AMD's Phenom goes on a budget with the Athlon X2 7000 series

Hot on the heels of word that the 45nm Phenom II chip is up for grabs, AMD has announced that its 65nm predecessor has been relegated to budget duty. The new Phenom-based Athlon X2 7000 chips are now available, replacing the aged X2 6000 and delivering an affordable HyperTransport bus boost to 3.6GHz, 2MB of L3 cache, but still just 1MB on L2. It's a dual-core processor, unlike the higher-spec Phenoms, and consumes 95-watts. That's a handy drop from the X2 6000's 125-watt rating, but isn't exactly frugal compared to some of AMD's other Phenom offerings. The 2.7GHz X2 7750 Black Edition is available now in bulk for just under $80, and appears to be retailing for around $90. Meanwhile a paler, cheaper, 2.5GHz version is shipping just for OEMs -- but that shouldn't stop you home builders from finding one if you're really inclined.

[Sea Urchin @ Dec 16th 2008 10:43AM]

Why it is so hard to tell AMD chips apart.

[tom @ Dec 16th 2008 10:51AM]

Because you are fxxking blind ! The retail box is green and the chip has pins on them, while the other guy is blue and no pins.

[jfree @ Dec 16th 2008 10:47AM]

I'd still rather have an e5200 for a budget build, but this is very competitive and tempting at $80. Probably best for those with older AMD processors that want a cheap and easy upgrade. Man, $80? AMD isn't playing around.

[Cory @ Dec 16th 2008 11:21AM]

For that same price you can get the AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+, I'd go for that.

[jfree @ Dec 16th 2008 12:07PM]

Good point, however the wattage is significantly higher on the 6000+ which means budget builders would have to go with a more expensive PSU (in theory) and have a slightly higher electric bill.

Also, the cache on the 6000+ on both L1 and L2 is lower, which would dampen its appeal to most budget builders.

[Dez @ Dec 16th 2008 12:07PM]

@Cory

For the same price, you would pick up a slower chip?

6000 = 3ghz dual core, higher power consumption, and lower L2/L3 Cache.
7000 = 3.6ghz dual core, less power, higher cache.

Also, I sure am glad I caught this article. I had been eyeing a 6000+ to replace my 4200+... for $4ish dollars more, i think this chip will make a much better replacement =) I still have no use for a quad core processor, as I don't need to encode video and don't care about playing the newest games, and I'm pretty sure I would rather have the two ridiculously fast cores as opposed to 4 decent cores.

[Rollins @ Dec 16th 2008 1:07PM]

Dez, you might want to read more closely. The HyperTransport in the 7750 operates at 3.6. The processor itself is 2.7.

[iofthestorm @ Dec 16th 2008 2:43PM]

@Cory: If you look at benchmarks, the new 7000s are clock for clock a lot faster, so despite having a lower clock speed they beat the 6000+ in most benchmarks. Geez, I thought we got rid of the megahertz myth with the P4.

[webmaster @ Dec 16th 2008 10:49AM]

I hope AMD makes more attempts at differentiating themselves by keeping the watt usage much lower than Intel.
That was my main reason for choosing AMD - cool running chips and hopefully longer life.

[Jash Sayani @ Dec 16th 2008 10:59AM]

I guess AMD should get into the netbook market now.. Its high time.... How about an AMD Atom...?

[inteller @ Dec 16th 2008 10:59AM]

ewww....95 watts? what is the fastest 65W x2 I can get? I'm sitting at 89W right now and I find it unacceptable.

[devonl @ Dec 16th 2008 11:32AM]

Funny, I just looked at this yesterday. For an AM2 socket, you're looking at the 5600+ (2.9GHz @ 65W). Depending on your mobo you'll find the answer here:

http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCPUResult.aspx

[Dez @ Dec 16th 2008 1:08PM]

I didn't realize power consumption = performance. Just a thought, am i wrong?

[Robotochan @ Dec 16th 2008 11:03AM]

It's always good to see some decent budget CPUs come on to the market. Always handy, especially these days...

[Lebowski @ Dec 16th 2008 11:09AM]

I saw a Phenom Black edition for $89 two weeks ago at Micro Center.

[babboa @ Dec 16th 2008 4:51PM]

If you saw one for that cheap it was probably the phenom x4 9500. That is the series with the TLB defect if I am correct. They got such a bad rap that the stores are having a hard time clearing them out of inventory. Newegg managed to clear their stock, but tigerdirect has even dropped their price to $99 to get them out the door.

[CosterMonger @ Dec 16th 2008 11:13AM]

I think I''l wait until they release a 7950 X2

hopefully these things actually perform better then the previous generation

[Dez @ Dec 16th 2008 12:11PM]

... have you heard something about that ever happening, or are you just assuming? I think they'll keep pushing these out for a while, but I'm kind of thinking this will be the last of the X2's as we know them, anyway.

[BigD145 @ Dec 16th 2008 3:09PM]

I'd replace my 5000 series with that.