Tuesday, April 19, 2005

AMD Tightens the Competition in Value Market Segment. AMD Sempron 3300+ Microprocessor Tested

11:55 pm | Yaroslav Lyssenko

Despite of the obvious progress in performance of high-end central processing units (CPUs), a substantial part of computers come with relatively affordable chips inside, whereas few systems are equipped with one of the top microprocessors. The majority of widely spread applications like Microsoft Word and Excel perform fast enough on value CPU-based systems. Furthermore, some budget processors provide enough speed even for modern games and one of such examples is AMD Sempron 3300+ microprocessor.

“The Sempron 3300+ brings a couple of new things to the table compared to the elder 3100+.  Based on the “Palermo” core, AMD is manufacturing the 3300+ at 0.09 microns with half of the L2 Cache complement of the 0.13 micron 3100+.  With 128KB of L2 cache, the Sempron 3300+ is clocked 200MHz faster than the 3100+, running at 2.0GHz.  Additionally, AMD has added support for SSE3 instructions, something only the Celeron offered up until now, as far as budget CPUs go anyway. Along with the 90nm process, AMD has tweaked the onboard memory controller of the 3300+ Sempron for more flexibility and stability as well.  Improvements have been made to memory loading and mapping, aiming to increase overall efficiency.  Lastly, AMD has improved the memory controller to support different sized DIMMs on the same channel,” writes HotHardware.

“The AMD Sempron 3300+ is a superb entry-level processor option, as it supplies excellent performance for the class and has a relatively low retail price. These two factors usually spell an excellent value, and there’s no question the Sempron 3300+ is a welcome addition to the AMD value processor line. The timing is a question mark, since the price of the lower-speed Athlon 64 2800+ and 3000+ models have also dropped into the value market, and a 2.0GHz Sempron would have made a more compelling case in late-2004. AMD is also at the mercy of their 3rd-party chipset partners, as there is no integrated chipset for Socket 754 to fill the nForce2 gaming void,” concludes Sharky Extreme.

It seems that some problems are still there to take notice.

“CPU-Z shows that yes, this is a Paris core CPU using 1.4V, and featuring SSE3. Also we confirm the 128KB of L2 cache, but wait a minute. This CPU is clocked at 1.8GHz, not 2GHz! Ok, we have to admit that we are a bit befuddled. It may just be that the Abit KV8 Pro based on the VIA K8T800 Pro board is not correctly recognizing the CPU,” claims AMDZone.

• AnandTech: AMD's Sempron 3300+: 90nm Budget Computing.
• AMDZone: Sempron 3300+ Paris Core Test.
• HotHardware: AMD Sempron 3300+ Launch.
• Sharky Extreme: AMD Sempron 3300+ Processor Review.

Samsung’s 21.3” LCD Display Reviewed. Large LCD from Samsung Tested

11:48 pm | Yaroslav Lyssenko

For those people who own a 17” or 19” CRT display the upgrade to the corresponding LCD monitor won’t make much difference: today’s 17” and 19” TFT panels provide decent color reproduction, response time and viewing angles, hence, the majority of users will find them as good as high-end CRT displays. Still, large panels available at more or less affordable price points sometime do not offer specs comparable to smaller panels, but perhaps it still makes sense to get those monitors? XYZ Computing has reviewed Samsung’s 213T LCD display, a 21.3” widescreen display that boasts typical brightness of 250 cd/m2, contrast ratio of 500:1, response time of 25ms and native resolution of 1600x1200 pixels.

“Overall, Samsung’s 213T is a very well-designed monitor. It produces crisp, clean images and has a size and brightness that make it a pleasure to use. For office and everyday work this monitor is almost impossible to beat. The monitor looks good with the analog input but does have some small flaws. DVI operation was definitely an improvement over analog and gave the 213T a top-notch image with sharp text and a 1600x1200 resolution which users will find it hard to live without once they have gotten used to it,” concludes XYZ Computing.

• XYZ Computing: Samsung 213T LCD Display.

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