Celeron vs Sempron.pdf

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New Budget Processors Comparison: IntelCeleron D vs. AMD Sempron

The major topic for discussion in our new budget CPU guide is the eternal rivalry between the two new valueprocessor families from AMD and Intel. We tested 14 new processors in 27 benchmarks and now we are ready toname the best choice for a budget system. Find out who the winner is!

by Ilya Gavrichenkov10/01/2004 | 02:15 PM

The value processor market has lately been a place of much interest for the user community as both suppliers of x86CPUs, AMD and Intel, reformed their series of products for inexpensive computer systems throughout the lastsummer, making obsolete our comparative review of value CPUs we published on our site in the middle of May.The report on the Celeron D posted in June doesnt help much, either.

So, we must return to the problem of value processors once again.

The review youre now reading is dedicated to comparing the performance of new value CPUs from AMD and Intel the Sempron and the Celeron D, respectively. Intel has equipped its value series with a new and more advanced

core achieving a substantial performance improvement. AMDs new Sempron family has appeared exactly tocompete with the rejuvenated Celerons in the bottom tiers of the market. Thus, the situation has changed completely:you had to choose between junior Athlon XP models and Celerons earlier, but now there are other names in themarket.

To see the standings of the two manufacturers in this market sector, we carry out this review.

Modern Processors for Inexpensive PCs

Before offering you the results of the tests, Id like to describe briefly the basic characteristics of the participants.

Intel Celeron D . The Celeron D CPU owes its origin to Intels transition to the 90nm tech process. First appearing in

the Pentium 4, the Prescott core soon found an application in the value series. Thanks to the new core, the CeleronD features 256KB L2 cache and SSE2 support. In tel also transferred the new Celeron to the 533MHz front-side bus.All these improvements contribute to a much higher performance of the new processor, making it more competitivefrom the price/performance point of view, compared to the older Celeron family.

t labs - Print version http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/print/sempron.html

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The use of the advanced Prescott core manufactured with 90nm tech process also allows raising the frequency bar of the new Celeron D family. Right now, the senior model of the series is clocked at 2.93GHz; models with 3GHz andhigher frequencies are soon to appear, too.

Note that with all the considerable improvements in the Celeron D, Intel doesnt implement Hyper-Threadingtechnology in it yet. Instead, the new Celeron D models (in the LGA755 variant) feature Execute Disable Bit, atechnology for securing the OS against various malicious programs. This technology is supported in MicrosoftWindows Server 2003 Service Pack 1, Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, SuSE Linux 9.2 and Red HatEnterprise Linux 3 Update 3.

AMD Sempron . AMD answered to the launch of the Celeron D family by releasing its own series of value CPUscalled Sempron. Unlike Intel, AMDs engineers didnt introduce any changes into the characteristics of the processorcores they had at their disposal. The Sempron is in fact a renamed Athlon XP, which became very cheap after thearrival of the Athlon 64 CPU series. Semprons with ratings up to 2800+ are Socket A CPUs on old 0.13-micronThoroughbred-B and Thorton cores with 333MHz FSB, up to 2GHz clock rates, and 256KB of L2 cache. The

Sempron 3000+ is a Barton-core processor with 2GHz frequency, 333MHz FSB, and 512KB L2 cache.


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The Sempron family for Socket A systems should oust the Athlon XP processor out of the market: this is anindication of the fact that the time of Socket A processors is over, and they can only serve in low-end computersnow.

The Sempron family also includes a Socket 754 model (with 3100+ rating). The Sempron 3100+ differs a lot from its junior mates. It is based on the Paris core, sharing the same K8 architecture with top-end CPUs on ClawHammer andNewCastle cores. However, theres little left of the power of the top-end models: the Paris core has only 256KB of L2 cache and has the AMD64 technology disabled. In other words, the Sempron 3100+ is a 32-bit processor, in spiteof its links to the Athlon 64 family. On the other hand, the Sempron 3100+, just like the Athlon 64, supportsCoolnQuiet technology, SSE2 instruction set, and can use the NX bit.


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The Sempron is a new series of value CPUs from AMD, which is going to develop and extend further. It is clear thatwell see other Sempron models for Socket 754 and Socket 939 systems soon.


