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The Cheapest Quad-Core Processors - AMD Athlon II X4 630 & 620

By Vincent Chang - 5 Dec 2009

Conclusion

Conclusion

The recent arrival of Intel's Lynnfield based Core i7 and i5 processors has further dented AMD's hopes of expanding in the mainstream with its Phenom II processors. AMD's top Phenom II, the X4 965, barely keeps up with these newcomers as the Phenom II's sole remaining advantage of being the better bang for buck choice is greatly reduced with the more affordable price tags attached to the Lynnfield processors and the supporting Intel P55 chipset.

Hence, the drive to delve even deeper into the budget segment, with the cheapest ever quad-cores in the market and more triple-cores launched under the Athlon II brand. Going under US$100 may be a milestone in the retail channel but the important thing is whether these Athlon II X4 processors are good?

From what we have seen, they are no chart toppers when it comes to their quad-core performance but they certainly punch above their weight and price. Compared to Intel's cheapest quad-core, the Q8200, we found the two Athlon II X4s to be very competitive, especially when it comes to the more intensive video and 3D applications that one usually recommends a quad-core processor for. Not only do they get the nod from us for its performance and price, their idle power draw is commendable; although full-load power draw have room for improvement yet.

The problem however is that Intel has many dual-core offerings that remain very capable in these price brackets. Like the Pentium Dual-Core E6500 that we featured as a comparison, these dual-core processors make up for their lack of cores with higher clocks and the fact that truly multi-threaded applications are not exactly that common yet. This helps these dual-cores stay relevant, even though it, like the Core 2 Quad, has no upgrade prospects. If you're looking to trade up in the future, Intel's Core 2 offerings are a big no.

Overall, we feel that these entry level quad-cores have a place for budget conscious users. The AMD platform is already quite affordable and these processors make it even better. One could overcome any shortcomings with a faster graphics cards or even a solid state drive with the added savings. The fact is that processors are no longer the biggest bottleneck in many new systems and there are options to tweak your system build to fit a budget better. Overclocking these relatively inexpensive processors is another route that enthusiasts may take and from our testing, it too looks promising.

Our Ratings
 The AMD Athlon II X4 630

The AMD Athlon II X4 620.

 

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