How does it fit in?
| Processors | Cores | Architecture | Process | Form factor | Clock speed | L2 cache (total) | L3 cache | Memory-controller speed (up to) | Voltage | TDP | etailer pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition | 4 | K10 | 45nm | AM3 | 3.2GHz | 2MB | 6MB | 2.0GHz | 0.875-1.5V | 125W | £199 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 945 | 4 | K10 | 45nm | AM3 | 3.0GHz | 2MB | 6MB | 2.0GHz | 0.875-1.5V | 125W | £179 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 910 | 4 | K10 | 45nm | AM3 | 2.6GHz | 2MB | 6MB | 2.0GHz | 0.875-1.425V | 95W | N/A |
| AMD Phenom II X4 810 | 4 | K10 | 45nm | AM3 | 2.6GHz | 2MB | 4MB | 2.0GHz | 0.875-1.425V | 95W | £143 |
| AMD Phenom II X4 805 | 4 | K10 | 45nm | AM3 | 2.5GHz | 2MB | 4MB | 2.0GHz | 0.875-1.425V | 95W | N/A |
| AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition | 3 | K10 | 45nm | AM3 | 2.8GHz | 1.5MB | 6MB | 2.0GHz | 0.85-1.425V | 95W | £115 |
| AMD Phenom II 710 | 3 | K10 | 45nm | AM3 | 2.6GHz | 1.5MB | 6MB | 2.0GHz | 0.875-1.425V | 95W | £105 |
| AMD Phenom II 940 Black Edition | 4 | K10 | 45nm | AM2+ | 3.0GHz | 2MB | 6MB | 1.8GHz+ | 0.875-1.5V | 125W | £168 |
| AMD Phenom II 920 | 4 | K10 | 45nm | AM2+ | 2.8GHz | 2MB | 6MB | 1.8GHz+ | 0.875-1.5V | 125W | £151 |
| AMD Phenom X4 9950 Black Edition | 4 | K10 | 65nm | AM2+ | 2.6GHz | 2MB | 2MB | 2.0GHz | 1.05-1.3V | 125W | £128 |
| AMD Phenom X4 9850 BE | 4 | K10 | 65nm | AM2+ | 2.5GHz | 2MB | 2MB | 2.0GHz | 1.05-1.3V | 125W | £128 |
| AMD Athlon X2 7850 Black Edition | 2 | K10 | 65nm | AM2+ | 2.8GHz | 1MB | 2MB | 1.8GHz | 1.2-1.25V | 95W | £58 |
| AMD Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition | 2 | K10 | 65nm | AM2+ | 2.7GHz | 1MB | 2MB | 1.8GHz | 1.2-1.25V | 95W | £49 |
| AMD Athlon X2 7550 | 2 | K10 | 65nm | AM2+ | 2.5GHz | 1MB | 2MB | 1.8GHz | 1.2-1.25V | 95W | £47 |
| AMD Athlon X2 6400+ BE | 2 | K8 | 65nm | AM2 | 3.2GHz | 2MB | N/A | 1GHz | 1.35-1.4V | 125W | £75 |
| AMD Athlon X2 6000+ | 2 | K8 | 65nm | AM2 | 3.1GHz | 1MB | N/A | 1GHz | 1.1-1.4V | 89W | £64 |
Do you see it? Quite a ways down from the AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE but far more affordable at £60, the new chip slots in as the head of the dual-core Kuma pack. Simple common sense tells us that it should be quicker, by a smidge, than the X2 7750.
At the time of the X2 7750's review we compared it to an Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 (2.5GHz), priced at £75, and found it to be slightly faster than the Phenom-derived X2 7750 and a dual-core X2 6000+.
Intel's 'budget' CPU pricing is such that the E5200 has also dropped in price, to £58, whilst the E5400 (2.7GHz) is available for £66. The full-fat Core 2 Duos start at around £100.
Preview summary
AMD's introduction of the Athlon X2 7850 Black Edition adds under four per cent extra clock-speed over the X2 7750 BE. It's reasonable to assume that benchmark numbers will also show single-digit percentage increases, too, and you can see the X2 7750 vs. E5200 fight here. We'll run a full set of results, comparing the '7850 BE against the Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 and E5400s shortly. £60 buys you a lot of CPU, though.
Seeing that a bunch of 45nm Phenom II chips are already in the wild it would have made more sense to base the new dual-core CPUs on that. They're coming, of course, but AMD's somewhat flogging a soon-to-be-dead horse with 65nm Kuma.
Want to see what the AM2+ chip looks like? Head on over to the next page for a couple of shots.
