Motherboards Memory Storage Cases/Cooling/PSUs IT Computing Displays Mobile Mac CPUs & Chipsets Video Digital Cameras Linux Gadgets Systems Trade Shows Guides Home Increase Font Size Decrease Font Size Change Page Size
AMD Athlon II X4 620 & 630: The First $99 Quad Core CPU
AMD Athlon II X4 620 & 630: The First $99 Quad Core CPU
Date: September 16th, 2009
Topic: CPU & Chipset
Manufacturer: AMD
Author: Anand Lal Shimpi
Buy the AMD ADX620WFGIBOX Athlon II Processor
Blank
 Newegg $99.00
 BestBuy $109.99
 TigerDirect $99.99
 
 

Fallout 3 Game Performance

Bethesda’s latest game uses an updated version of the Gamebryo engine (Oblivion). This benchmark takes place immediately outside Vault 101. The character walks away from the vault through the Springvale ruins. The benchmark is measured manually using FRAPS.

Fallout 3 - 1680 x 1050 - Medium Quality

Will $99 get you a potent gaming processor? Compared to anything similarly priced, yes, yes it will. If you're building a gaming box you're still better suited for todays games with a faster dual-core processor but if you care about multithreaded performance elsewhere, the X4 won't disappoint.

Left 4 Dead

Zombies? Check. Zombie killing performance:

Left 4 Dead - 1680 x 1050 - Max Settings (No AA/AF/Vsync)

If this thing only had Lynnfield's turbo modes it would be at the top of these charts. We get respectable performance out of the Athlon II X4s, just nothing earth shattering.

FarCry 2 Multithreaded Game Performance

FarCry 2 ships with the most impressive benchmark tool we’ve ever seen in a PC game. Part of this is due to the fact that Ubisoft actually tapped a number of hardware sites (AnandTech included) from around the world to aid in the planning for the benchmark.

For our purposes we ran the CPU benchmark included in the latest patch:

Far Cry 2 - 1680 x 1050 - Playback (Action Scene) - Medium Quality

The FarCry 2 CPU bench seriously favors the Intel CPUs. This is the first and only time where the Athlon II X4 looks like it doesn't make sense. Given its success in the rest of the suite, I'll give it a pass.

Crysis Warhead

Crysis Warhead - 1680 x 1050 - Mainstream Quality (Physics on Enthusiast) - assault bench

Faster than an E6300 (cheaper) but slower than a Q8200 (more expensive), the Athlon II X4 620 does very well given its price.

Power Consumption & Overclocking   Next Page

 
  Index

Tools Share
Find lowest prices Find the lowest prices
Digg   del.icio.us   E-mail  
Print This Article Print this article  

147 Comments - Last by damage98, 80 days ago
Username:
Password:
Now we have a cheap Quad Core!! by Lunyone, 146 days ago
Finally we have quad cores at about $100!! Hope that this will spur on better pricing on all fronts! Go AMD, we need the competition to drive down better pricing. Now only if you would drop down the PhII x4 955/965 pricing to compete better with the i5 750!!

Reply
RE: Now we have a cheap Quad Core!! by thezorro, 146 days ago
remember that the lynnfield core i7 750 has turbo overclocking enabled so is overclocked to 3.2 ghz, which is 600 mhz overclocking, while amd processors are running at stock speed
Is unfair to present the results this way, turbo is overclocking.

Reply
RE: Now we have a cheap Quad Core!! by Chlorus, 146 days ago
"remember that the lynnfield core i7 750 has turbo overclocking enabled so is overclocked to 3.2 ghz, which is 600 mhz overclocking, while amd processors are running at stock speed
Is unfair to present the results this way, turbo is overclocking. "

Its not overclocking if ITS ON BY DEFAULT, you worthless troll.

Reply
RE: Now we have a cheap Quad Core!! by smn198, 146 days ago
[quote][It] is unfair to present the results this way, turbo is overclocking[/quote]

I think we need to review our definition of overclocking. For years both Intel and AMD, have varied processors' speed and voltage based on temperature and workload. Intel has now changed how they are doing this. Using two cores your processor runs at one speed and using all four, it runs at another. As this is how Intel is selling the CPU I'd argue that this isn't overclocking as by definition, this is running at a frequency beyond spec. Therefore it is a perfectly fair way to present the results.

Reply
RE: Now we have a cheap Quad Core!! by thezorro, 146 days ago
i'm going to stay here saying the same until hell freezes.
i'm not going to accept overclocked results presented as if they were stock results.
this is a casus belli.
i mean it.


Reply
RE: Now we have a cheap Quad Core!! by SlyNine, 146 days ago
lol You will make your own little universe in your mind. okay lol.

Overclocking. Lets see. Over, meaning above normal. Well since the post turbo mode clock is perfectly normal. Its not OVER clocking.

Reply
Turbo != Overclock by vol7ron, 146 days ago
Just because the clock rate is variable, does not mean it's [over/under]clocking. It just means the speeds change. In fact, even when you are running at stock speeds, the clock rate will vary - that is why you see 3.541 3.500 3.489

To complain it's not a fair comparison, he's kind of right, but not for the right reason. It's as if he's in AMDs defense, rather than their scrutiny. Instead of comparing peaches-to-peaches, now you're comparing nectarines-to-peaches and there's two ways to look as this glass: Intel is turbo-ing during fewer threads, or Intel is decelerating in multithreaded situations; both have the same effect. (They're either trying to give you more bang for the buck, or they put out a bad product that only works half the time)

The end result, though, AMD doesn't do this on the fly. Sure you could test it at different clock speeds, but you could also overclock the i7 to something faster (and you might be back at square one).

Reply
RE: Now we have a cheap Quad Core!! by rennya, 146 days ago
Overclocking is not the same as turbo mode.

Overclocking voids your warranty, whether you use Intel or AMD CPUs.

Turbo mode doesn't void warranty because it is a valid feature.

Reply
RE: Now we have a cheap Quad Core!! by philosofa, 146 days ago
Can someone please ban this moron, and the others (who ironically I assume are on AMD's payroll?). Their lack of an understanding of the most basic logic is making me feel ill.

Good Review though, just really want Bulldozer to come out!

Reply
RE: Now we have a cheap Quad Core!! by bupkus, 146 days ago
"Their lack of an understanding of the most basic logic is making me feel ill."

Take a Tums; we're not interested.

Reply
Comments Page 1 of 15

Unlicensed Software at Your Last Company
Anonymously Report Unlicensed Software with Our Form Now. Get Up to $1 Million.
We Buy Laptop and PC Memory! Sell to Us!
Min of 25 pieces required. Call us today at 239.354.1230.
Special Offer from The Economist
Get 12 issues of The Economist for $12. US subscribers only.
Free Forrester Risk Management Report
Demystifying Enterprise Risk Management. Download Free With Registration.
Download Microsoft Visual Studio ® Team System
Streamline Dev processes, Reduce time to market. Try Microsoft Visual Studio Team System, FREE!




Latest news by
DailyTech

 February 9, 2010

Blank
Blank
Blank
Blank
Blank
Blank
Blank
Blank
Blank
Blank
Blank
Blank
Blank
Blank
Blank
Blank

 February 8, 2010

Blank


more CPU & Chipset Discussions



pipeboost
Copyright © 1997-2010 AnandTech, Inc. All rights reserved. Terms, Conditions and Privacy Information.
Click Here for Advertising Information