THe 754 socket is not so bad. It sports 1MB L2 and AMD would not rate it competitively against itself. Thus a 3700+ A64 is faster than a 3500+ even though the 3500+ sports the Dual on die mem contrl. Besides other than in Gaming the 754 will do just as well as its lil 939 bro. Also in retrospect I think its not such a bad idea that amd still has a 754 socket, as its cheap and allows u to go from a 754 sempron (cause not everyone has that kinda cash for a 3500+) to a 754 A64 when they have the money.