Sempron vs AthlonXP vs 754 Athlon64

[The Pentium Guy]

What's the best price to performance ratio? A friend of mine wants to spend about $600 on a computer, but I'm not too familiar with the budget AMDs....

 

[theMan]

i think you could probably get a S939 3000+ venice and a nice budget mobo, and it would easily be $600.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

I'll look for that, because I think that 939's probably the best choice anyways.

 

[Tostada]

Well, if you really need to build the whole computer for $600, a 90nm Socket 754 Sempron is the way to go. If you can afford it, a Socket 939 Venice is the best choice.

The days of building Socket A systems are over, though, unless you're trying to scrape together the absolute cheapest thing possible.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Yeah you're right really. I've got to convince him to shove up $50

 

[Tostada]

It just depends on what he's doing with the system. If he's not going to stress the CPU, a 90nm Sempron really does feel as fast as any A64 for most stuff. Windows responds faster and multitasks much better than a Socket A system. If he's actually going to use it, though, he might as well go for the Venice.