Is this a real AMD CPU?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Zentraleinheit
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Zentraleinheit

I was at tiger direct looking over MB/CPU combo when I found a ChainTech
SK8T800 bundled with a AMD Sempron 64 2500+ 1.40 GhZ CPU.

Since I know that 64 bit is the comming thing, I was interested it it.
Especially since it was being sold for $99.00

But, when I went to AMD's web site to find out more, I saw that no Sempron
chip had the "64" it its name.

What is going on?

Is Tiger Direct trying to pull a fast one? Is it a missprint? Or are some of
the Smepron CPU's 64 bits as well as 32 bits?
 
I was at tiger direct looking over MB/CPU combo when I found a ChainTech
SK8T800 bundled with a AMD Sempron 64 2500+ 1.40 GhZ CPU.

Since I know that 64 bit is the comming thing, I was interested it it.
Especially since it was being sold for $99.00

But, when I went to AMD's web site to find out more, I saw that no Sempron
chip had the "64" it its name.

What is going on?

Is Tiger Direct trying to pull a fast one? Is it a missprint? Or are some of
the Smepron CPU's 64 bits as well as 32 bits?
Click to expand...


TD has been a bit shady in the past but in this case it is a
64 bit Sempron. AMD's site simply hasn't been updated.

If the bundle only includes the CPU and board, you do have
the option of other CPUs too, since TD sells and board for
$40 AR,
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1075224&sku=C460-1104

and you can get same CPU for about $60 on
http://www.pricewatch.com/
or of course another if you didn't want a 1.4GHz Sempron.
 
I was at tiger direct looking over MB/CPU combo when I found a ChainTech
SK8T800 bundled with a AMD Sempron 64 2500+ 1.40 GhZ CPU.

Since I know that 64 bit is the comming thing, I was interested it it.
Especially since it was being sold for $99.00

But, when I went to AMD's web site to find out more, I saw that no Sempron
chip had the "64" it its name.

What is going on?

Is Tiger Direct trying to pull a fast one? Is it a missprint? Or are some of
the Smepron CPU's 64 bits as well as 32 bits?
Click to expand...

Sempron comes in three variants.

The early low-end Semprons were AthlonXP chips, some were unchanged
except for the Sempron labelling, some had differing cache sizes, and
performance ratings. As the AthlonXP chips were 32bit chips, it
stands to reason that changing the labeling on the chips isn't going
to change that.

The early higher-end Semprons and the current lower end Semprons are
indeed based on the same core as the AMD64 chips, *HOWEVER*, the 64bit
instructions and registers are disabled, so for all intents, it's a 32
bit CPU. There's no way to reverse this, as the traces were cut at
the chip level, not the package level.

Some of the latest Sempron chips are full 64bit cores. The retail
packaging for the 64 bit versions have a black AMD64 label in the
lower right corner of the front. The CPUs themselves make no
distinction between 64 bit and 32bit versions, except in the part
number code. The basic labeling makes no mention of "Sempron64", it
just says "Sempron", no matter which version you have. Sempron64
doesn't appear to be an official designation, it's just something
people have taken to calling it. To tell the difference on an unboxed
CPU, you have to look at the part number, which will be stamped on the
part.

http://www.amdcompare.com/us-en/desktop/Default.aspx

Click on "View all products" to get the table. You may need to click
on the individual product details to find out which are 32bit and
which are 32/64 bit.
 
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