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[nextpage title=”Introduction”]
Those who have been following the processor market for some time know the rivalry between Intel and AMD, to see who develops the fastest processor. For you to have a clearer idea of how this competition works, first you need to understand how the processor market is divided. The market was divided in three segments:
- Low-end: Destined to beginners or users who don’t need computing power.
- Mid-range: Destined to enthusiast users or those who need computing power.
- High-end: Destined to network servers.
This article is about the leading parts in this fight between Intel and AMD in the low-end market.
Intel’s representative in low-end market is Celeron D, while Sempron is AMD’s. Both Celeron D and Sempron are in fact versions of the high-end Intel and AMD processors with reduced features. Celeron D is a “light” version of Pentium 4, and Sempron is a “cut” version of Athlon XP or Athlon 64.
[nextpage title=”Celeron D”]
Celeron D is based on Pentium 4 with Prescott core, uses 90 nanometres technology, 16 KB of L1 cache, 256 KB of L2 cache, runs externally at 533 MHz (133 MHz transferring four data per clock tick), support to SSE3 multimedia instructions and Execute Disable technology, FC-PGA2 package, 478- or 775-pin socket, and can be found with clocks from 2.53 GHz to 3.2 GHz.
On the chart below, we listed the Celeron D models available.
| Processor | Internal Clock | External Clock | L2 Cache | Socket | Hyper-Threading |
| 350 | 3.2 GHz | 533 MHz | 256 KB | 478 or 775 | No |
| 345 | 3.06 GHz | 533 MHz | 256 KB | 478 or 775 | No |
| 340 | 2.93 GHz | 533 MHz | 256 KB | 478 or 775 | No |
| 335 | 2.80 GHz | 533 MHz | 256 KB | 478 or 775 | No |
| 330 | 2.66 GHz | 533 MHz | 256 KB | 478 or 775 | No |
| 325 | 2.53 GHz | 533 MHz | 256 KB | 478 or 775 | No |
For more information on Celeron processors, read our tutorial All Celeron Models.
[nextpage title=”Sempron”]
Sempron can be found in 462- or 754-pin socket. The socket 462 Sempron models with clock up to 2 GHz (Sempron 2800+) have 0.13 mm technology, 128 KB of L1 cache, 256 KB of L2 cache, run externally at 333 MHz (166 MHz transferring two data per clock tick), support to SSE and 3DNow! Multimedia instructions, can be found with clocks from 1.50 GHz to 2 GHz, and are based on Athlon XP’s Thoroughbred-B and Thorton cores.
Sempron 3000+ is based on the Barton core and has 512 KB of L2 cache.
On the chart below, we listed the socket 462 Sempron models available.
| Processor | Internal Clock | External Clock | L1 Cache | L2 Cache | Socket |
| Sempron 2200+ | 1.50 GHz | 333 MHz | 128 KB | 256 KB | 462 |
| Sempron 2300+ | 1.58 GHz | 333 MHz | 128 KB | 256 KB | 462 |
| Sempron 2400+ | 1.67 GHz | 333 MHz | 128 KB | 256 KB | 462 |
| Sempron 2500+ | 1.70 GHz | 333 MHz | 128 KB | 256 KB | 462 |
| Sempron 2600+ | 1.83 GHz | 333 MHz | 128 KB | 256 KB | 462 |
| Sempron 2800+ | 2 GHz | 333 MHz | 128 KB | 256 KB | 462 |
| Sempron 3000+ | 2 GHz | 333 MHz | 128 KB | 512 KB | 462 |
The socket 754 Sempron is a version of the Athlon 64 with less L2 cache memory. Sempron processors can be based on the following cores: Paris and Palermo. The Paris core has 0.13mm technology, 128 KB of L1 cache, 256 KB of L2 cache, runs externally at 800 MHz through the HyperTransport bus, supports 3DNow! and SSE2 instructions and Cool’n’Quiet and NX technologies. The Palermo core has 90 nanometres technology, 128 KB of L1 cache, 128 KB or 256 KB of L2 cache, runs externally at 800 MHz through the HyperTransport bus, supports 3DNow! and SSE3 instructions and Cool’n’Quiet and NX technologies, and 64-bit instructions (AMD64).
On the chart below, we listed the socket 754 Sempron models available.
| Processor | Core | Internal Clock | HyperTransport | L1 Cache | L2 Cache | Socket |
| Sempron 2500+ | Palermo | 1.4 GHz | 800 MHz | 128 KB | 128 KB | 754 |
| Sempron 2600+ | Palermo | 1.6 GHz | 800 MHz | 128 KB | 128 KB | 754 |
| Sempron 2800+ | Palermo | 1.6 GHz | 800 MHz | 128 KB | 256 KB | 754 |
| Sempron 3000+ | Palermo | 1.8 GHz | 800 MHz | 128 KB | 128 KB | 754 |
| Sempron 3100+ | Paris | 1.8 GHz | 800 MHz | 128 KB | 256 KB | 754 |
| Sempron 3100+ | Palermo | 1.8 GHz | 800 MHz | 128 KB | 256 KB | 754 |
| Sempron 3300+ | Palermo | 2 GHz | 800 MHz | 128 KB | 128 KB | 754 |
| Sempron 3400+ | Palermo | 2 GHz | 800 MHz | 128 KB | 256 KB | 754 |
Note: The first socket 754 Sempron had the 64 bits extensions deactivated, but from July 2005 on AMD has been launching socket 754 Sempron models with the 64-bit instructions activated. The socket 754 Sempron models listed on the chart below can be found with the 64-bit instructions either deactivated or activated. The models with 64-bit extensions enabled have the letters "BX" as the two last letters printed on the CPU package.
[nextpage title=”Comparative Chart”]
Comparative chart between the Celeron D and Sempron.
| Characteristic |
Celeron D |
Sempron |
|
| Socket | 478 or 775 | 462 | 754 |
| Based on | Pentium 4 | Athlon XP | Athlon 64 |
| Highest Operating Frequency | 3.2 GHz | 2 GHz | 2 GHz |
| L1 Cache | 16 KB | 128 KB | 128 KB |
| L2 Cache | 256 KB | 256 KB or 512 KB | 128 KB or 256 KB |
| External Bus | 533 MHz | 333 MHz | 800 MHz (chipset) and 400 MHz (memory) |
| Technology | 90 nm | 130 nm | 90 nm |