Affordable Dual Core from AMD: Athlon 64 X2 3800+
by Anand Lal Shimpi on August 1, 2005 9:36 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Power Comparison: Manchester vs. Toledo
In our first review of the Athlon 64 X2, we were astounded by the fact that the fastest Athlon 64 X2, thanks to its cool running 90nm process, consumed less power than any single core Pentium 4 processor, not to mention all of the dual core models.We also noted that a dual core Athlon 64 X2 processor used less power than a single core 130nm Athlon 64, once again a testament to AMD's transition to 90nm.
This time around, we're interested in the power consumption benefits of the new Manchester core. AMD says the core drops the maximum power consumption from 110W down to 89W, but what is that in the real world?
In order to find out, we performed one simple test; we clocked an Athlon 64 X2 4200+ based on the old Toledo core at 2.0GHz, the same clock speed as the X2 3800+, and measured the total power consumption of the system. We then swapped out the Toledo based X2 for a new Manchester based X2 to see, clock for clock, what the tangible decrease in power consumption was.
Remember, we're only looking at total system power consumption - obviously CPU power consumption will be a lot lower, but with identical system specifications, the CPU's impact on power consumption should be the major variable that we're measuring here.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
109 Comments
View All Comments
masher - Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - link
OMG OMG! CONSPIRACY! INTEL IS PAYING OFF TOMS!Staples - Monday, August 1, 2005 - link
Seems video games are only benifiting from raw clock speed. The 2.4 single core A64 outperforms the X2 3800 every step of the way. I will be getting one when there is an X2 2.4GHz that isn't $1000.DigitalDivine - Monday, August 1, 2005 - link
man, i wish amd would make a 2Ghz 256K (512k total) dual core proc.i mean, think about it.... l2 cache sizes for the athlon doesn't really dent performance (as seen in sempron's performance); it's cheaper for amd to produce and more economical to run/ power.
NullSubroutine - Monday, August 1, 2005 - link
I dont know if it was includedin the AMD single vs Dual core comparsion, but I would have liked to have seen comparison of 3000+ (newcastle 2.0ghz, 512k cache...hmm i guess thats 754, what they got thats similar on 939, is that the 3200 they talked about?) vs the new 3800 x2, I could go look at old benchmarks, however sometimes they arent similar enough systesm (sometimes diffrent video, hd, benchmark settings).Hacp - Monday, August 1, 2005 - link
Intel's next move should be to discount the 820 to 200 and the 830 to 275. That way, it can still stay competative with AMD in terms of Price/performance.Zebo - Monday, August 1, 2005 - link
"The victory is clear and without debate, at the $300 - $400 price point, the Athlon 64 X2 3800+ is the dual core processor to get. "----------------
No offense Anand, but the 3800+ would have bent an $1100 840XE too but I guess you did'nt want to embaress Intel like that.;) Making 3800+ at any price point the 3800+ is the dual core processor to get. Just look in your forums -- people arn't buying the PentiumD's even at thier rock bottom discount prices. I've counted 44 X2's and one 820D and this is at the >$500 price points of 4200 and above!!! I expect 3800+ to literally explode in sales.
masher - Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - link
> "Just look in your forums -- people arn't buying the PentiumD's even at thier rock bottom discount prices"Lol, what world are you living in? Intel is forecasting 2 million Pentium Ds shipped by the end of the year...the lowest independent forecasts are 500,000+ by year-end. Thats a lot more than the A64 X2 is going to sell this year.
> "but the 3800+ would have bent an $1100 840XE too but I guess you did'nt want to embaress Intel like that.;) "
Put down the crack pipe and step away from the keyboard.
Zebo - Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - link
uh huh..http://techreport.com/reviews/2005q2/athlon64-x2/i...">http://techreport.com/reviews/2005q2/athlon64-x2/i...
Ouch! The $350 3800+ beats the $1100 840XE in 12/20 apps..How embarressing is that?
Don't even doubt me you just look stupid.
masher - Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - link
> "Don't even doubt me you just look stupid. "God, the idiots really come out at night. The report you linked to is from May...the "3800" those benchmarks were run on isn't even the dual core X2...its the 2.4 GHZ single-core chip.
Thanks for a good laugh....feel free to keep posting.
DXM - Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - link
I believe he meant to post this review showing the X2 3800 matching or besting the XE840 in all but a handful of tests:http://techreport.com/reviews/2005q3/athlon64-x2-3...">http://techreport.com/reviews/2005q3/athlon64-x2-3...
Aside from the snide comments, the gist of his assertion still stands.