AMD provided four different processors for testing with our Sapphire board. Why not try all of them?
AMD Athlon II X2 240e
The 240e is a low-power, dual-core processor that stays within a 45 W power envelope. Two cores running at 2.8 GHz should still provide more than enough performance for office and multimedia applications. The processor costs just over $100.
AMD Athlon II X2 260u
The "u" stands for ultra-low voltage, and we'd agree that 25 W is seriously low. To reach that level, AMD throttled the clock speed to only 1.8 GHz, which noticeably impacts performance benchmarks. This chip isn’t really efficient, but it's the lowest-power solution we can think of without jeopardizing desktop features. Still, Intel platforms provide lower idle power at much higher performance.
AMD Phenom II X3 705e
The Phenom II X3 705e is AMD’s low-power, triple-core offering, coming with 6 MB of L3 cache and three cores that run at 2.5 GHz. The chip specifies a 65 W TDP.
AMD Phenom II X4 905e
Last but not least, we tested the quad-core Phenom II X4 905e, also 2.5 GHz and based on a 65 W thermal envelope. However, the 905e packs more horsepower than the 705e. The benchmarks, particularly our efficiency run, prove that this CPU delivers the best performance per watt.
Overview Table
| Processor | AMD Phenom II X4 | AMD Phenom II X3 | AMD Athlon II X2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | 905e | 705e | 240e | 260u |
| OPN Tray | HD905EOCK4DGI | HD705EOCK3DGI | AD240EHDK23GQ | AD260USCK23GQ |
| OPN PIB | HD905EOCGIBOX | HD705EOCGIBOX | AD240EHDGQBOX | N/A |
| Operating Mode 32 Bit | Yes | |||
| Operating Mode 64 Bit | Yes | |||
| Socket | AM3 | |||
| Revision | C2 | |||
| Core Speed (MHz) | 2500 | 2800 | 1800 | |
| System Bus Speed (MT/s) | 4000 | 3600 | ||
| Voltages | 0.825-1.25 V | 0.80-1.25 V | 0.85-1.15 V | |
| Max Temps (C) | 70 | 72 | 81 | |
| Wattage | 65 W | 45 W | 25 W | |
| L1 Cache Size (KB per core) | 128 | |||
| L2 Cache Size (KB per core) | 512 | 1024 | ||
| L3 Cache Size (KB) | 6144 | - | ||
| CMOS | 45 nm SOI | |||
| Virtualization | Yes | |||
- Can Downsized Mini-ITX Platforms Do The Job?
- AMD Platform: Sapphire IPC-AM3DD785G (AMD 785G)
- Intel Platform: Zotac H55-ITX WiFi (Intel H55 Express)
- AMD Processors: Athlon II X2, Phenom II X3, And X4
- Intel Processors: Core i3-530 And Core i5-661
- Test Setup
- Benchmark Results: Synthetics
- Benchmark Results: Applications
- Benchmark Results: Audio/Video
- Benchmark Results: Power Consumption
- Benchmark Results: Single-Thread Efficiency
- Benchmark Results: Multi-Thread Efficiency
- Benchmark Results: Overall Power Efficiency
- Conclusion



