AMD's Athlon II X3 435 & New Energy Efficient CPUs: Killing Intel Below $90
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 20, 2009 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Final Words
We'll start with the good news first. The Athlon II X3 435, priced at $87, is a better buy than any of the similarly priced Intel dual-core processors. In heavily threaded applications it's even faster than the more expensive Core 2 Duo E7500. Compared to Intel, the X3 435 is a clear value leader.
The problem is compared to AMD, the Athlon II X3 435 isn't that impressive. The Athlon II X4 620 is faster in nearly every multithreaded benchmark, and it's only costs $12 more. It's only in games and other lightly threaded applications where the 435's higher default clock speed makes up for its lack of a fourth core.
The Athlon II X3 435 is about $15 more expensive than it should be to make sense in AMD's lineup. It's a great step between the dual and quad-core options, but if you need the performance you're probably better off with the 620.
You do get better overclocking potential (thanks to lower thermal output of only three cores), but bring overclocking into the mix and you can narrow the clock speed gap with an overclocked 620.
Compared to Intel, I like the Athlon II X3 435. Compared to AMD, I'd take a quad-core 620.
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maddoctor - Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - link
Please, don't see those crappy AMD processors. With Intel upcoming Core I3, Intel will rule the HTPC ethusiast that care about power consumption with decent HD quality and full HD audio.Ahmed0 - Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - link
Oooh... fancy buzzwords like "HD"...Im posting from a computer using an old "crappy" AMD processor (which, funnily, is a fair bit faster than Intels offering from the same timeperiod).
I also have a newer Intel/Nvidia based system and I like both of my systems.
Your fanboyism reminds me of SiliconDoc who was banned recently... coninue like you do and youll end up the same way. Now, post some constructive criticism/arguments or shut up...
maddoctor - Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - link
Yeah, it is up to you if you like both your own PC whether is Intel or AMD. But, I remind you, Intel will be no more as a company in 2011 after AMD filed chapter 11 in Q3 2010. This is the nature of moore's law that only the number 1 company will become the only supplier of semiconductor products.Summer - Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - link
Good showing by AMD. Hopefully AMD can keep this up. Competitive market = great for consumers!maddoctor - Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - link
The world will be a better place without AMD. Intel does not need competition in PC Market, and soon, Intel will destroy ARM stronghold in Handhelds too with low power Intel Atom. I believe with many smart engineers, Intel will not stop the innovation with products that become cheaper and cheaper. I believe what Monpoloy Man have said.Quickwind - Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - link
Always nice to see these low end processors around so that if I need to I can build a cheap but effective computer for a family member.And I know it's bad to feed the trolls but.... Do you even know what competition does for the market? How it creates lower prices and pushes innovation to stay ahead?
maddoctor - Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - link
Nice to see you are trolling. Intel will always innovates and its products will gradually cheaper and cheaper as Moore's Law even wthout competitor, see the facts you are using Intel now. Intel will make the consumer happy with more powerful and cheap products.Zool - Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - link
When you buy a amd procesor for the same price than intel than the average pc usage speed is virtualy same if u dont sit before you computer with a stopwatch.And after a while heawy parallel software like graphics and encodings will switch to OpenCL and use GPU and CPU so intel speed will be irelewant there.
maddoctor - Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - link
What? Dont underestimate Intel with parallel processing. Intel bright engineers like Francois Piednoel and Justin Rattner have made the most efficient parallel processing in the world. That is why Justin Rattner had putted AMD Opteron in the trash during IDF 2006.Jamahl - Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - link
Somebody ban this moron please.