AMD Sempron 3400+ CPU

With 64-bit and SSE 3 support, is it the best budget processor?

Although I didn't have a 3000+ Athlon 64 to hand, I managed to dig out an older 3200+, clocked at 2GHz with 1MB of cache. Although this chip has an extra 768KB of L2 cache to its advantage you'll see that it affects processor performance less than you'd think. However, the Sempron 3400+ has the advantage of having SSE 3, something the older 3200+ Athlon 64 doesn't have and this could tilt the scale to the Sempron's favour in certain applications.

Looking at SYSMark 2004, the Sempron 3400+ scored 160 points overall, whereas the 3200+ Athlon 64 proved that more cache is a good thing with a score of 168 points. This might not sound like a huge difference between the two chips, but I think we'll have to wait for another speed bump or two before the Sempron catches up here. In PCMark 05, the Sempron scores 3148 overall versus 3237 for the Athlon 64, a much smaller gap.

Looking at some of the individual scores in PCMark05, it's interesting to note that the CPU test actually has the Sempron as the winner with a score of 2835 against the Athlon 64 3200+'s 2821. However, this is within the margin of error and the extra cache of the Athlon 64 wins it the memory benchmark with a score of 3077, leaving the Sempron trailing behind at 2869 points.

The Sempron does well in 3DMark 03 compared to the Athlon 64, with a score of 7858 points versus 7998 using a 6600GT AGP card. It might not be the choice for high-end gamers, but it shows that budget processors are not as bad for gaming as they once used to be.

There's little point for anyone to upgrade their current Socket 754 platform to the new Sempron processor, unless you've already got a slower Sempron or possibly a 2800+ Athlon 64. However, if you're looking at building yourself an affordable PC with good performance you could do far worse than going for the new Sempron, especially you are considering moving to 64-bit Windows XP or Vista in the future.

AMD didn't give us a UK price in time for the publication of this review, but all indications points to the Sempron 3400+ costing under £100 - it's $134 in the US. But with a Socket 939 Athlon 64 processor costing just over £100 there seems to be some product overlap in AMD's inventory.

Verdict

The Sempron 3400+ is a solid processor and it's good to see AMD bringing 64-bit support to its entry-level chip family. The addition of SSE 3 support is welcome too. But as always with a budget product success very much depends on the price.

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AMD Sempron 3400+
Price	TBC
More info	The AMD Sempron site

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