Which CPU should i get I am building a new PC but havent been around it for a while, I have a Biostar AMD mother board Socket A FSB 400mhz brand new I can still use as astart. Any help woudl be appreciated

well i can tell you right now the sempron (if thats how its spelled can't remember) ain't crap.

In order of performance: Athlon 64, Athlon, Sempron

In order of performance: Athlon 64, Athlon, SempronNow would you spend a little more $$ and get the athlon then over the Sempron? I take the AthlonXP Is the same as the athlon?

athlon 64 is your best go. sempron is not so good.

I would also get the 64

The 64 can run 64 bit code where all the others are limited to 32 bit code. At this point it is no difference program wise but if you run Linux or later this year MS is coming out with 64bit Windows, then it will make a difference. As it is, the A64 has a larger cache which makes it run faster then the straight A. All modern Athlons are XPs.

just because something is newer and boasts faster does not mean it is faster for what the user does. If a person merely starts up a PC and surfs the internet one style PC (256 MBs ram, 60 GB hard drive, AMD duron) would suffice. Another may be a gamer where the previous spec's would not. As for 64 bit chips, as was mentioned, you need the software to take advantage of this, and even the added cache is only a benefit under certain elements. Again it is all dependant on what the user will be doing plain and simple. Bigger is not always better, ie. in many instances 512 MBs ram (2x256) out performs 1 gig (2x512). I suspect decision has been already made as this topic is a month old but just wanted to possibly help others with some info.

actually he was asking the best. to tell you the truth, a sempron would do great. i used to surf around the web quite well on a 600mhz p3 celeron with only a small cache and it did pretty well. you can make a gaming pc out of any little processor like a p3 or a sempron or celeron, sort of processors like that and they actually perform great but still would take longer to load etc but still do great. but he was asking which might could he use. if he wanted some gaming fun and a pretty fast surfer. get a 160gig drive, a mother board of his liking, a top of the line celeron or a duron sempron etc with a good graphics card. i've seen p1's perform very good with a new graphics card

just because something is newer and boasts faster does not mean it is faster for what the user does. If a person merely starts up a PC and surfs the internet one style PC (256 MBs ram, 60 GB hard drive, AMD duron) would suffice. Another may be a gamer where the previous spec's would not. As for 64 bit chips, as was mentioned, you need the software to take advantage of this, and even the added cache is only a benefit under certain elements. Again it is all dependant on what the user will be doing plain and simple. Bigger is not always better, ie. in many instances 512 MBs ram (2x256) out performs 1 gig (2x512). I suspect decision has been already made as this topic is a month old but just wanted to possibly help others with some info.I went with the Sempron! and 2X256 Ram on a Biostar Mother board with Nvidia, Mid tower, Realtek sound and Geforce video works great as an all arounder mild gamer, Great surfer, and nice workstation too! thanks