[crhylove]

AMD pops out sub-$100 quad-core Athlon II X4 CPU: review roundup

Has a nice set of info on it. So my next question:

How will Dolphin performance be on one of these?

 

[masta.g.86]

The same as an Athlon II X2 clocked at the same speed. :/

 

[Princess Garnet]

I only read the summary of it, but it lacks L3 cache? Yuck. Since the L3 cache on those CPUs is essentially their version of L2 cache (since their L2 cache is so small), you can sort of consider this a Celeron, or Sempron, of sorts. If the summary says performance in gaming is a down point, that will at least give a clue on it's raw performance for emulators like PCSX2 and Dolphin.

 

[masta.g.86]

Since the L3 cache on those CPUs is essentially their version of L2 cache (since their L2 cache is so small), you can sort of consider this a Celeron, or Sempron, of sorts.

Pretty much. Some motherboards can attempt to unlock the CPU's L3 cache. If successful, performance to very close to that of a Phenom II at the same clock speed.

 

[nanaya]

Apparently AMD admits that some Athlon II X4 are natively non-L3-Propus and some are just L3-disabled-Deneb, so the chance are a little lower than the unlock cores things, AMD confirms Deneb core in some Athlon IIs.

Still, this things has serious values based on some benchmark I saw.

 

[wlee15]

On the other hand traditional quad-core applications like video encoding perform exceptional well on the athlon II X4.

 

[Squall-Leonhart]

don't count it entirely out of the running........

AnandTech: AMD Athlon II X4 620 & 630: The First $99 Quad Core CPU

 

[crhylove]

You are right!

You are right about having no L3 cache making it weak....

Several of the articles pointed out that an equitably priced Phenom II x3 would be a better performer in almost all scenarios!

rHY

 

[ElijahTW]

Still, it'll pull in the uneducated market.

 

[gamefreak94]

Aww...come on! It's an excellent budget $100 chip, and a quad-core none the less! If you aren't willing to pump out anymore then that much for a CPU then I don't think you stand in much of a position to complain about its smaller L3 cache or lower performance compared to other quad-cores (again, you have to keep in mind that other quad-cores are much more pricier).

In short, you're getting what you paid for :doh: If you want performance in emulators, then go buy an AthlonII X2/PhenomII X2.

 

[Cid Highwind]

Still, it'll pull in the uneducated market.

Seems like a nice competitor for the Q8200, though that one can be OC'd to 2.8GHz easily so it steps away from it. I wonder how these OC.

 

[StriderVM]

If the application can use the all the cores, it's great. If it's not. No, it's not much different from a normal Athlon X2 7000 series on the same clock speed. The processor can go to about 3.2Ghz probably on air. So on that regard, it's still a good competitor to the Q8200. Especially if it can keep up with the lower price than the Q8200.

 

[LoneWolf]

lol dude these are 45nm. 3.8 ghz is probably the limit on air.

 

[nanaya]

Seems like a nice competitor for the Q8200, though that one can be OC'd to 2.8GHz easily so it steps away from it. I wonder how these OC.

According here AnandTech: AMD Athlon II X4 620 & 630: The First $99 Quad Core CPU

As I mentioned at the start of this article I managed to hit 3.25GHz on the Athlon II X4 620 without any additional voltage using the retail AMD cooler:

So yes, if you factor overclocking it currently destroy Intel lower end quad core for price/performance and even more so if you don't.

 

[Princess Garnet]

lol dude these are 45nm. 3.8 ghz is probably the limit on air.

No. Check this.

I could hit 260MHz x 13.0 for 3.38GHz by upping the voltage, but the gain wasn't worth the additional power usage. Anything higher wasn't possible without more exotic cooling or much more voltage.

The last part is the key. I'm not sure how voltage goes with AMD, but with Intel, 1.4V is about the considered limit for 45nm. They're already there with just 3.25GHz (I'm running 4.0GHz right now with 1.23V). Now I know it may be, or should I say I'm pretty sure it is, a bit different with AMD than it is with Intel, but I'm sure the limits aren't too far apart, and since it's different, you can't assume it'll get to near 4GHz just because Intel does. A Core 2 is a much different 45nm chip than a Athlon II is.