AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+: Competing with Aggressive Pricing

Final Words

With the latest round of price cuts AMD is far more competitive than at any other point since the release of Intel's Core 2 processors. Unfortunately for AMD, this means that at best, it can offer performance close to that of Intel's Core 2 processors at similar prices.

Overall, the performance advantage still goes to Intel's Core 2 lineup but there are a few situations where the performance between the two families is close enough to be considered a tie. There are also the outlier cases where the Athlon 64 X2 actually ends up faster than the Core 2, but we suspect that they are more isolated incidents than indications of the norm.

We are most happy that the most expensive AM2 processor you can buy now will run you less than $500 as the FX series has been relegated to Socket-1207 only. While AMD won't be winning any performance crowns with this minor speed bump, it does mean that current Socket-AM2 owners have a pretty good upgrade path to look forward to; after all, for $326 you can upgrade to what was once a $999 Athlon 64 FX-62.

As the last Socket-AM2 processor before AMD's new-architecture makes its debut, the Athlon 64 X2 6000+ doesn't set any land speed records, nor does it send off AMD's most successful architecture to date with any sort of a bang. AMD is still relying on its 90nm process for the top bin parts and thus there's no real power efficiency in the X2 6000+ to be impressed by. We still have to wait for Barcelona before we can get really excited about anything AMD is doing, but recent price cuts positioning Socket-AM2 as a more affordable platform have made this an easier pill to swallow.

Our recommendation continues to be for Intel's Core 2 lineup, but it's beginning to seem like competition could be restored when Barcelona arrives...assuming Penryn doesn't happen until 2008.