Tests of low-end AMD Athlon 64 X2 for Socket AM2
Author:
Date: 26.09.2006
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For a long time, the dual-core wars were going on unnoticed for the medium-class users - all were aware of them, but few could afford to take part in them. Gradually, the situation was changing, the number of people affording that was going up, but the general situation was changing insignificantly. And only after Intel got the redoubtable "mass destruction" Core 2 Duo processors the world started changing again - the less powerful weapon of the former times had to lose in price or sink into oblivion. Today, vehement dual-core wars are spreading in the mainstream and soon in the lower price ranges - it's just here the processors sell in hundreds of thousand pieces. To win battles on this field and thus sell better, it is important to prove superiority: to cost less at equal performance, or on the contrary - to run faster at equal prices, or use cheaper and popular platform, at least be more cost-efficient in terms of power consumption
The methods of waging wars for both leaders of the dual-core processor market are similar and at the same time different. They are similar in the total price reduction - sort of a new auction "Who bids the least price?" And they are different in the method of producing the most affordable models. At Intel, they followed the simple way through transforming Pentium D 920 into Pentium D 915 – disable the Intel Virtualization Technology, don't touch anything else and sell cheaper. This is the way models higher than Pentium D 925 and Pentium D 945 were produced, which are in fact Pentium D 930 and Pentium D 950 made cheaper following the same scheme. But what does the competitor offer?
AMD who was resting on the laurels for quite a long time was presenting "the most powerful» at not the most friendly price, but Intel's aggressive pricing policies compelled it to revise the prices and roadmaps. First, in the hope of victory, AMD had to substantially reduce the prices for existing and new Socket AM2 processors. But that proved little - it's no good proceeding without a new and even more cheaper and affordable dual-core processor. Armed with the idea «Dual-core AMD processors - to wide public!», the engineers easily made Athlon 64 X2 3800+ into Athlon 64 X2 3600+ through making the L2 cache half as much on each of the cores – the former 512 K were cut down to 256 K. It is highly probable that it was just the way that let revive chips of partly inoperative L2. Today, we'll find out how that affected the performance and at the same time finish with the digression into the capabilities of AMD Socket AM2 that was started with Sempron AM2 and continued in Athlon 64 AM2. And of course we will compare the potentials of all the mentioned value dual-core novelties through preparing grounds for a practical research into the capabilities of Core 2 Duo processors currently selling at full sway. For now, we move on to a closer examination of the specimens of today's review.
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ AM2
We received a test specimen of Athlon 64 X2 3600+ packed into an antistatic bag. The low-end model of the dual-core AMD processors is still rarely shipped in the boxed version – more often, it is the OEM version. That is a very popular method of distribution for both assemblers and our retail chain. On the other hand, you don't have to pay for the cooler which may not meet the buyer's requirements and you can choose the cooling system matching your needs – from the very cheap enough to make it run up to a very expensive and efficient to provide maximum overclocking.
 The CPU Athlon 64 X2 3600+ is of a bit unusual marking - ADO3600IAA4CU which can be decoded as follows: ADO – Athlon 64 of TDP up to 65W aimed at workstations (the CPU consumes less power and does not heat up much), 3600 being the CPU rating, I being the package type - 940-pin OµPGA (Socket AM2), A being the core voltage ?1.25-1.35V, A is the maximum admissible temperature of the housing ?55-70°C, 4 – stands for the total L2 cache memory size 512 K (2х256 K), CU – the Windsor core (the same is also used in the remaining Athlon 64 X2 processors having 2х512 K L2 cache size). Judging by the marking, this is an Athlon 64 X2 3800+ with half the L2 in each core locked on the hardware level, due to which it has turned cheaper and more efficient in in terms of power consumption.
Here is a complete info summary of the processor being tested and the memory GEIL DDR2-800 used in the test, according to the CPU-Z utility.
Our attempt to overclock Athlon 64 X2 3600+ proved successful enough in view of the fact that the "boxed" cooler was used out of the box for Athlon 64 X2 3800+. Even without raising the voltage, the processor was able running stably at the clock speed 2600 MHz, with the memory running as DDR2-866, but with the Command Rate 2T. We failed to overclock the processor more than that – although the temperature did not go up beyond 60°C, the system operating stability was lost. It's more likely to be the limit for that particular processor specimen.
The first question we were interested in was: «Is the L2 cache size really important?». To answer this question, is suffices to compare the performance of the "father" and "son" - Athlon 64 X2 3800+ and Athlon 64 X2 3600+.
The processor has the more customary marking ADA3800IAA5CU, i.e. it is a regular dual-core Athlon 64 X2 aimed at workstations with the overall L2 cache size 1 MB (2х512K), the TDP up to 89W, and the Windsor core.
Also, in the test there takes part Athlon 64 X2 3800+ for Socket 939 – using it we will verify what the benefit for Athlon 64 X2 is from acceleration of the memory subsystem and the possibility to use DDR2-400/533/667/800, as well as from migration to Socket AM2.
Prior to introducing you to the competitor processors, here are the revised tables with the main specifications of new and outdated models AMD Athlon 64 X2.
Athlon 64 X2 Socket AM2
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CPU clock speed, GHz
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HT speed, MHz
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L2, K
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Process technology
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Dual-channel memory controller
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64bit
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NX-bit
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Cool'n'Quiet
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Athlon 64 X2 5200+
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2,6
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1000
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2x1024
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90 nm, SOI
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Athlon 64 X2 5000+
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2,6
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1000
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2x512
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90 nm, SOI
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Athlon 64 X2 4800+
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2,4
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1000
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2x1024
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90 nm, SOI
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Athlon 64 X2 4600+
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2,4
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1000
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2x512
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90 nm, SOI
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Athlon 64 X2 4400+
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2,2
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1000
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2x1024
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90 nm, SOI
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Athlon 64 X2 4200+
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2,2
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1000
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2x512
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90 nm, SOI
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Athlon 64 X2 4000+
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2,0
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1000
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2x1024
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90 nm, SOI
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Athlon 64 X2 3800+
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2,0
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1000
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2x512
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90 nm, SOI
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Athlon 64 X2 3600+
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2,0
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1000
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2x256
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90 nm, SOI
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Athlon 64 X2 Socket 939
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CPU clock speed, GHz
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HT speed, MHz
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L2, K
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Process technology
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Dual-channel memory controller
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64bit
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NX-bit
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Cool'n'Quiet
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Athlon 64 X2 4800+
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2,4
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1000
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2x1024
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90 nm, SOI
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Athlon 64 X2 4600+
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2,4
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1000
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2x512
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90 nm, SOI
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Athlon 64 X2 4400+
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2,2
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1000
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2x1024
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90 nm, SOI
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Athlon 64 X2 4200+
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2,2
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1000
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2x512
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90 nm, SOI
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Athlon 64 X2 4000+
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2,0
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800
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2x1024
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90 nm, SOI
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Athlon 64 X2 3800+
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2,0
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1000
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2x512
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90 nm, SOI
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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Yes
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