X-bit labs

Another Gift to Overclockers: AMD Sempron 3100+ on E Core Revision (page 3)

Category: CPU

by Ilya Gavrichenkov

[ 04/04/2005 | 06:06 PM ]

Since the CPU-Z didn’t recognize the CPU core correctly we decided to resort to one more diagnostic utility called CrystalCPUID. Luckily, this tool did recognize the Sempron 3100+ on the E core revision the right way.

It is true that the CPU we are reviewing today is based on the core codenamed Palermo. AMD selected this particular name for the E core stepping, which is a modification of the new Venice and San Diego cores used in Athlon 64 processors. Here I would like to point at some confusion with the codenames for the desktop Sempron processors designed for Socket 754 form-factor. The first CG core designed for these processors and manufactured with 130nm production technology was called Paris. According to AMD’s official roadmap, the next core was supposed to be Palermo, and the finer 90nm production technology was intended to be its major distinguishing feature from the predecessor. However, AMD’s roadmap doesn’t distinguish between the D and E core revisions. At the same time, these two core revisions are very different from one another, even though they are both manufactured with 90nm process. E core revision supports SSE3 instructions and boasts slightly upgraded memory controller compared with the memory controller used in D core revision. Nevertheless, the roadmap calls both cores Palermo, despite the above mentioned significant differences.

Therefore, you should understand that even though Sempron processors on Palermo core have already been around for quite a while (you can check out our review of the Sempron 2600+ CPU dating back to March 4, 2005), the Sempron 3100+ CPU we are going to talk about today is a different product. Our today’s processor is based on the E core stepping (Venice analog), while the CPUs that have been selling before April 4, 2005 are all based on D core stepping (Winchester analog).

So, if you are going to shop for some Sempron processors, you should be very careful and pay special attention to their marking, because only CPUs on the E core revision with SDAXXXXAIO3BO and SDAXXXXAIO2BO OPN will offer you SSE3 support and other nice advantages.

But let’s return to our story about the main features of the new Sempron 3100+ based on the E core revision. Like its predecessors, it supports Cool’n’Quiet technology. In other words, when the processor shifts to power-saving mode, its working frequency drops down to 1GHz and its Vcore – to 1.1V.

As for the AMD64 technology support, Sempron processors based on the E revision of Palermo core do not have it, either. I have to stress that this is a very disappointing drawback of all budget CPUs from AMD, because the 64-bit version of the Windows XP operating system is about to be released this month already (for more details about this OS read our article called Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Preview: AMD64 and Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology). Besides, the competing Intel Celeron D processor family is going to acquire EM64T 64-bit extensions pretty soon. However, it is still too early to expect that 64-bit operating system will enrich the processor functionality or increase their performance. There is hardly any software, which would work in the native 64-bit mode. So, the absence of AMD64 technology support in AMD Sempron processors is very unlikely to upset any PC users within at least the next year.