I'm currently looking to upgrade my processor from an Athlon Thunderbird 850MHz processor. On the basis of how much I want to spend, I have it narrowed down to 2 processors: AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (2.0 GHz clock, 266 MHz FSB, 256 KB L2 cache) AMD Sempron 2800+ (2.0 GHz clock, 333 MHz FSB, 256 KB L2 cache) I can get the Sempron for ~$50 and Athlon XP for ~$60. I would like to know which would be better for my system. I'm willing to pay a little more for the Athlon XP if it's better than the Sempron. The Sempron has 333 MHz FSB, but I don't know how much this will matter since my memory is PC2100 (266 MHz). I know that if I get the Sempron, I will have to upgrade my BIOS, but this shouldn't be a problem. I do not game at all, but I watch quite a bit of video, and I do some video editing and encoding. I also don't really care about overclocking. Here is my configuration: AOpen AK79D-1394 Socket A motherboard (Supports up to 333 MHz system bus) Athlon Thunderbird 850MHz processor 512MB PC2100 DDR RAM x 2 (total 1GB) 430W Thermaltake power supply ASUS Geforce N6200 SB Live Windows XP Pro SP1

Of the two CPUs, the Sempron is obviously better/faster due to it's higher FSB, but you'd really need PC2700 RAM (or PC3200 running at PC2700 speed) to take full advantage of it. On a socket A system, best performance is when the CPU & RAM run at the same bus speed (aka 1:1 ratio). With the Sempron at 166MHz (333FSB) & the PC2100 at 133MHz (DDR266), you'd be taking a performance hit.

I agree with jam on Sempron 2800 being a better processor than the Athlon 2400; but I dont think it is wise to spend even more money on RAM to make use of the Sempron. As jam said, you will take a performance hit running the Sempron with your RAM @133MHz. I'd say, keep the RAM, and get the Athlon. If a Athlon 2000 is available for even lesser price, pick it up. It is not a world of difference between the 2000 and 2400 as you have mentioned you dont game much. Your video editing might take a few seconds or a minute or two more (in case of very large files) to complete, but am sure a home user can live with that. This way you will have a decent upgrade for a very low cost. If you take to another upgrade within a year or so, you will not feel too bad about the money you spent now :) Kailas Shastry 3000+ Venice, A8N-E, 768MB DDR266, 160GB Barracuda, 380W Cooler Master

AXP 2200+, $39 AXP 2200+ specs

Thanks for all the replies. You both answered the main question that I had, which was whether or not the Sempron was on par with this particular Athlon XP. You both agreed that the Sempron was better, but that it would underperform because of my RAM. Now I have a question. How much would it underperform? If I got the Sempron and changed the FSB settings in BIOS to auto or 133 MHz to match my memory, would the performance of the Sempron then be worse than the Athlon XP 2400? If changing the settings will decrease the performance below that of the Athlon, then I will get the Athlon. And Jam, earlier last week I found that Athlon XP 2200 that you linked when I first began my search, and I almost bought that one. But I searched a little more, and that's when I found this Sempron 2800+ for $49 + free shipping and the Athlon XP 2400+ for $58 + free shipping on pricewatch.com Thanks again guys for all the help.