AMD has released 5 new processors into the Athlon II and Phenom II line-up to fill out the lower-end of the scale, and also to compete with the recently released Intel Clarkdale processors. In this selection, we’re seeing two Phenom IIs and three Athlon IIs with prices ranging from US$74 up to US$169.
To get into the itty-bitty details, there is a Phenom II X4 910e running at 2.6GHz with a low power consumption of 65W but the highest price of US$169. Also new to the Phenom II range is the X2 555 BE – a dual-core processor clocking 3.2GHz and costing just US$99. In the Athlon II range there is the X4 635, X3 440 and X2 255 – with clock speeds of 2.9GHz, 3.0GHz and 3.1GHz respectively and prices of US$119, US$84 and US$74 respectively.
On to the performance. The AMD Athlon II X4 635 often beat the Intel Core i3-530 in media and benchmarking-related tests, with the other Athlon CPUs and the Phenom II X2 slotting in below the i3-530 and in between some of the older AMD Phenom II/Athlon II processors and Intel Core 2 processors. In gaming, the Phenom II X2 555 BE managed to take the crown out of the newly released AMD processors, but often fell behind the Core i3-530 and other higher-end Intel processors.
While the Intel Core i3 CPUs are slightly faster, they also are more expensive, making these new AMD processors great for those who want a good amount of performance in a cheap package. If you’re looking for something cheap and with good upgrade prospects, go for the Athlon II X2 AMD offerings; for something with a bit more power but also keeping a good price try one of the X4s. These new processors should be hitting the stores real soon.
