CNNNNNNNNN reporting--Sempron goes 939 in retail

[LiamC]

or so says X-Bit

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/sempron-3000.html

 

[Handruin]

My thoughts are mixed with these 939 sempron's. In theory I like that they support dual channel, cost the same, and generate the same amount of heat. But...the point of a budget CPU is to reduce cost. Yes, I know they are expecting the same price on the chip as compared to the 754 counterpart. But I'm expecting a 939 pin motherboard to cost more than a 754 at this point. In addition to that, you will have to buy two RAM chips to utilize the dual channel, no? If so, then there is a possible added cost. Even with dual channel, the speed improvements didn't excite me.

 

[Tannin]

The key advantage will be to reduce inventory costs. Right now, the absolute minimum we have to carry in stock is:

UMA Socket A (Gigabyte)
UMA Socket 754 (Gigabyte or Epox)
Socket 754 (Gigabyte K8NS)
Socket 939 (Gigabyte ... er ... can't remember the number)

Give me a cheap UMA 939 board (and they will arrive any time now) and within a month or two I'll be able to carry just two motherboards:

UMA Socket 939
Standard Soclket 939

(The Socket A will be finished by then. It's pretty much only for repairs now, and we will phase it out completely soon. Besides, the Socket A Semprons suck. Not a patch on the mighty Athlon XP 2500.)

This translates into a major saving on inventory costs, and will be very welcome.

 

[Tea]

Is there any point in dual channel for mainstream AMD CPUs? I mean how much performance do we actually gain? Can someone provide a percentage number? Dual channel, remember, costs a little more (not much, but a few dollars per unit), and introduces extra complication. The more parts you use, the more often the system fails.

Anyone got a number?

 

[LiamC]

Standard office apps--no
Most games--no*
Multimedia playback--no
Multimedia encoding--yes**
Engineering/Scientific--yes**
1337 benchmarketer bull$h17 fests--yes

* There is a few % difference, but you'd never notice in real life
** Only of interest if this is the primary reason for using the workstation--consider Opteron anyhoo.

 

[Tea]

Thanks Bill. In that case, I'll continue with our current practice: dual channel for high-performance/enthausiast systems, don't worry about it for run of the mill standard stuff.

 

[mubs]

UMA Socket =

 

[Tannin]

UMA = Unified Memory Architecture = shared memory video.

 

[mubs]

Thanks Tannin.

 

[Mercutio]

Oh, I really don't see the point in these...

For one thing, I'm utterly confused about which product is the mainstream - 754 or 939. Last I heard, 754 was the mainstream product, 939 was for "enthusiasts", but 754 is to be abandoned sooner or later. That's a mixed message all on its own.

So... if 939 is for enthusiasts, and most enthusiasts don't want "crippled" Semprons (although I love the high clock on my two Sempron 3400s - they're slightly faster for some things than an A64/3200), what the hell are these things doing on the market?

I guess they're a "stepping stone" chip, a bridge for someone who wants to upgrade to, say, an x2 sometime down the road. But who, besides us chronic upgraders, buys upgrade CPUs these days without an upgrade board to go with it?

PCIe support? Well, Soltek makes a PCIe socket 754 board (a nice board, too! About 50% more expensive than the AGP version of the same thing, but that's PCIe for you). Presumably there's nothing stopping anyone else from doing it.

Is there really a market that was crying out for these chips?

 

[Buck]

Is there really a market that was crying out for these chips?

Yes. As Tony pointed out, I'd love to have one socket configuration. That way I can mix and match different levels of boards and CPUs -- but they're all still interchangeable!

 

[Mercutio]

I use one socket - Socket 754. Works great!

 

[Mercutio]

Actually... Tony, Buck, aren't you still stocking Socket A stuff?
I don't technically have stock per se (I end up with spare hardware regardless), but my bargain-bin builds still end up on Biostar or Gigabyte socket A boards, since they are $15 - $20 cheaper than the 754 versions. Have you guys been able to move away from that?

 

[Buck]

Yes. I've been able to move away from Socket A. Actually, the last Socket A system I assembled was for me. Although I haven't really had the time to use it. I was hoping to make a fileserver out of the beast with Suse 9.3.