AMD Phenom vs. Athlon Core Shootout

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Athlon 64 X2 vs. Phenom

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Phenom vs. Athlon X2
Row 0 - Cell 0 Phenom Athlon X2
Code Name Agena WindsorBrisbaneOrleansLimaManila
Clock Speed max. 2.30 GHz max. 3.20 GHz
Hypertransport HTT 1.0HTT 2.0HTT 3.0 HTT 1.0HTT 2.0
L1 Cache 4x 64+64 kB 2x 64+64 kB
L2 Cache 4x 512 kB 2x 1 MB2x 512 kB
L3 Cache 2 MB none
Fabrication Process 65 nm 90 nm65 nm
Transistors 600 M 227 M154 M
DIE Area 285 mm² 183 mm²230 mm²
TDP 125 W 125 W89 W65 W62 W45 W35 W
Cool'n'Quiet Version 2.0 Version 1.0
Instruction Sets MMX3DNow!NXX86-64PacificaPresidioSSESSE2SSE3SSE4A MMX3DNow!NXX86-64PacificaPresidioSSESSE2SSE3
Patrick Schmid
Patrick Schmid
Editor-in-Chief (2005-2006)

Patrick Schmid was the editor-in-chief for Tom's Hardware from 2005 to 2006. He wrote numerous articles on a wide range of hardware topics, including storage, CPUs, and system builds.

4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • spearhead
    its architecture it fine but
    it is clock speed the phenom lacks. if amd can just bump its speed up to around 3ghz-3.6ghz then it would make good competition towards faster intels. i can conclude from this benchmark that if you buy an phenom 9850 and clock it around 3ghz you have much more horse power then you would have with an athlon x2 6000+ however some benchmarks might tell you something else it makes sence if you use 1066mhz memory or just 800mhz mem
    Reply
  • tagasur
    i wish tom's would update this topic with new benchmarks on the amd phenom 9850be. i'd like to know if it's more stable now that the "nasty bug" has been remedied with the march 2008 product line refresh.
    Reply
  • brian1143
    Well this review says its not much more performance. I'm upgrading from 939 and actually thinking of getting the $60 AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 (AM2+) and OC it to at least 3ghz and run 1066 memory. I'd rather save the money for the future rather than have a few extra FPS.

    Intel's core i7 really is clearly the better processor with more headroom, but AMD has always had them in the price to performance ratio department. AMD isn't going away and perhaps they can make a better processor like when Athlon 64 came out or at least close the gap and let their price to performance ratio carry them the rest of the way. (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-phenom-ii,2119.html)

    Reply
  • mypobox
    Is an athlon II x3 really better then a phenom I x4 for 73$ at newegg ??
    Reply