Tired of unlocking thiose cores on the 550 for a 99buck quad? grab a 640! - Hardware & Software

Why play mix'n match when you can just grab a nice quad for cheap! And a a nice 2.6 or 2.8 clock for 99bucks you can't go wrong! can you? [img_thumb]http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/cpu/amd/athlon2/620/Athlon_II_X4_Die.jpg[/img_thumb] green mean alien technology remember that kiddos, that was the tech for the athlons X2 45nm [img_thumb]http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/cpu/amd/athlon2/launch/athlon2die.jpg[/img_thumb] VROOM new 45nm quads! [img]http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/cpu/amd/athlon2/620/athlon620stockoc.jpg[/img] stock voltage and at 3.25 :c00l: AMD is using this to compete with the new i5's and hell at this price who can say this is a bad deal! [img]http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/athloniix4630_091109225733/20008.png[/img] haha suck it Q8200 [img]http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/athloniix4630_091109225733/20018.png[/img] sucks for excel [img]http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/athloniix4630_091109225733/20016.png[/img] watch out 955 you are getting told by a cpu 100 less [img]http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/athloniix4630_091109225733/20022.png[/img] [img]http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/athloniix4630_091109225733/20024.png[/img] ouch not very good at stock speeds, but overclock it and let her rip! no chart yet but it does give an ample boost [url]http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3638&p=9[/url] expected to be on newegg sometime this week or next full review [url]http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3638&p=1[/url]

Athlon II X4s? That totally came out of left field. The 2mb L2 cache, and no L3 cache is not so attractive. With the Phenom II X3 720 BE only being $20-$30 more, I'd probably get one of those. However, the Athlons use much less power than the Phenom II X3 does.

Still gonna buy a Phenom II, but these look pretty good

[QUOTE=PvtCupcakes;17333127]Athlon II X4s? That totally came out of left field. The 2mb L2 cache, and no L3 cache is not so attractive. With the Phenom II X3 720 BE only being $20-$30 more, I'd probably get one of those. However, the Athlons use much less power than the Phenom II X3 does.[/QUOTE] I could care less how much juice my rig sucks from my wall sockets. I want superior processing power, and the X4 series delivers.

Other than the price these really aren't that impressive. From the looks of these results you could just overclock a Q8200 and beat this.

You do know that the reason the cores are disabled isn't to print money, it's because that core has a fault in it. (I mean what the hell why would they sell better CPU's cheaper? Performance doesn't cost anything, silicon does.)

[QUOTE=Dr Egg;17336897]Other than the price these really aren't that impressive. From the looks of these results you could just overclock a Q8200 and beat this.[/QUOTE] 1. The Q8200 is $60 more. 2. You can overclock this too.

[QUOTE=BmB;17341546]You do know that the reason the cores are disabled isn't to print money, it's because that core has a fault in it. (I mean what the hell why would they sell better CPU's cheaper? Performance doesn't cost anything, silicon does.)[/QUOTE] Yes I know that but putting "BECAUSE SOME OF THOSE CORES BY BE FAULTY" doesn't really fit

No cache = Deal breaker. I would rather buy a 550 and have it might be a quad than buy a quad with no cache.

[QUOTE=BmB;17341546]You do know that the reason the cores are disabled isn't to print money, it's because that core has a fault in it. (I mean what the hell why would they sell better CPU's cheaper? Performance doesn't cost anything, silicon does.)[/QUOTE] The silicon doesn't cost shit. they grow it from seeds (starter pieces of silicon). Takes a week and a half to grow a full ingat if silicon and you get about 1200 wafers from 1 ingate. I make solar panels for a living, so I deal with silicon wafers every day. Intel is right down the street from my work as well.

[QUOTE=Pixel Heart;17349173]The silicon doesn't cost shit. they grow it from seeds (starter pieces of silicon). Takes a week and a half to grow a full ingat if silicon and you get about 1200 wafers from 1 ingate. I make solar panels for a living, so I deal with silicon wafers every day. Intel is right down the street from my work as well.[/QUOTE] And how much does it take to create those ingats?

[QUOTE=winsanity;17349276]And how much does it take to create those ingats?[/QUOTE] It takes a seed the size of a bowling ball and we add our scrap wafers to it for recycling. After that, the silicon heats up, we add boron powder to it to make it more conductive, and then we spin the molten silicon while at the same time slowly stretching it, forcing it to grow. Not sure about the power requirements, but the process is lengthy and fun to operate. [img]http://d2k5.com/sa_emots/smile.gif[/img] Long story short, we pay nothing for our silicon because we grow our own and recycle 100% of our scrap. Totally self-sufficient.

[QUOTE=TrafficMan;17349088]No cache = Deal breaker. I would rather buy a 550 and have it might be a quad than buy a quad with no cache.[/QUOTE] The Athlon II X2s don't have L3 cache. However, the 550 has 2x1mb L2, while the X4s have 4x512kb. I also just noticed a Phenom II X4 945 for $180 (with an extra $10 off on newegg) Which does have 6mb L3 cache.