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The AMD’s Athlon ii X2 220 is a dual core desktop processor clocked at 2.8 GHz. It is the successor of the Athlon ii X2 215 a 2.7 GHz dual core processor. With a speed bump of 100 MHz, we should expect a performance improvement of 3.7% in Athlon ii X2 200 with respect to the Athlon ii X2 215.

The Athlon ii X2 220 still comes under the low cost processor, which enables the design of the low cost desktops.

AMD Athlon II X2 220 Key Features

- 2.80 GHz Clock Frequency – dual core
- 1 MB of L2 Cache spread equally between the two two cores( 512 KB each of the two cores)
- Faster Processor to Memory communication with Integrated Memory Controller.
- Fits in the existing AM2+ and AM3 socket

As in the case of the Athlon II X2 215, Athlon ii 220 overcomes the low cache memory lacuna with its fast integrated memory controller. The integrated memory controller ensures that the processor to memory communication is fast even in the event of the cache miss.
The Athlon ii X2 220 supports AMD Virtualization, which helps in case you wish to use multiple operating systems.

Some of the desktops we found powered by AMD Athlon II X2 220 include – HP Pavilion HP Pavilion p6507c, that comes with 4 GB RAM and 320 GB Hard disk. It is priced close to $400 and has 4 GB DDR2 RAM and 500 GB Hard Disk.

The HP Pavilion Slimline s5514y is yet another is another desktop powered by Athlon II X2 215. It has 4 GB RAM and 500 GB Hard Disk.

HP Compaq 6005 Pro is another ultra slim desktop powered by Athlon ii X2 220. Its small space could make it ideal for offices with space constraint. However, it comes with only 2 GB RAM and 160 GB Hard disk, and its relatively high price of $560 ( at the time of writing) without a monitor may deter the users from buying it.

AMD Athlon II X2 220 Benchmark

As stated earlier we expect a 3.7% performance improvement in Athlon II X2 220 as compared to the Athlon II X2 215.

The 3D Mark03 benchmark score of 1385 compares as expected, with respect to the 1380 score of 215. By comparison, Intel Core i3-540 has been reported to have a score of 1360 with HT off.

In the PC Mark 2002 CPU Score, the Core i3-530 is, for example is 13% faster than the Athlon ii X2 215.

The low cost of the Athlon ii X2 220 could make it interesting for the desktop and tower manufacturers, however, we strongly suggest that you explore the Phenom ii based desktop processors that offer further increased performance. The Intel’s core i3 desktop processors are also worth considering.

hardware athlon ii, processor

AMD Athlon II X2 215 is a desktop processor that gives out decent performance with its two cores running at 2.70 GHz. Its somewhat higher TDP rating of 65 Watts makes it less unsuitable for very thinAll in One PC, but its low cost makes it suitable for cheaper desktops. AMD Athlon II X2 215 is marginally poorer than its big brother AMD Athlon II X2 220, clocked at 2.8 GHz.

AMD Athlon II X2 215 Key Features

- 2.70 GHz – dual core
- 1 MB L2 Cache ( 512 KB for each of the two caches)
- Integrated Memory Controller for improved performance
- Fits in AM2+ and AM3 socket

The Athlon II X2 215 counters the low cache memory with its integrated memory controller, which ensures that the faster processor to memory communication does not lead to excessive penalty in case of cache miss.

If you wish to use multiple operating systems, you will be benefited by the Virtualization technology offered by AMD Athlon II X2 215.

Some of the desktops we found powered by AMD Athlon II X2 215 include – HP Pavilion Slimline s5414y, that is priced close to $400 and has 4 GB DDR2 RAM and 500 GB Hard Disk.

The HP Pavilion Slimline s5304y is another desktop power available for $500 and is powered by Athlon II X2 215.

AMD Athlon II X2 215 Benchmark

The AMD Athlon II X2 215 has a 3D Mark03 benchmark score of 1380, and if you wish to compare with intel core i3 series, then Intel Core i3-540 has been reported to have a score of 1360 with HT off. In the PC Mark 2002 CPU Score, the Core i3-520 is, for example 15% faster than the Athlon ii X2 215.

The low cost of the Athlon ii X2 215 could make it interesting for the desktop and tower manufacturers.

hardware AMD, athlon ii, processor

Table : Intel Pentium P6100 Features and Specs

Feature	Intel Pentium P6100
Core Frequency	2.00 GHz
No. Of Cores	2 (No Hyperthreading)
Cache Organization	512KB L2 + 3MB L3
Turbo Frequency	No Turbo
TDP Rating	35 Watts
64 Bit Support	Y
Lithography	32 nm
Integrated Memory Controller	DDR3-1066
Integrated Graphics	Yes, Base 500 MHz, Turbo 667 MHz

Table : Intel Pentium P6100 Benchmarking

Benchmarks	Intel Pentium P6100
PassMark Score	1529
Super Pi 2M (Lower in better)	50 seconds
3D Mark 06 CPU	1840
Windows 7 Experience Score	5.7

The nominal clock frequency of the intel Pentium P6100 processor is 2.0 GHz. The Pentium P6100 is a dual core processor based upon the Arrandale architecture, the same architecture that powers the Intel Core i3 processors. However, the Pentium P6100 will have slightly inferior performance as compared to the similarly clocked Core i3 processor, mainly because the Hyperthreading is disabled. However, its performance is better than the similarly clocked core 2 processor owing mainly to the Integrated Memory Controller.

