Overclocking Buyer's Guide - September 2004
by Wesley Fink on September 17, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
CPU and Motherboard: VALUE OC Alternatives
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 Sempron 3100+ RetailMotherboard: Chaintech VNF3-250
Price: CPU - $123 shipped (OEM). Motherboard - $80 shipped
There is a lot to be said for the overclocking value of an Athlon 64 2800+ or 3000+ combined with a 2nd Generation 754 board. However, a $140 to $175 processor is still more than some want to invest in a processor. This is why the Athlon XP continues to be top sellers. However, the new Sempron 3100+ for socket 754 changes that economics equation enough to shift our Alternative recommendation.
When AMD recently introduced the Sempron line of value processors, there was a little surprise hidden in the new Sempron line. The Sempron 3100+ was a Socket 754 CPU based on the Athlon 64 core. While it did not support 64-bit code and had half the cache of the popular 2800+, the Sempron 3100+ established a new low price of entry for the Athlon 64 architecture. It still has the defining on-chip memory controller and all the other great features of Athlon 64.
Please do not be confused by the silly number that AMD gave the Sempron. It is a 3100+ only compared to Celeron. The real performance is a notch below the Athlon 64 2800+. It runs at the same 1.8Ghz and has 256k of cache instead of the 512k of the 2800+. However, we have found the Sempron 3100+ to be a dynamite overclocker. On 3 different 754 boards, we reached 255 to 260 CPU settings at the stock multiplier of 9. A little quick math shows that the Sempron reached 2340MHz with ease at stock voltage. That means that it will run almost as fast as the top FX53/3800+/3700+, which operate at 2.4GHz. We're certain that more creative overclockers will reach even further with the 754 Sempron. At a price of $123, this certainly qualifies as a value overclocker!
If 64-bit capabilities and/or double the cache are important to you, then spend $20 more and buy the 2800+. The 2800+ has also developed quite a reputation as an excellent overclocker and you will find the $20 to be very well spent - returning great value for your additional investment.
You need a cheap Socket 754 board to house your Sempron 3100+, and it's nice that there's a cheap 754 board available that doesn't know that it is cheap. The Chaintech VNF3-250 is one of those rare boards that can be had for very little money, but behaves like it costs a lot of money. Put another way, the Chaintech VNF3-250 is based on the latest nVidia nForc3-250 family chipset. It uses the cheaper 250 member of the family, but it brings the really important features to the table. Most important, the overclocking controls are exemplary - as good as you will find on any 754 board except maybe the DFI LANParty UT. In our book, this combination spells overclocking value. The Chaintech has the stuff to squeeze whatever performance that your Sempron or 2800+ has waiting to be realized, and it will deliver that performance at a price that is kind to your budget.
We have recommended the Chaintech VNF3-250 in many Guides where we were looking for top performance at a low price. That's the reason it earned our Silver Editors Choice in a larger Socket 754 roundup.
For more information on the outstanding features and overclocking options available on the Chaintech, please take a closer look at our review of the Chaintech VNF3-250.
If you cannot find the lowest prices on the products that we've recommended on this page, it's because we don't list some of them in our RealTime pricing engine. Until we do, we suggest that you do an independent search online at the various vendors' web sites. Just pick and choose where you want to buy your products by looking for a vendor located under the "Vendor" heading.
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whitelight - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
For ram, look into PQI's 2-2-2-5 (2x512mb) solution. It overclocks really well with relatively tight timings and has samsung's tccd chips. It's also cheaper than other solutions ($250)axel - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
Hi, very interesting article indeed.The only thing I do not really understand, and rather see as an error is the following:
You say that almost every top overclockers i.e. in the futuremark 3dmarks ORB database are on AMD platforms. Though, except if I'm not looking at the right place, if I'm taking into account the 5 best scores, I see that 4 of them are running Pentium4 platforms, and only one is an AMD (which is actually on the 4th position of the top-5).
AlphaFox - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
Id like to see how the XP stacks up against the 64 when overclocked.. I have a XP mobile 2600 and am running it at 2.46Ghz and everything I throw at it runs as smooth as silk.. I dont see a need to upgrade unless there was something I couldnt run, or run smooth.eetnoyer - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
Any chance you've tested the limits of the ballistix RAM on the DFI. If so, how high did it reach?Nickel020 - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
Nice article, but there is a mistake on page 5 (CPU and Motherboard: VALUE OC Recommendations):The heatsinks listed (XP-90 & 120) are made by Thermalright, not Thermaltake.
Shinei - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
Nice article, though I'm curious to see how the 3200-M64 performs compared to the Clawhammer and Newcastle desktop cores. I know the Newcastle revisions have an upgraded memory controller, or something like that; does the 3200-M64 have the same upgrades, or is it based on the older Clawhammer revision?And why the choice of OCZ's PowerStream? Antec puts out a 550w that's just as reliable as the 480w you suggested as an alternative... Unless I missed a review that pointed out the OCZ to be more robust than the Antec supply.
qquizz - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
This is my type of review. I can't have too many of them. I do agree with slashbinslashbash about some guidance on value oriented RAM. The price differences between 2-2-2-5 memory and say 2.5-x-x-x value memory is rather drastic. But if none of it will o/c then so be it.slashbinslashbash - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
#2: Under the Value OC Alternative system Wesley writes "Buy an ATI 9800 PRO for $200 less and overclock the heck out of it." So it looks like you were right on the money ;) Personally I'm looking at a 9600XT All-In-Wonder as it's about the same price at Newegg; less performance in games (still reasonable framerates in Doom3) but with the ever-so-cool All-In-Wonder functionality added.slashbinslashbash - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
Great guide. The only thing that I'd ask you to do differently (or rather, to add next time) is to make a "value" recommendation for the RAM. Nowadays I won't use any less than a gig of RAM, but I think it's silly to pay substantially more for RAM than for the CPU. Even just one stick of 512MB in the Value Alternative system costs more than the CPU.I'd like to know some "value" RAM alternatives that might not have such aggressive latency timings but will still keep up with the mobo and CPU, if it's possible. I know you guys can't test every cheapo stick of RAM out there, but... any sort of guidance would be appreciated. All the big brands offer "Value" RAM. Will none of it overclock? Is the performance from the recommended $280 (for 1GB) RAM actually worth the $120 premium it commands over, say, two $80 sticks of Corsair Value Select (on front page of ZipZoomFly)? Would that $120 be better spent on the CPU? It's more than the difference between the Sempron 3100+ and the "Value Recommended" system's A64 3200+.. and it nearly covers the upgrade to both the CPU and motherboard.
Also, two errors: 1) the eVGA 6800GT is listed as $389 under the Value Alternative system but at $383 under the Value Recommended system; 2) the Value Recommended system sums to $1440, not $1460.
Again, great guide, it's probably what I'll be looking at when I decide on my next system.
decptt - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
For AGP VGA, do you have a value altervative for limited budget not playing doom3?For me, 6800 is too powerful to run multimedia and encoding DivX.
Do you think 9800Pro can be runner up?
Anyone knows about when ATI X series for AGP (X300, X600) will be coming? or ONLY PCI Express :'(