AMD Sempron (Paris, Palermo) processors
Introduction: July 2004 (Paris), August 2004 (Palermo)
Overview
Sempron had been the marketing name used by AMD for several different entry level desktop CPUs, using several different technologies and CPU socket formats. The Sempron replaced the AMD Duron processor and competed against Intel's Celeron D processor.
AMD coined the name from the Latin semper, which meant "always, everyday", to denote that the Sempron was the right processor for everyday computing.
The Paris and Palermo cores
The second generation (Paris/Palermo core) was based on the architecture of the Socket 754 Athlon 64. Some differences from Athlon 64 processors included a reduced cache size (either 128 or 256KB L2), and the absence of AMD64 support in earlier models. Apart from these differences, the Socket 754 Sempron CPUs shared most features with the more powerful Athlon 64, including an integrated (on-die) memory controller, the HyperTransport bus, and AMD's "NX bit" feature.
In the second half of 2005, AMD added 64-bit support (AMD64) to the Sempron line. Some journalists (but not AMD) often refer to this revision of chips as "Sempron 64" to distinguish it from the previous revision. AMD's intent in releasing 64-bit entry-level processors was to extend the market for 64-bit processors, which at the time of Sempron 64's first release, was a niche market.
In 2006, AMD announced the Socket AM2 line of Sempron processors. These are functionally equivalent to the previous generation, except they have a dual-channel DDR2 SDRAM memory controller which replaces the single-channel DDR SDRAM version. The TDP of the standard version remains at 62W (watts), while the new "Energy Efficient Small Form Factor" version has a reduced 35W TDP. The Socket AM2 version also does not require a minimum voltage of 1.1 volts to operate, whereas all socket 754 Semprons with Cool'n'Quiet did. As of 2006, AMD sells both Socket 754 and Socket AM2 Sempron CPUs concurrently.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.