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Intel Celeron D and AMD Sempron: Characteristics and Price

The following table lists the basic characteristics of the models that comprise the AMD Sempron and Intel Celeron Dseries. Note that the manufacturers both use a rating system for naming their value processors. The correspondencebetween the rating and the real characteristics is also indicated in this table:

CPU Clock

frequencyCore L2

cache

Bus

frequencySocket type

SIMDinstructions

support

Other

technologies

Intel Celeron D

Celeron D340

2.93GHz Prescott 256KB 533MHz LGA775,Socket 478 SSE, SSE2, SSE3Execute Disable

Bit*Celeron D

3352.8GHz Prescott 256KB 533MHz LGA775,Socket 478 SSE, SSE2, SSE3

Execute DisableBit*

Celeron D330


Bit*Celeron D

325 2.53GHz Prescott 256KB 533MHzLGA775,

Socket 478 SSE, SSE2, SSE3Execute Disable

Bit*

Celeron D320 2.4GHz Prescott 256KB 533MHz

LGA775,Socket 478 SSE, SSE2, SSE3

Execute DisableBit*

Celeron D315


Bit*AMD Sempron

Sempron2200+ 1.5GHz

Thoroughbred,Thorton 256KB 333MHz Socket A SSE, 3DNow! -

Sempron2300+ 1.58GHz Thoroughbred 256KB 333MHz Socket A SSE, 3DNow! -

Sempron2400+ 1.67GHz Thoroughbred 256KB 333MHz Socket A SSE, 3DNow! -

Sempron2500+

1.75GHz Thoroughbred 256KB 333MHz Socket A SSE, 3DNow! -

Sempron2600+

1.83GHz Thoroughbred 256KB 333MHz Socket A SSE, 3DNow! -

Sempron2800+

2.0GHz Thoroughbred,Thorton 256KB 333MHz Socket A SSE, 3DNow! -

Sempron3000+ 2.0GHz Barton 512KB 333MHz Socket A SSE, 3DNow! -

Sempron3100+ 1.8GHz Paris 256KB 800MHz Socket 754

SSE, SSE2,3DNow!

CoolnQuiet,NX-bit

*Only LGA755 variants of the Celeron D processor support the Execute Disable Bit (NX-bit) technology

This table provides all the necessary information about the new value CPU series from AMD and Intel. Id only like


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to draw your attention to one thing. The ratings of Semprons are assigned according to different rules than theratings of the Athlon XP or 64. For example, Athlon XP CPUs of the same ratings as Semprons have a higherperformance due to a higher clock rate and a bigger amount of the cache memory. So why does AMD apply a newrating system to the Sempron? The answer is simple as soon as you take a look at the prices the manufacturers setfor their products:

The official price lists are compiled in such a way that every Celeron D model has a Sempron counterpart with arating equal to the frequency of that Celeron D. It is on this basis that AMD compares its Semprons with Celeron Dmodels and claims superiority of its processors, though only in Winstone and SYSmark (AMD says nothing abouthow the Sempron compares to the Celeron D in games, for example).

Testbed and Methods

The goal of this test session is to give you a most comprehensive view of the current situation in the market of CPUspriced below $120. Thats why I took all the models from junior up to senior ones from the two value series,

Celeron D and Sempron. To give you a perspective of how the performance of the value products differs from thatof top-end processors, I also included two 2.8GHz Pentium 4 CPUs on Northwood and Prescott cores as well as anAthlon XP and Athlon 64 (both with 2800+ rating). Besides that, I will show you the results of the Celeron 2.8GHzCPU, just for you to see the progress in the processor development field.

I tested the Celeron D processors on a Socket 478 platform, because LGA755 systems and appropriate hardware arerather expensive and limited in spread right now. Besides, as we proved it in one of our earlier articles, the use of DDR2 SDRAM and PCI Express graphics cards brings no advantages as yet. Note also that, although we deal withinexpensive processors, the test platforms were assembled of rather costly and high-performance parts (mainboardswith a dual-channel memory controller, and a graphics card with the ATI RADEON 9800 XT chip) we wanted tominimize the influence of other devices of the performance of the CPU proper.

So, the testbed systems were comprised of the following hardware:Processors:

Intel Celeron D 340 (2.93GHz),Intel Celeron D 335 (2.8GHz),Intel Celeron D 330 (2.66GHz),Intel Celeron D 325 (2.53GHz),Intel Celeron D 320 (2.4GHz),Intel Celeron D 315 (2.26GHz),Intel Celeron 2.8,AMD Sempron 2200+ (1.5GHz),AMD Sempron 2300+ (1.58GHz),

AMD Sempron 2400+ (1.67GHz),AMD Sempron 2500+ (1.75GHz)AMD Sempron 2600+ (1.83GHz),AMD Sempron 2800+ (2.0GHz),AMD Sempron 3000+ (2.0GHz),


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The processors of the Celeron D family occupy the top lines of the diagram in this test. The senior models with 2.8and 2.9GHz frequencies are so confident in PCMark04 that they even outperform the AMD Athlon 64 2800+, whichdefinitely does not belong to the value products category. This is the performance bonus that the Celeron D acquiredwhen transitioning to the Prescott core 533MHz FSB, dual-channel DDR333 SDRAM and big L2 cache are thefactors that contribute to this excellent result. While Prescott-core Pentium 4 CPUs are just slightly faster than their

Northwood-core counterparts, the gap between the old and new Celeron families is much wider the new 90-nmcore shows its best sides when employed in low-end processors.