Intel Pentium P6100 Architecture

The package of the intel pentium P6100 consists of two dies. The first die contains a pair of 2 GHz processor sharing a 3 MB of L3 cache. The second die has an integrated DDR3 memory controller and an integrated HD graphics controller. The graphics controller runs at 500 MHz. The second die is manufactured using 45 nm lithography.

Built with 32 nm Lithography, the pentium P6100 processor has 2 cores. The P6100 has TDP rating of 35 Watts, which is suitable for the low power ( but not ultra low power) notebooks.

The communication with the chipset in P6100 is using high speed, high bandwidth differential DMI bus. This fast bus increases the throughput of the data communication with the peripherals.

Some benchmark results are available for Pentium P6100. The passmark score gives it a score of 1607 ( By comparison Intel Core i5 750 has a score of 4219). More benchmark results for Pentium P6100 are awaited.

Here are some of the Pros and Cons of the Pentium P6100

Pros of Intel Pentium P6100
- Competitively priced.
- Has integrated DDR3 memory controller.
- Integrated graphics controller – keeps the system cost low by eliminating the need of external graphics chip and still giving acceptable graphics performance

Cons of Intel Pentium P6100
- Does not support turbo boost for processor.
- Does not support Virtualization (VT-x)
- No support for AES.

Some of the recent notebook with Intel Pentium P6100 seen in the market include Acer eMachines D732 and E732, Lenovo IdeaPad Z360 and Z560 notebooks, Acer AS5742Z-4685 15.6-Inch Laptop, Fujitsu LIFEBOOK NH570 and LIFEBOOK A530/AH530, Lenovo G560 among others.

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The  Athlon II X3 445 is a triple core processor clocked at 3.1 GHz which has reasonably good performance in single threaded as well as multithreaded environment. Its single threaded performance it attributable to the high clock rate of 3.1 GHz. Its multi threaded performance gets boost because of the three cores.

The chip is a real steal at $77.99 available at amazon at  the time of writing. Incidentally, it  little brother  Athlon II X3 425, a 2.7 GHz is showing up at higher price.  Obviously the Athlon ii triple core 445 is one of the best gaming notebooks available today at a very affordable price.

The Triple core Athlon ii 445 has the same specifications as that of the Athlong ii 425 except  the bump in the speed to 3.1 Ghz.  It does not has L3 cache (and this is one of the reasons of its under performance as compared to the core i5 and core i7 processors from Intel). It has 3x 128 KB of L1 cache and 3 x 512 KB of L2 cache. The integrated memory controller supports the DDR2 at 1066 and DDR3 at 1333 MT/s.

The processor connects to the chipset using the scalable differential HyperTransport  but at 4000 MT/s. The power consumption of Athlon ii 445 is 95W ( as per TDP rating).

The Athlon ii 446 will fit in the AM2+ or AM3 sockets. In other words you do not need to change the motherboard, if it already has either   the Am2+ or the AM3 socket.

In performance comparison, the  intel core i5-530 , for exaqmple will perform better than the Athlon ii 445, but the question is – are you will to pay $40 or so extra for core i5-530 for the performance gain ?

Some of the desktops powered by Athlon II X3 445 include Acer Aspire X1301-U1312

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The Athlon II X3 425 is a triple core processor from AMD with nominal operating frequency of 2.70 GHz. The processor will fit in your motherboard with AM2+/AM3 socket.

The Athlon II X3 425 is intended for the desktop and has a TDP rating of 95 Watts. It communicates with the chipset using 4000 MT/s differential HyperTransport Bus. The  AMD Athlon II X3 425 has total of 384 KB L1 cache, spread in 128 KB for each of the 3 cores. It also has 1.5 MB of L2 cache ( 512 KB for each of the three cores).

Built with 45 nm technology, the Athlon II 425 has a reaonably good performance for single threaded ( yes the high clock rate of 2.70 GHz does help) as well as multi threaded appleications. It is especially suited for the gaming environment when the three cores give it great horsepower.

A price check at Amazon reveal that the processor is available for $94 and is certainly recommended for the bang it provides for the bucks. A quick check at internet reveal that you may be able to buy this processor for as low at $79 at the time of writing. You may be able to get some more juice by overclocking it a little bit.

Based upon the Propus Quad Core the triple core Athlon processor is essentially a quad core processor with one core disabled. AMD gave it a different codename – Rana.

The integrated memory controlloer of 425 processor support DDR2 up to 1066 MHz and DDR3 memory up to 1333 MHz.The missing L3 cache does effects its performance a little bit. From AMD’s manufacturing standpoint of view, removing L3 means reduced die area, lower manufacturing cost and higher throughput.

The Athlon II X3 425 does support MMX, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4A instructions, Enhanced 3DNow!, that speeds up the multimedia instruction execution. It also support NX bit, AMD64, Cool’n'Quiet. The AMD-V hardware virtualization technology should help you if you are using multiple operating systems and you need to switch between the operating systems.

Some benchmarking results for AMD Athlon II X3 425 are available. The 3D Mark score ( one of the best benchmarking suites for gaming) – gives it a rating of 6793 in the CPU Score. This is slightly poorer than the Phenom ii X3 710 score of 6807 but better  rhan the Core 2 Duo E7600′s score of 5969. The

the Possibly the best known and widely used synthetic benchmark, 3D Mark Vantage tests the gaming performance of the PC. PC Mark Vantage on the other hand tests other performance aspects of the PC like video encoding, home entertainment multimedia features, working in an office environment, and basic gaming.

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