Which AMD processor for my desktop?

Hi,

Which AMD processor do you recommend me to buy? I use my workstation for watching movies, browse the Internet, office, and as a development machine. I am planning to have 1GB of RAM and to install Slackware.

You don't need a whole lot of processor for that. I would recommend getting one with at least 512KB of L2 cache. I run an AMD Athlon XP 2600+ Barton core in this box, and it performs really nice. My wife's PC has an AMD Athlon XP 2000+, with 256KB L2 cache. It runs nicely, too.

Chinaman,

Are the two processors you recommended good for server development? I am planning to run an application server(J2EE server), a database server(MuSQL) and and IDE at the same time so having 1GB of RAM is important for me.

Personally, I'm fond of the Athlon 64's. The price on them has come down dramatically since they came out. I figure if you're going to buy something new, you might as well plan for the future. The future of course being 64 bit OS's and apps. I'm using a 64 3200+ in my main box, and it screams. This might be more than you're looking for but I'm a gamer and I tinker with graphics and audio quite a bit. So I went for higher end, atleast it was when I built it. Just my 2 cents.

Stand at the same side of Chromezero.

AMD64 is really nice to me, tough I do not have one right now (but I have a Althon XP 1800+ right now). It is downward compatible with 32-bit apps. So I would recommend you to buy one yourself.


Besides, I have used PowerMac G5 for a while. You know they are already 64-bit ready machine. I used them for movie rendering. Woo it rocks~! (Dual 2.5GHz CPU with 1GB DDR Ram) If I were using some older Mac, I would better kill myself.


Anyway, just my 2 cents.

Hi,

Which family of processors should I select if I opt for 64-bit architecture? I picked the categorization from AMD website so there might be others that I don't know about.

1. AMD Athlon™ 64 Processor: Now Available in Models 4000+
2. AMD Athlon™ 64 FX-57 Processor <-- for gaming. not sure if it an option for me,
3. AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor

It seems that the first option, regardless of the model is the best one for me. What do you think? Could you please give some info about the average price of each family of processors?
I found the folloing link for latest prices:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/V...04_609,00.html

Which AMD processor do you recommend me to buy? I use my workstation for watching movies, browse the Internet, office, and as a development machine. I am planning to have 1GB of RAM and to install Slackware.

You're not gaming all that much, so you don't need a whole lot of power. Depending on how much compiling you're planning on doing for the development, you may or may not want to go with an Athlon64.

I play DVDs on my laptop, which only has a 1.2GHz Athlon4, as well as limited software development (PHP). On my desktop, I do graphics rendering, including compression to BIK movies, and it's got an AthlonXP 2200+ w/ 1GB of RAM. What I'm getting at is that you don't need the top end Athlon on the market. In fact, I'd suggest that you don't even need an Athlon if you're not doing gaming.

So what I'd suggest is that you might be able to get by with a lower-end Sempron. Get one for a Socket 754 motherboard, and you can then upgrade to an Athlon64 in the future if you feel you need it, but for basic DVD watching, word processing, running an IDE, and web use, the bottom-end Sempron probably has more than enough power. It'll be slow on compile, and if you're doing any rendering, but otherwise it'll be enough.

I think your big issue will simply be the prices. If I were going to build a system right now, I'd go with an Athlon 64. The prices on the FX and dual-core chips is too much for the average user. As for which socket type you choose, I don't know that there's much of a difference. You have two choices, 747 and 939. You'll need to pick the one that fits the motherboard you want. I'm a bit finicky about motherboards, so I was forced to get the 939. Hope that helps.

Regardless of whether I opted for 64-bit, AthlonXP or Sempron, is Slackware compatible with all of them? In terms of cache, frequence, bus and other features related to the processor itself, what values are acceptable for them? I am not familiar with the latest in the hardware industry and don't know wether the models that are available on AMD website are old or not. For instance, AMD website show models from 2400+ to 3300+ for Sempron. Are they all new or some of them 2 years old?

Hi, I can just tell you that Slackware is compatible with a Sempron

cause I have one and I have used Slack with it. Also, as was said before

Sempron and just 256 Megs of RAM is more than ebnough if you don't

play games, just watch DVDs, word-proc, web surfing and the likes.

cheers

The 754's are new-ish. AMD has been capable of producing them for over a year.

As far as the cache/etc, it entirely depends on what you're going to do. The 256kb of cache on the Semprons, for example, is more than enough for word processing and web-use. My laptop's CPU only has 256kb of cache, and as I said, I use it for playing DVDs without any trouble.

If I were doing gaming, however, or anything with a *lot* of floating point calculations, and I was really worried about getting them done quickly, I'd want a larger cache, preferably 1mb, simply to allow for faster instruction buffering and execution.

For what you're suggesting, however, the lower-end processors are more than enough. You may have to wait an extra minute when compiling, but the advantage is that they consume much less power, they're cooler, and as a result the fan is quieter.

It's your call. I'm just saying what I would buy.

If your after value for money or cheap and cheerful try to get hold of one of the old Athlon XP's or the mobile version, they are bombproof, very cheap, very reliable and clockable. However you may not be able to buy them anymore or any decent motherboards. Also they are not bad performers, unless your after playing top games or heavy video/audio work it will last you a good while

If not, or your after high performance then I think the Athlon 64's socket 939 are just about coming into there own now. I have a socket 754 but last I heard AMD weren't going to develop them any further, they were going to concentrate on the 939s because of a few reasons, one of them being they supported dual-channel memory.

but, my hardware knowledge is a good six months out of date, a lot can happen in that time

Thanks guys for your help,

Running 2 servers and an IDE at the same time needs a lot of memory. Eventough Sempron is an excellent option for everyday activities but I might need to do some heavy development from time to time.
What do think about the 3400+ processor?
3400+ with 512KB L2 Cache
3400+ with 1MB L2 Cache and CG Stepping
3400+ with 1MB L2 Cache and C0 Stepping

Do they have the same price? What is the difference between C0 and CG Stepping?
Please feel free to suggest other models.

I don't know enough to be able to tell you the little differences here. I can tell you that more cache will increase performance when it comes to graphics, etc. If you really want to get into the nitty gritty, I'd google for some overclockers forums. Those guys really know the ins and outs of processors and how to get max performance out of them. If it's prices you want to know, I'd check these places. All of them carry the latest and greatest. Prices will vary slightly from one to the other. I buy all my parts from the online shops listed below...

NewEgg
Multiwave
Tigerdirect
Directron

I would google for 'amd 64 3400+ reviews' and see what you come up with. Read all the reviews you can get your hands on and then make your own decision. I would also do the same for the motherboard you're going to buy. As for prices, a good place to check is PriceWatch. Personally, I usually only buy processors and motherboards that are retail but this is up to you. When I have custom built computers for others in the past, I usually end up buying from either newegg.com or ZipZoomFly but this again is up to you. Whichever place you are looking at buying from I would run them through ResellerRatings.com. ResellerRatings.com is a collection of customer reviews of retailers (I have found it to be pretty accurate in the past). Good luck finding your hardware.

MagicMan