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AMDs Sempron is no match to Intels Celeron D in the speed of working with the memory. This comes as thebandwidth of the CPU-memory thoroughfare in Intels platforms is h igher thanks to the 533MHz Quad Pumped Bus.The theoretical peak bandwidth of this channel is 4.2GB/s with Celeron D CPUs, and only 2.7GB/s with Socket ASemprons (3.2GB/s with the Sempron 3100+).

Note also by how much the Sempron 3100+ is faster than the other members of its family. Based on the K8architecture, this model features an integrated memory controller that supports single-channel DDR400 SDRAM.Thats why a system with a Sempron 3100+ will have a higher memory subsystem bandwidth than Socket Asystems, and a much lower latency, too. Thus, the Sempron 3100+ is capable of providing a much higherperformance in real-life applications than other (Socket A) Semprons.

Futuremark 3DMark 2001 SE and 3DMark03

3DMark 2001 SE is very loyal to AMDs Sempron processors, the result of the Sempron 3100+ for Socket 754looking especially good. According to 3DMark 2001 SE, this processor is not only much faster than any Celeron D,but even outperforms the 2.8GHz Pentium 4 models. As for the Socket A Semprons, their performance is nearlysimilar to that of the same-price Celeron D models. However, the senior Sempron for Socket A is slightly faster than

the Celeron D 340.


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Its different in the newer 3DMark03 suite: the Sempron family looks worse compared to the Celeron D series in thistest. The Semprons for Socket A can only compete with the ordinary Celeron based on the old Northwood core,with 128MB L2 cache and 400MHz FSB. The only Sempron to perform more or less successfully here is theSempron 3100+ intended for Socket 754 systems. This model leaves all the members of the Celeron D familybehind, including the senior 340 model (2.93GHz).

The CPU test from the same benchmarking suite produces somewhat different results. The Semprons dont look utterly hopeless against the Celeron D gang. The senior Semprons for Socket A are competing with the middle-range


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Celeron D (320-330), while the Sempron 3100+ for Socket 754 systems is again an unrivalled leader among thevalue products.

Gaming Applications

Since testing the Athlon XP in Quake 3 we know that this CPU architecture isnt the best choice for that shooter. So,we cant hope for anything exceptional from the Socket A Semprons here, which are clocked at lower frequenciesthan regular Athlon XPs. And really, the Semprons are all in the lower part of the diagram with a single exception of the Sempron 3100+, which features an integrated memory controller and the K8 architecture. This processor is sofast in Quake 3 that it leaves behind the full-featured Pentium 4 on the Prescott core and clocked at 2.8GHz!


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Unreal Tournament 2004 draws quite another performance map: the Socket A Semprons are fast here,outperforming the competing Celeron D models. The Sempron 3100+ is again superior to the rest of the Semprons.This is a characteristic thing, by the way. Although theres little price difference between the Sempron 3100+ andSempron 3000+, the Socket 754 processor is more future-proof and is just faster in real applications.


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The competing Celeron D and Sempron models of the same price provide nearly the same performance in thesemi-synthetic Aquamark3. However, the Socket A Semprons lose the CPU test to their Socket 478 counterparts.

Once again the Sempron 3100+ receives my praises: although its L2 cache is twice smaller than the one of the Athlon64 2800+, the two processors run Far Cry almost at the same speed. As a result, the Sempron 3100+ outperforms thewhole Celeron D family as well as the two Pentium 4 2.8GHz on Prescott and Northwood cores. So, I have to repeatit again that the Sempron 3100+ is a CPU from quite another category than the rest of the value CPUs both forSocket A and for Socket 478.


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The results are typical in the popular Doom 3 game: the performance of the Celeron D and the Sempron differs butslightly, so its hard to claim that any of them is a leader here. However, note that the Sempron 3000+, the only valueproduct with 512KB L2 cache, has a significant advantage over the others. I t is an indication of the importance of cache memory in this game. Secondly, the Sempron 3100+ is surprisingly good, too, being just a little slower thanthe 2.8GHz Prescott.

Overall, its hard to say that any of the two value CPU families is better in gaming applications. Depending onspecific optimizations or algorithms, either the Celeron D or the Sempron may become the winner. Note also that theK8 architecture of the Sempron 3100+ for Socket 754 systems provides the best performance in almost all thegaming applications in comparison to any other value processor.

