Should I get another Sempron 2800+ or a Sempron 3100+?

[Antoneo]

I'm currently running a Sempron 2800+@2.4 with 1.55 volts using the stock cooler on a DFI NF3. I'm planning to get a xp-90 for it since it gets a bit toasty.

I've also purchased another DFI NF3 and was wondering if I should get another Sempron 2800+ or perhaps a Sempron 3100+ to change things up a little. I will definitely overclock and will get a xp-90 for this machine as well. Would the Sempron 3100+ be a needless expenditure of money or would I have a better chance of a higher overclock?

The difference between the two CPUs would be about $25-$30. The XP-90 would be about $30.

Grrr, I couldn't decide so I thought I might make a quick thread and see what you guys had to say.

 

[Hacp]

It would be needless, because the only reason to get a 3100+ is for the higher multiplier, and your DFI board can currently get pretty high in terms of HTT.

 

[Furen]

Depends on how far you wish to push it. If you are aiming for 2.4ish then there's no point to getting a 3100+ unless you really want unlocked multipliers.

 

[Hacp]

Yep 330*8= 2640.

 

[Antoneo]

bump for the evening...

 

[Antoneo]

up

 

[Avalon]

I'd say just get the 2800+. The DFI is usually good for about 315-325HTT, and so far both my DFI NF3 and NF4 boards have gone higher than that

 

[Antoneo]

Hrm, if money didn't matter, would the 3100+ clearly be a better choice to pair with the DFI? 9x and under multipliers is the only advantage on paper I can think of. Will overlocking limits be higher for 3100+ because of the higher binning? I'd like to do 2.4GHz at the very least and would like to see more.

 

[mindwreck]

I would stick to the 2800+ and spend the extra money on the xp90 and squeeze some more out of the cpu. 2.4Ghz is about where every seems to get to, but with some work and luck, it may do 2.6 or 2.7ghz.

 

[ItsAlive]

Well im currently running the 3100+ version of the Sempy and I think its great. The unlocked multies and Cool N' Quiet work like a charm on my Gigabyte K8NS Pro board and i never see temps over 36C with the stock cooling fan. I know that the 2800+ can get the same speeds as the 3100+ but as for me the Cool N' Quiet was a nice feature with the 3100+ package.

 

[Antoneo]

Originally posted by: ItsAlive
Well im currently running the 3100+ version of the Sempy and I think its great. The unlocked multies and Cool N' Quiet work like a charm on my Gigabyte K8NS Pro board and i never see temps over 36C with the stock cooling fan. I know that the 2800+ can get the same speeds as the 3100+ but as for me the Cool N' Quiet was a nice feature with the 3100+ package.

I thought one was supposed to disable CnQ when overclocking?

Well, I've been trying to figure this out, but whether or not a CPU with higher multiplier guarantees a higher overclock on a motherboard with capable of a high FSB seems to be inconclusive so far.

 

[mindwreck]

Almost all of the new nforce3 and nf4 boards can take fsb speeds of 300 or more.
It can go both ways, being able to get a high overclock with a high fsb or with a higher multiplier, its all up to the chip you get.

 

[ItsAlive]

Well i dunno wether its good or bad, disabling the Cool N' Quiet when overclocking but i am using it and it seems to be working fine. But as far as gettin a better overclock with a higher multi really its up to the processor and ram you choose to use. Unless youre running DDR600 ram i think the best option is going with an 8x multi with a higher frontside bus to gain DDR400 speeds. However i havent tried the DFI board so i dunno what choices you have for the divider settings.

 

[ItsAlive]

Hey Mindwreck what voltage are you running at to get stable at that speed? I have mine up to 1.55v and if i try to go any higher i have to bump to over 1.6v and thats a lil higher than id like to go with it.

 

[mindwreck]

yeah mine also need 1.6v to go any higher. I held back when i had my xp 90 as temps were going +60C. but now with my watercooling i can do 1.6v adn still have temps around 40C

 

[ItsAlive]

Yeah i was getting around 36C according to the eazytune software that came with my board. However according to Everest Home Edition i get 40C when runnin Prime95 for a few hours. Im thinking Everest is prolly more accurate on temp readings than eazytune but not 100% sure.

 

[Antoneo]

Yeah I decided to bite the bullet and get the Sempron 3100+. I think I had my hopes up when I saw people posting 2.7 and 2.6 overclocks on their Sempron 2800+ and expected mine to do the same. I'm pretty sure the CPU is the problem since I tried it on two DFI NF3s and achieved the same overclock on 1.55 volts (51C on load ). I'm hoping I get a little bit more out of it when the XP-90 comes later this week.

 

[ItsAlive]

Well good luck with your overclock. I hope all goes well for you with the new CPU. I heard about someone dropping HTT to 2.5 and getting 330x8 for a clock of about 2640mhz or 2.64Ghz. I would have went that route but since i dont have the .5 incriment settings on HTT with this motherboard i feel that 2.5Ghz is suitable enough for me. Let us know how it goes once you get it all up and running.