"Today we are looking at the AMD Athlon64 3000 Venice which is the budget processor for Socket 939. The AMD Athlon64 3000 has some differences compared to the Sempron 3100 also featured in this review, the first difference is that the Athlon64 3000 is a full 64bit processor unlike the Sempron 3100 used in this review which has 64bit disabled, the second difference is that the Athlon64 3000 processor has a 512K Level 2 Cache while the Sempron 3100 has a 256K Level 2 Cache and the third difference is that the Athlon64 3000 has a dual channel memory controller."

AMD ATHLON64 3000 REVIEW

"You live at the forefront of technology, and you won't settle for less from your favorite software. That's why AMD is proud to bring you the AMD Athlon 64 processor, with AMD64 technology for dramatically higher performance and built-in support for future 64-bit applications - even running 32- and 64-bit software at the same time. Maximize system efficiency and stay ahead of the curve with the technically superior PC processor, packed with advances such as HyperTransport technology and an integrated DDR memory controller.

Maximize system efficiency and stay ahead of the curve with the technically superior PC processor, with advances such as HyperTransport™ technology, an integrated DDR memory controller, Cool'n'Quiet™ Technology and Enhanced Virus Protection for Microsoft® Windows® XP SP2*. Whether it is for business, school or play, with the AMD Athlon 64 processor, you can address your current and future needs.

With the introduction of the AMD Athlon 64 processor, AMD provides customers a solution that can address their current and future computing needs. As the first desktop PC processor to run on the AMD64 platform, the AMD Athlon 64 processor helps ensure superior performance on today’s software with readiness for the coming wave of 64-bit computing. With AMD64 technology, customers can embrace the new capabilities of 64-bit computing on their own terms and achieve compatibility with existing software and operating systems."

3DMARK BENCHMARK 3DMARK 2001 SE 16709 15731 3DMARK 2003 7725 7610 3DMARK 2005 3288 3237 AMD ATHLON64 3000 AMD SEMPRON 3100 COMMENT - "The Athlon64 3000 starts off strongly and outperforms the Sempron 3100 by 6% with 3dmark 2001 SE, 2% with 3dmark 2003 and 2% with 3dmark 2005. The reason for the small difference between the two processors when benchmarking with 3dmark 2003 and 3dmark 2005 is because they mostly test for video card performance and not processor performance." BENCHMARK SETTINGS 3DMARK 2001 SE 1024x768 Resolution 32Bit color D3D Hardware T&L Antialiasing Disabled Double Frame Buffer Compressed Texture Format 24Bit Z-Buffer Depth 3DMARK 2003 1024x768 Resolution No Pixel Processing Optimal Texture Filtering 4x Max Anisotropy Optimal Vertex Shaders No Repeat Tests No Fixed Framerate 3DMARK 2005 1024x768 Resolution No Anti-Aliasing Optimal Filtering HLSL VS Target 2_0 HLSL PS Target 2_0 No Fixed Framerate

3DMARK 2005 CPU SCORE 4263 3663 AMD ATHLON64 3000 AMD SEMPRON 3100 COMMENT - "This is the only test within 3dmark 2005 which is designed to benchmark the processor. The Athlon64 3000 outperforms the Sempron 3100 by an impressive 15%." BENCHMARK SETTINGS 3DMARK 2005 1024x768 Resolution No Anti-Aliasing Optimal Filtering HLSL VS Target 2_0 HLSL PS Target 2_0 No Fixed Framerate

CPU BENCH 2003 OVERALL 7358 6718 AMD ATHLON64 3000 AMD SEMPRON 3100 COMMENT - "The Athlon64 3000 outperforms the Sempron 3100 by 9%."

KRIBI BENCH OFFICE 19.29 18.4 JET SHADOW 16.17 16.83 SPONGE 9.56 9.58 AMD ATHLON64 3000 AMD SEMPRON 3100 COMMENT - "Using Kribi Bench we see a mixed result, the Sempron 3100 is slightly faster at 1809 Mhz compared to 1800 Mhz of the Athlon64 3000 and this might explain why the Sempron 3100 wins two of the tests."

META BENCH OVERALL 3163 3030 AMD ATHLON64 3000 AMD SEMPRON 3100 COMMENT - "Things return to normal with Meta Bench and the Athlon64 3000 outperforms the Sempron 3100 by 5%."

REALSTORM 2004 OVERALL 4623 4350 AMD ATHLON64 3000 AMD SEMPRON 3100 COMMENT - "The Athlon64 3000 outperforms the Sempron 3100 by 6%."