Office and Digital Content Creation Applications


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AMD assigned ratings to the processors of the Sempron family basing on the results these processors had inWinstone and SYSmark benchmarks. It was done for the performance of each Sempron to be higher than that of the

Celeron D of the same price. Thats exactly what we see in the diagrams above.

Video, Audio Encoding


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SIMD instructions (a fast SSE2 unit and support of SSE3).

The Celeron D processors are faster than the Semprons when encoding video into MPEG-4 format with the DivXcodec. The Sempron 3100+ surpasses its Socket A mates, but can only compete with the Celeron D 325 that isclocked at 2.53GHz.

Its practically the same with the XviD codec. Intels transitioning the Celeron series to the Prescott core resulted in aconsiderable performance boost. Older Celeron and Pentium 4 processors (on the Northwood core) used to lose to


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AMDs products in this test, but now the Sempron and the Athlon 64 find themselves on the losing side.

Archiving

It is the memory subsystem that bears the highest load in archiving tasks. Unlike semi-synthetic memory subsystem

tests like PCMark04, archiving programs win from both a high CPU-memory bandwidth and a low latency. Besidesthat, the size of the L2 cache is important here, too.

Top lines of the diagram are populated by the processors with the K8 architecture, including Sempron 3100+, whichhas outperformed both 2.8GHz Pentium 4. This comes as the memory controller integrated into the K8 core reducesthe memory latencies greatly. As for the Celeron D, they are faster than the Socket A Semprons due to a widermemory bus as well as efficient data prefetch algorithms implemented in the Prescott core.

Antivirus Check

As a kind of experiment, I decided to measure the speed of an antivirus check of a folder with files of various typeswith a popular antivirus program.


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Once again the Semprons for Socket A cant boast high speeds. The Sempron 3100+, being much faster than theSemprons of smaller ratings, is capable of challenging the senior Celeron D clocked at 2.93GHz.

Image Editing

Although Intels top-end CPUs are faster in Photoshop than their rivals from AMD, its different with the valueproducts. The senior Sempron models Socket 754 and Socket A models alike run Photoshop almost as fast as


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the senior Celeron D CPUs. Comparing the junior models of the two series I would say that Intels ones aresomewhat swifter.

Software Development

Compiling program code is one of the few tasks which AMDs value CPUs are better in than their competitors fromIntel. Note that even the Barton-core Sempron 3000+ is faster than the 2.8GHz Pentium 4 here.


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The Sempron family processors are overall better in this type of tasks than Celeron D CPUs. Considering that theCeleron D lacks Hyper-Threading, this result is natural. The Athlon XP used to be superior in such applications too

until the Pentium 4 started supporting that technology.

Conclusion

This test session ended with a rather unexpected outcome. Earlier, shopping for a value processor was easy as junior


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Athlon XP models were much faster than Celerons. The release of the two new CPU families, however, changed thesituation in this market sector dramatically.

The performance bar of Intels inexpensive products has been raised by the 256-kilobyte L2 cache and the 533MHzFSB of the new Celeron D. AMD, on the contrary, lowered the speed of the Sempron compared to the Athlon XP,clocking them at lower frequencies or giving a smaller L2 cache. The company, however, claims that the Sempron isfaster than the Celeron D:

AMD is true: the Sempron is faster in the two benchmarks they used (Winstone and SYSmark). But we have justcarried out a more comprehensive testing session, which says that the Celeron D is often better than the Sempron inreal-life tasks. We found our own performance ratings of the processors by calculating the average of theprocessors relative speeds in the 27 benchmarks we used. The results are normalized to those of the Intel Celeron2.8:


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It is clear that the Semprons with ratings of 3000+ and lower, i.e. intended for Socket A systems, are slower than theCelerons working at the frequency that equals that rating, by about 5-6%.

We shouldnt forget about the Sempron 3100+ model, though. It must be viewed apart from the rest of the family,since this Paris-core processor for Socket 754 systems with the K8 architecture is incomparably better than its juniormates. According to our averaged rating, the Sempron 3100+ is faster than the Sempron 3000+ by about 15%! Thatswhy its performance is the highest among all the value processors I have reviewed today, approaching that of thePentium 4 2.8GHz and Athlon 64 2800+.

Of course, the appeal of a value processor is not only in its performance, but also in price. It is quite unreasonable totalk about advantages of a value CPU series without taking the price factor into account. So the next diagram showsyou the price/performance ratios for AMDs Sempron and Intels Celeron D series. The X axis shows price, the Yaxis weighted-mean performance:


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This picture is self-explanatory I guess. I only wish to draw your attention to the fact that the averaged graph is nottrue for all possible applications. For example, the Sempron family processors are much faster than the same-priceCeleron D CPUs in a number of games.


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Celeron vs Sempron.pdf