Posts tagged with Athlon II

AnandTech:  “AMD’s Athlon II X3 435 & New Energy Efficient CPUs: Killing Intel Below $90″

Putting today in context:

“A month ago AMD introduced the world’s first quad-core processor to debut at $99… And for the consumer, AMD is providing a ton of value these days. You’re getting more transistors per dollar than Intel will give you, and it’s not just bloat, these things are fast.  The value train continues with today’s introduction of the first triple core Athlon II processors: the Athlon II X3 435 and 425.”

3 cores for the price of 2:

“They’re also quite affordable. The 435 will set you back $87 while the 425 costs $76. This puts them on par with Intel’s Pentium E6000 series dual core processors, but cheaper than the Core 2 Duo E7500. This has been AMD’s high end dual core strategy for the Phenom’s life: sell three cores for the price of two. And in the past, it has worked… The X3s AMD is announcing today are clocked high enough that you still have good performance in single threaded applications, and in those that can take advantage of three cores you’re almost guaranteed to have better performance than the Intel alternative.”

Thumbs up for AII X3:

“The Athlon II X3 435, priced at $87, is a better buy than any of the similarly priced Intel dual-core processors. In heavily threaded applications it’s even faster than the more expensive Core 2 Duo E7500. Compared to Intel, the X3 435 is a clear value leader.”

Tom’s Hardware:  “Athlon II X3 435: AMD’s Three-Core, 2.9 GHz, $87 Triple-Threat”

Great expectations:

“Today AMD introduces what might turn out to be the ideal budget CPU, with three cores for multi-threading, a relatively high 2.9 GHz clock speed, and an impressive sub-$90 price tag.”

Thumbs up for Athlon II X3:

“In the final analysis, this author can recommend AMD’s new Athlon II X3 435 as the best budget CPU for the dollar available at stock clock rates. We haven’t properly compared all of these CPUs when overclocked, so we’ll leave that judgment for a future review. Regardless, the Athlon II X3 435 is a fantastic buy, and obviously offers reasonable headroom to the overclocking fans out there. We can’t help but speculate that the Phenom II X3’s days are likely numbered with the Athlon II X3 offering comparable performance for a lower price and on a more affordable die for AMD to manufacture.”

Low-power variants:

“Aside from that, AMD has introduced a number of low-power CPU options likely to be quite attractive to the power-conscious contingent, and with a maximum draw of 45W, the Athlon II X4 605e presents the lowest demands of any quad-core consumer-level CPU, potentially idea for home theater PC deployments.”

AMD has the value crown:

“For now, AMD has an impressive product in the Athlon II X3 435. With low prices, a great deal of selection, and good scalability, these CPUs are sure to score AMD favor with the value crown in the months to come.”

Firing Squad:  “AMD Athlon II X3 435/Athlon II X2 240e Performance Preview”

AMD transitions value segment to 45nm:

“As we outlined at the outset of this article, completing the 45-nm transition is a significant step to getting AMD back in the black. These chips are cheaper for AMD to manufacture than older Phenom parts, they run cooler, and thanks to their high clock speeds, perform better. It’s a win for the consumer, and a win for AMD.”

AMD stands alone in the category:

“As it stands right now, AMD’s the clear performance leader in this space of the CPU market, and frankly it isn’t even close. From a price/performance perspective, AMD’s latest Athlon II CPUs are often priced against 45-nm Pentium, rather than Core 2, CPUs. As you saw in the benchmarks, the $84 Pentium E6300 we included in the charts was outrun by Athlon II X3 and Athlon II X2 CPUs in all of our gaming benchmarks, and only put up a strong showing in our MP3 testing with LAME. Everywhere else AMD’s Athlon II X3 435 reigned supreme. Its toughest competitor isn’t Intel, rather it’s AMD’s other Propus core that we raved about back in September, the Athlon II X4 620. Intel’s not only lacking in performance in this space either. Their value CPU lineup also lacks variety. While AMD offers a wide range of dual, quad, and now triple cores in the $60-$100 segment, Intel relies solely on dual-core Pentium CPUs.”

