AMD’s AM2 Platform: Athlon 64 FX-62 Processor Review

Testing Methodology and System Setup

Testing Methodology

As I mentioned before, the FX-62 processor was the only one I had on hand to test the new AM2 platform with at this time.  I was able to emulate an AM2 4800+ processor by simply down-clocking this CPU to the 4800+ frequency with a simple change of the multiplier.  Since the 4800+ has the same memory speeds and cache sizes, the results should be identical to what we would see with a retail AM2 X2 4800+ processor. 

The AM2 testing platform was based on a Foxconn NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI motherboard; we’ll have more details on the new nForce chipsets later in the day as I decided to break up the AM2 platform launch into a decisive CPU and decisive chipset article in order to offer readers a chance to get at the details they really want. 

For Intel’s comparison options, I have results both from the Intel Pentium XE 965 processor, the fastest desktop CPU they currently offer, as well as the T2600 Core Duo CPU on a retail Asus desktop motherboard.