I'm replacing the mobo/cpu in my PC, but i'm stumped what to get. I'm partial to AMD, since they run cooler and quietly. Would a Sempron 64 2800+ show a significant gain over a Celeron 2.6? I'm strapped for $$$ -- I can only budget $100 - $150 for this. I've got my eye on the s754 mobo, with an 800Mhz FSB. Does this make much of a difference with Poser and D|S, compared to a system with a 266/333 Mhz FSB? Or do these programs benefit most from higher clock speeds?

As things are at the moment, there's little or no advantage to using any 64-bit processor with Poser. It needs the programme and OS to be compiled to use the extra 64-bit features. And if you wait until the software is there, you'll find more power for your money. Memory bandwidth, and the amount of physical RAM, do make a difference. I'm afraid that I'm not up-to-date on the details of that, but the faster FSB is going to help. Just check what the limits are on your current RAM. There is, incidentally, no reason why you can't run fast RAM on a slow motherboard, as long as it is the same type.

Yes, the Sempron 64 would show a noticeable gain; irregardless of the 64 bit-ness, the AMD cores are simply better designed, with shorter execution pipelines than anything Intel has on the market at this time. As well as the better thermal characteristics and lower power consumption (plus AMD hasn't dropped the ATX mobo format for BTX. A new Intel board and chip would just about require you to scrap your old case for a new one). And you would have some upgrade path in the future, by being able to run XP-64 or Vista when it comes out.

The DDR-400 will also show some improvement. Just be careful of the memory you buy. Kingston Valueram is the cheapest I would use, and I would recommend Crucial or above.

You might want to poke around on pricewatch.com though. If you can swing a socket 939 mobo and an Athlon 64 3000+ (making sure the board can be upgrade to the X2's with a BIOS flash), you would be set for some time. And the dual channel memory access is even better than the old Athlon 64's single channel (which is what the 'Sempron 64' really is; the socket 754 Athlon 64 with a slightly smaller L2 cache).

Message edited on: 09/29/2005 06:13