AMD owns value:

“AMD has this space locked down tight, and as long as Intel continues to basically ignore it in favor of higher margin Core 2 and Core i5/Core i7 CPUs, we don’t see this changing until Intel begins to introduce 32-nm parts. At that point, things may begin to get tougher for AMD. Until then though, AMD delivers the best budget CPUs money can buy.”

Different strokes:

Now you’ll just have to pick which value AMD CPU to choose from. This answer is going to depend on your needs and your budget. HTPC users will probably opt for one of the 45W CPUs, but if you need more performance, the X3 435 or X4 620 would be better buys. And if you absolutely can’t cough up more than $70 for a new CPU, the Athlon II X2 is the CPU for you.”

Computer Shopper:  “AMD Athlon II X3 435″  (Rated 8.1 out of 10)

Conclusion:

“But for most users spending their time with productivity apps, playing graphics-heavy games, or watching HD or standard-definition video, a triple-core CPU like the Athlon II X3 435 is a good choice. For $87, it offers more than enough speed and multi-core processing power to keep your system from feeling sluggish, even when multitasking heavily. Those who demand more performance but who still don’t need maximum video or graphics-editing speed might want to pick up a triple-core Phenom II chip, such as the Phenom II X3 720, for about $50 more. And those who spend hours editing media with professional programs such as Sony’s Vegas and Adobe’s CS4 will definitely want to splurge for a quad-core CPU. But for everyone else, the 435 offers more-than-sufficient CPU power for under $90.”

Computer Shopper:  “AMD Athlon II X2 240e”  (Rated 7.8 out of 10)

Editors’ Take:

“This dual-core CPU offers good budget-grade performance for everyday PC tasks while consuming half the power of similar chips under full load.”

Conclusion:

“While more-powerful CPUs are available for just a little more money, the $77 Athlon II X2 240e is still speedy enough for common PC tasks, and it never felt sluggish in our Windows 7 testbed PC. Its 45-watt maximum power rating is just over half that of many other mainstream CPUs, and it’s even more power-efficient when compared with high-end performance CPUs, so it should save you some measurable money in the long run. And those looking to save money now will appreciate this CPU’s compatibility with less-expensive AM2+ motherboards and DDR2 memory. This is a safe pick for budget-conscious upgraders and builders, and well suited to efficient, everyday productivity tasks should you see it in a prebuilt PC.”

Xbit Labs:  “AMD Athlon II X3 435 CPU Review”

Multi-core value:

“Many users believe that the times of dual-core processors are coming to an end. However, so far there haven’t been any inexpensive processors with more than two cores in the market. Today AMD is correcting this: the new triple-core 45 nm CPUs are priced starting at $76!”

Competitive Comparison:

“[AMD] focused on inexpensive solutions that would be superior in functionality to Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo and Pentium processors within the same price range. For example, new triple-core Athlon II X3 are targeted for sub-$90 price range, which means that they are competitors to dual-core Pentium processors recently enhanced by Intel by raising their clock frequencies and introducing 1067 MHz bus support.”

… “New triple-core AMD Athlon II X3 processors fall into the same price category as the top Intel Pentium CPUs. That is why first of all we are going to compare these two…”

AMD Value:

“Not so long ago we reviewed a few of the first AMD solutions like that – Athlon II X4 quad-core processor family, with the junior models selling for no more than $100. These CPUs made a pretty good impression, especially in terms of price-to-performance. Today AMD went even further and announced even cheaper multi-core CPUs. Triple-core newcomers from Athlon II X3 series will be available for $70-$90. Frankly speaking, Athlon II X3 are in a way unique processors because neither AMD nor Intel have any other solutions like that. Only these CPUs have more than two cores but at the same time are extremely affordable. These particular features will make Athlon II X3 a pretty demanded solution. Multi-threaded applications become more and more popular. Today even games may benefit from an extra processor core in your system, not to mention numerous programs for work with media content that are becoming wider spread among home users.”

 X3 recommendation:

“So, Athlon II X3 processors look like a very good and, most importantly, timely solution, which we have every right to recommend to those users who work with resource-hungry software applications and value the advantages of multi-core architectures.”

John Taylor is Director, Global Platform & Product Communications at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such linked sites and no endorsement is implied.