AMD CPU Efficiency Compared

AMD Athlon X2 BE-2400 (Brisbane Core, 2.3 GHz)

AMD's Athlon X2 series is only available on the 65 nm Brisbane core (G1 or G2 stepping). Introduced as a high efficiency model, it delivers exactly the same performance as the Athlon 64 X2 running at equal clock speeds. However, its reduced core voltage (1.25 V max rather than 1.35 V max) makes sure that these processors stay within a 45 W power envelope, which is less maximum power requirement than you will find in the Intel portfolio. Of course, it's important to know that the TDP only defines what the maximum power consumption could be; it doesn't mean that the platform requires it in every case.

Again, Cool'n'Quiet throttles the CPU speed to 1.0 GHz during idle time.

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.