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.

“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).”

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