) it will POST at 2.8GHz, but not at 2.85GHz. Locked on Prime at 2.75GHz with the minimum 0.05v vcore boost, but at 2.70Ghz is passing Prime. With this CPU installed, the board gave me a bunch of new memory settings above DDR400, up to DDR500. Wish it had extra below it, but ahhh well.
Oh yeah, tested multipliers and it works so this has Cool and Quiet - we already knew that right?
Using the retail box HSF from my Sempron 2600+ and running Prime it's barely warm.
I think I can safely say that for new budget system builds, socket A is officially dead. Highest end is the Sempron 3000+ Barton core at 2GHz 333MHz FSB.
Pop one of these under $100 Semprons in a $60 Biostar board with a mild overclock and you've got the basis of a nice little system that'll be sufficient for most non-gamers.
I think paying a bit extra for a higher multiplier is worth the money. Lots of people are getting the 2800+ and then finding that they're hitting the motherboard limit before the CPU limit, so some go out and spend extra on a better overclocker board like the DFI. I say instead of spending the extra on the board, spend the extra on the CPU itself and get the next up multiplier such as the 3000+/3100+. Pretty much any board that's an overclocker board can hit 270-280MHz HTT for 2.4-2.5GHz clocks with the 9x multiplier. The better boards can hit around 300MHz for 2.7GHz which may be the limit of my single sample (not representative, but a possibility). If you get the 2600+/2800+ with the 8x multiplier you'd have to be running darn near 340MHz HTT to hit around 2.7GHz.
I'm not sure that paying extra for the 10x multiplier is worth it because at the limit of my particular chip the board is not my limiting factor. However, in my case it really wasn't paying extra since it was so inexpensive.
Too bad this chip didn't overclock to an even 3GHz. :brokenheart:
Next up on the test bench... my Biostar Tforce6100 and Sapphire Radeon X800GTO Ultimate Edition from Newegg refurb... board didn't come with ATX back plate but the video card looks brand new in box with everything.
Later this week, another Sapphire Radeon X800GTO (normal edition?) also from Newegg refurb... gosh there are a LOT of Radeon X8-- series on refurb for pretty cheap. What's up with that? We're talking about X800 128MB for $82, up to the X800XL with 512MB for $170 - I didn't even know they made 512MB versions of those...
Sometime next week, Monarch shipping department willing, my first Opteron, a 144 for $130 and a DFI LANPARTY Ultra-D for $120. My cheapest socket 939 CPU to date and my most expensive motherboard since the early socket 478 800MHz FSB days...
Good times, good times...
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