AMD Athlon II X4 620 Processor Review
Posted on March 31, 2010 at 6:24 am
Previously we did a comparison of Intel’s Core I series processors. Although many tech gurus and enthusiasts are making the prediction that Intel will pull even further ahead of AMD in late 2010, AMD is still planning to step their game up a bit.
There have even been a couple of rumors that AMD will release 32nm chips this year, and make a couple other updates in order to stay competitive with the Core I series.
As much as it sounds like Intel may be the way to go, AMD is still not going to die out, at least not anytime soon. This is most likely due to AMD’s pricing scheme, which to say the least, is considerably cheaper than Intel’s.
There are some die hard Intel fans out there and some die hard AMD fans out there. Not quite as numerous as the PC vs. Apple crowd, but still noticeable. Thus, it’s only right that we do a bit on AMD as well. AMD is the current title holder of cheapest quad core CPU with the AMD Athlon II X4 620. Here is the review:
The AMD Athlon II X4 620 is a quad core processor that is priced aggressively. At only $99.99 (Newegg), the quad core Athlon II costs $20 less than an Intel Core i3, which is only a dual core processor. To step up to a quad core Intel CPU, you will need approximately $50 more to spend for a base Core 2 Quad ($149 Newegg).
Now, although the Core i3 is only a 2 core processor, rather than 4, it still matches the performance of the AMD Athlon II X4 620. Still, it’s 20 bucks more, and for people building a budget computer, AMD means not only cheaper CPUs, but cheaper motherboards as well.
Normally, the name Athlon means “not very fast” mid to low range performance. For PC gamers and system builders, it also means bad for overclocking. Thus, most people looking for a performance CPU will go with a Phenom processor, and most people looking to overclock will go with a Black series processor. However, the AMD Athlon II X4 620 and its quad cores offer above average performance for a decent price.
The Athlon II X4 will give you a Windows Experience Index rating above 7 for processor. That’s over a 2.5 difference in points from a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo (4.5 Windows Experience Rating). Although this is not any advanced analysis such as Cinebench, it should be enough for the heavy majority of computer users.
The overall speed, performance, and value of this processor are good. For the majority of people who do word processing, browse the internet, and email, the Athlon II is very fast. The gaming performance is decent. Not overly impressive, but quite decent.
You can overclock this processor by simply adjusting a couple of variables within your PC’s bios. It’s never going to reach 4GHz. But still, 3.4 is easily achievable (with good cooling).
All-in-all, the AMD II X4 620 is a solid buy for anyone that wants a quad core processor for under $100. This actual CPU has received outstanding reviews on Newegg, 95% perfect rating from 300+ reviewers. The X4 620 is a good example of performance at a low price, considering a quad core Core i5 costs double.
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