Benchmark results of the AMD Sempron processor in its incarnation for Socket 754 hit the web. While the chip cannot outperform the more powerful AMD Athlon 64 rivals, it is likely to offer a nice price/performance ratio in the value segment.

The new Sempron microprocessors from Advanced Micron Devices will be supplied in a number of flavours depending on the socket the new chips are designed for. The initial versions will be available for Socket A platforms and Socket 754 platforms, while the longer-range prospects include Socket 939 revisions of the chips.

Unofficial sources earlier said that AMD Sempron processors in PGA754 packaging are likely to feature AMD Athlon 64 core, but with disabled 64-bit capability. Formerly such chips were code-named Paris. Among advantages of the AMD Sempron microprocessors integrated single-channel PC3200 memory controller, SSE2 technology, better pre-fetch mechanism and generally revamped architecture over AMD Athlon XP chips should be mentioned.

According to a post in the forum of XtremeSystems.org web-site, the AMD Sempron lineup will include AMD Sempron 3100+ chip with 256KB L2 cache functioning at 1800MHz. A forum member that declined to name himself showcased AMD’s plastic box package only used for shipping processors to OEMs for testing.

Test results submitted indicate that AMD Sempron 3100+ central processing unit is the is just 2.1% slower in 3DMark 2001SE, 0.4% slower in Superpi, 4.4% faster in Prime95, only 1.2% slower in PCMark 2004 and only 4.5% slower in CPUMark 99 compared to the AMD Athlon 64 2800+ which runs at the same clock-speed. The benchmark results are likely to be higher compared to AMD Athlon XP 3000+ processor, which has enough muscle to outperform forthcoming Intel Celeron 340 (3.00GHz) processor.

AMD Sempron 3100+ is reported to cost $124 in business quantities at launch. The fastest Intel Celeron chip now costs $117 in quantities starting from 1000 units.

Officials from AMD did not immediately return with comments. Last year, when initial specifications of AMD Athlon 64 processors emerged, AMD said that the preliminary specs were likely to change before product launch. Eventually the AMD Athlon 64 chips saw the world with different specifications.