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AMD Athlon 64 X2 Retrospective



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In this article we shall pay, perhaps, the last tribute to the AMD Athlon 64 X2 family, first product of which we tested more than two years ago. This family saw different days, from nearly absolute reign to the first heavy blows from its rival. Now a slow recession is clear enough, since both Intel and AMD have more prospective and efficient processors. It's high time to draw a bottom line and we have done that by testing eight Athlon 64 X2 processors -- from the low-end 3600+ to the top-end 6400+.

Speaking of competitors, well, they are "curious", so to say. It's not interesting or informative when some processor is always on the last (or the first) place in all tests. Having this in mind, we selected more appropriate contenders to avoid such an outcome.

Hardware and software

Testbed configuration


CPU Mainboard Memory Video
Intel Pentium E / Core 2 Duo ASUS Maximus Extreme Corsair CM3X1024-1800C7DIN GeForce 8800 GTX
AMD Athlon 64 X2 / Phenom ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe Corsair TWIN2X4096-9136C5DF GeForce 8800 GTX

  • RAM: 4 x 1GB
  • HDD: Samsung HD401LJ (SATA-2)
  • Coolers: Thermaltake TMG i1, TMG a1
  • PSU: Cooler Master RS-A00-EMBA

CPU Process technology, nm Core clock, MHz Number of cores L1 I/D cache, KB* L2 cache, KB** L3 cache, KB Memory clock, MHz*** Multiplier Socket TDP****
Athlon 64 X2 3600+ 65 1900 2 64/64 2x512 - 380 9,5 AM2 65
Athlon 64 X2 4000+ 65 2100 2 64/64 2x512 - 350 10,5 AM2 65
Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 65 2300 2 64/64 2x512 - 384 11,5 AM2 65
Athlon 64 X2 4800+ 65 2500 2 64/64 2x512 - 357 12,5 AM2 65
Athlon 64 X2 5200+ 65 2700 2 64/64 2x512 - 386 13,5 AM2 65
Athlon 64 X2 5600+ 65 2900 2 64/64 2x512 - 363 14,5 AM2 65
Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 90 3000 2 64/64 2x1024 - 376 15 AM2 125
Athlon 64 X2 6400+ 90 3200 2 64/64 2x1024 - 400 16 AM2 125
Phenom X3 8450 65 2100 3 64/64 3x512 2048 533 10,5 AM2+ 95
Phenom X3 8750 65 2400 3 64/64 3x512 2048 533 12 AM2+ 95
Phenom X4 9550 65 2200 4 64/64 4x512 2048 533 11 AM2+ 125
Phenom X4 9850 65 2500 4 64/64 4x512 2048 533 12,5 AM2+ 125
Pentium E2140 65 1600 2 32/32 1024 - 400 8 LGA775 65
Pentium E2220 65 2400 2 32/32 1024 - 400 12 LGA775 65
Core 2 Duo E4300 65 1800 2 32/32 2048 - 400 9 LGA775 65
Core 2 Duo E4700 65 2600 2 32/32 2048 - 400 9 LGA775 65
Core 2 Duo E6550 65 2333 2 32/32 4096 - 667 7 LGA775 65

* Per single core in multi-core processors.
** "X x Y" means "X KB per each of Y cores".
*** - Effective (physical) memory clock rate in a system based on this CPU.
**** Specified differently in Intel and AMD processors, so a direct comparison would be incorrect.

Software


Application 64-bit Multi-threaded*
Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2 + +
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 + +
Autodesk 3ds max 9 SP2 + +
V-Ray 1.5 SP1 + +
Autodesk Maya 2008 Ultimate + +
NewTek Lightwave 3D 9.2 + +
SolidWorks 2007SP0.0 + +
PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0M120 + -
UGS NX55.0.0.25 + +
Wolfram Research Mathematica 6 + +
MapleSoft Maple 11 - +
MathWorks MATLAB 2007 + +
Adobe Photoshop CS3 10.0 - +
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 + +
Apache HTTP Server 2.2.8 - +
PHP 5.2.5 - +
MySQL Community Server 5.0.51a - +
ACDSee 10 Photo Manager - +
xat.com Image Optimizer 5.10 - -
IrfanView 4.10 - -
XnView 1.93.4 - -
Paint.NET 3.30 + +
7-Zip4.57 + +
WinRAR 3.71 - +
UltimateZip 3.2 - -
FLAC 1.2.1 - -
LAME-MT3.97 + +
Musepack MPC Encoder 1.16 - -
Nero Digital Audio Encoder 1.1.34.2 - +
Ogg Encoder 2.83 (Lancer) - +
Canopus ProCoder 3.0 - +
DivX Codec 6.8.2 - +
XviD Codec 1.1.3 Final - -
x264 Codec rev 807 - +
VirtualDub 1.8.0 - +
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Patch 1.5) - +
Call of Juarez (Patch 1.1.0.0) + DX10 Enhancements Pack - -
Crysis (Patch 1.2) + +
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (Patch 1.006) - +
Unreal Tournament 3 (Patch 1.2) - +
Company of Heroes (Patch 1.71) - +
World in Conflict (Patch 1.007) - +

* Means that two or more simultaneously active threads are actually present during tests; not just the fact that a process generates several threads.


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