“AMD has not reinvented the wheel with the Athlon II X4 series of chips. They are not disruptive products from a performance standpoint, and they bring nothing particularly new to the marketplace. Except price of course. When we consider that, then the Athlon II X4s are disruptive. A fast, quad core at $122 will turn a few heads. We can also expect to eventually see more power efficient versions of these chips potentially make it into the laptop market (as the dual core Athlon II X2s have done recently).”Here are some more Processor articles from around the web:
- MD Athlon II X4 620 & 630: The First $99 Quad Core CPU @ AnandTech
- AMD Athlon II X4 620 and Athlon II X4 630 Processor Review @ Legit Reviews
- Quad-Core on the Cheap: AMD Athlon II X4 620 @ Techspot
- AMD Athlon II X4 620 Quad Core Processor Review @ OCC
- Four Cores for $100: Athlon II X4 630 and Athlon II X4 620 CPU @ X- bit Labs
- Athlon II X4 620 & 630 @ TechwareLabs
- AMD Athlon II X4 620 Processor Review – Quad-Core for Mainstream @ Tweaktown
- AMD Athlon II X4 620 and 630: introducing the budget quad-core CPUs @ HEXUS
- AMD Athlon II X4 Processors Debut: Enter The $99 Quad-Core @ Hot Hardware
- AMD Athlon II X4 620 review – Quad Core Going Cheap @ Guru of 3D
- Mainstream Quad-Core CPU Performance Comparison @ Techspot
- Clock for Clock: Core i5, Core i7, Core 2 Quad and Phenom II X4 Performance @ Legion Hardware
- All Pentium Dual Core Models @ Hardware Secrets
- Intel Core i7 and Core i5 “Lynnfield” CPU @ HCW
- Intel Core i5 750 Review – Overclocking Phase-Change vs LN2 @ Madshrimps
- Intel i5-750 Socket 1156 Lynnfield Processor Review @ Tweaknews
AMD is getting comfortable in their low cost niche
AMD has taken over the lower end of the CPU spectrum with the release of the Athlon II X4 620 and 630. In the $100 price range, the only chip Intel has to offer is the Q8200, and at around $27 more it and with lesser performance, it is overwhelmed by AMDs offerings. The bad news is that Black Edition processors are limited to the Phenom II series, the Athlons will not have one. On the plus side, that wonderful little BIOS feature called ACC may be able to unlock L3 cache that is disabled on the chip. Josh has posted his full review at the top of the page and you have to read it.
