Phenom Recycled: Athlon X2 7000-Series

Models, Details

AMD offers three new Athlon X2 models as of today: the Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition at 2.7 GHz, the Athlon X2 7550 at 2.5 GHz, and the Athlon X2 7450 at 2.4 GHz. All of them share the 65 nm Phenom core (Agena) with its 512 KB L2 cache per core and 2 MB shared L3 cache, SSE 4.1, which we found introduces some nice performance advantages over the old Athlon (64) X2 in certain benchmarks, and socket AM2+. All processors are rated at a TDP of 95 W, although we expect the two entry-level models to stay below that. In addition, all new Athlon X2 7000 series processors utilize the Phenom's DDR2 dual channel memory controller, which is capable of running up to DDR2-1066 speeds. AMD says that the new processors utilize roughly 450 million transistors. This statement, however, refers to the total number of transistors for the Phenom processors with four cores.

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ModelClock SpeedL2 CacheL3 CacheCoreProcessMultiplyer
Athlon X2 7750 BE2.70 GHz2x 512 KB2 MBKuma65 nmopen
Athlon X2 75502.50 GHz2x 512 KB2 MBKuma65 nmlimited
Athlon X2 74502.40 GHz2x 512 KB2 MBKuma65 nmlimited
Athlon 64 X2 6400+ BE3.20 GHz2x 512 KB-Windsor90 nmopen
Athlon 64 X2 6000+3.00 GHz2x 512 KB-Windsor90 nmlimited
Athlon 64 X2 5000+ BE2.60 GHz2x 256 KB-Windsor-51290 nmopen
Athlon 64 X2 5000+2.60 GHz2x 256 KB-Brisbane65 nmlimited
Athlon X2 BE-24002.20 GHz2x 256 KB-Brisbane EE65 nmlimited

Athlon X2 7000, For Folks Upgrading

Due to the fact that socket AM2 and AM2+ are widely compatible (the main difference is the HyperTransport link speed), it is technically rather easy to deploy the new Athlon X2 7000 dual-core CPUs into existing systems, which may already be several years old. Since the power consumption is not excessive, all you need is a BIOS update and the new 7000-series Athlon X2 processors should run in your existing system.

As you will see in the benchmark section, the new processors provide more performance than the previous Athlon X2 or Athlon 64 X2 generation, without requiring more clock speed. In fact, the 2.7 GHz clock speed of the Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition is sufficient to even beat the 3.2 GHz Athlon 64 X2 6400+ in some of the tests. Clearly, the new processors do much better than the old ones.

The price point makes the new processors even more attractive for upgrade users. Spending $79 on an Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition sounds pretty reasonable. And it's affordable enough to make the new processors a great present for the holidays as well.

  • davidgbailey
    First Comment!!!

    AMD is competing with Core 2 Duo? Why don't they try to compete with core i7? Oh wait, they can't compete with core i7 being 2 years behind. But AMD FTW against Core 2 Duo 2 years later!!!
    Reply
  • curnel_D
    I'd upgrade to the 6400+BE before I'd upgrade to the 7000 series.
    Reply
  • tipmen
    Poor AMD
    Reply
  • royalcrown
    Wow, only 80 bucks to upgrade a four whole fps over my 5400 x2....lemme rush right out, not !
    Reply
  • urban_black_redneck
    Curnel_DI'd upgrade to the 6400+BE before I'd upgrade to the 7000 series.Now the 6000 is just under $80 (same price as the 7750BE) and the 6400 is hard to find.

    I am building my first gaming computer from the ground up, proudly starting with the 7750 Black Edition.
    Reply
  • amdgamer666
    would like to have seen some overclockability tests but otherwise great article. good to see amd has released kuma (finally) to become slightly more competetive
    Reply
  • Naw-yi
    notice the memory used is 800mzh not 1066mhz, also why would they use different video cards? the drivers used arnt even up to date... test should be run with alike hardware and software(or as close to alike as possible) or its not to be taken seriously.
    Reply
  • Naw-yi
    Naw-yinotice the memory used is 800mzh not 1066mhz, test should be run with alike hardware and software(or as close to alike as possible) or its not to be taken seriously.
    Reply
  • cangelini
    Naw, I'll ask Patrick to answer the memory questions. However, if you read the Test Setup page, you'll see that only one graphics card was used. Also, given the mainstream nature of these graphics cards versus the very high-end graphics card, there is no way in a million years that the WHQL driver used would have any effect on the outcome of these benchmarks.
    Reply
  • cangelini
    Naw, ran the memory question past our German team and updated the piece. Same modules were run at 1066 and CAS 5. Thanks for the catch. Hope that answers all of your questions. If there's anything else, please let me know!
    Reply