AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4800+ 2.4GHz Processor - Pcperspective Shopping

AMD outpacing all others

Strengths: Integrated memory controller, true inter-core communication, large L2 cache, low heat output for its power, fits long life 939 socket motherboards, play games and run antivirus at the same time !

Weakness: Now surpassed by Intel's Core 2 Duo series, Does not give backrubs, bring you cold beers or snuggle with you at night, still pricey

I have discontinued this review because as any tech geek knows, times change and better products are manufactured. If you are currently in need of a high end processor then take a look at the new Intel Core 2 Duo series. Intel has come back from the edge and is now producing models that can best any of AMD's latest offerings. (My review below was last updated during June of 2006) When I first got...
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I have discontinued this review because as any tech geek knows, times change and better products are manufactured. If you are currently in need of a high end processor then take a look at the new Intel Core 2 Duo series. Intel has come back from the edge and is now producing models that can best any of AMD's latest offerings.
(My review below was last updated during June of 2006) When I first got into building power computers for my graduate research a few years back, I said, "Amd, smay-m-d". Nothing was better than a Pentium. Then I noticed the fans in my box making a hell of a whirling sound. Even later, I noticed my BIOS reporting 77 degrees C for the CPU ! (WTF !!!) To cap it off, I saw my friend's AMD box run games like Doom 3 almost TWICE as fast.
OK, I said, so lets see what all this FX and X2 Dual Core crap is about. Long story short, a year on and one FX-55 and one X2 4800 later, and I am converted. Want to run FEAR or Oblivion at 1600x1200 at 70 FPS while checking for viruses - yep, check. Want to transcode video to DivX while also watching streaming iFilm movies - yep, check. Want to run Matlab neural network simulations while editing high res photos - no problem. The X2 4800 blows away the competition (lesser AMD models and everything Intel). The 4800 takes most of Intel's top Extreme Edition CPUs and steals their lunch money, pulls a wedgie up over their heads, slaps them silly and then exits with the hot slutty cheerleader. It is like the 1968 Muhammed Ali taking on the town drunk. To be fair, the latest Intel 965 Extreme Edition Presler can match the 4800 in office tasks but still lags behind in gaming (and runs much hotter at about 82 C versus 44 for the X2 4800) Yes, it is fairly dominating, and only Michael Dell of Dell infamy seems not to have realized this. The competition between AMD and Intel is cyclical, and maybe Intel can get back up after its most recent KO (better products may be available by September of 2006 when Intel implements their Conroe architecture, more on this below) but right now, they are taking an across the board beating from the X2 dual core lineup.
How is this possible? Well, you have two true cores that have true intercore communication (they do not use the FSB as Intel dual cores do). The X2 lineup then make s great use of its integrated memory controller to communicate directly with your system RAM (no Northbrige stopover like Intel). You also have the two separate L2 (one MB each) caches as well. Furthermore, without going into engineer babble, the microarchitecture is just plain better. And overclocking you ask? - it will reach 2.7 gigs on air and hits 2.8 GHz on my watercooled setup (so two FX-57s for 40 percent of their combined price).
So, to the average Joe, you have two butt kicking cores working in tandem (instead of waiting for one another as in Intel) like reciprocating pistons. Imagine transcoding your favorite DVD movie while attacking the Germans on the Normandy beaches in a game, while the fans in your case hum along quietly, the CPU temperature holds steady at 44 degrees and your significant other asks how you have been able to get so much done in the last few days - thats the power of the 4800 (and the entire X2 lineup). Is it cheap - nope, but you get what you pay for. In June, very little software was coded for multi-core, now in April 06 , we have ATI and Nvidia graphics drivers that are starting to change, FEAR, Quake 4, FarCry, Matlab, Mathematica, soon Vista (Longhorn), and the list will continue to grow each month.
So the question is should you buy it, even if you have the moolah? Well, the 4800 is socket 939, and this will be supported by AMD until mid 2007, so not bad. However, the latest and greatest has just changed to the FX-60 CPU (two cores, 2.6 GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 90nm die, $1030) and by May 15th, 2006 we should see the new Socket M2 motherboards (which are not 939 compatible and will use DDR2 memory). Intel is also set to introduce their Conroe architecture in the third quarter of 06, and if early benchmarks are to be believed, should outperform the next gen AMD AM2 cpus by some small percent. Additionally, if you do not need bleeding edge, but do need dual core now, look into the AMD X2 3800+ cpu. It is much cheaper ($280 now), dual core, has good overclocks, and is also socket 939. I also suggest looking into the Socket 939 Dual Core Opterons. Folks are reporting very high overclocks from the 165 model and the Opterons are built very tough because they have to handle server and workstation loads. So choose wisely, but as for finding a better CPU, there are none. Since June, 2005 this CPU has rocked, and I am a happy customer.

By jayhall0315 - Nov 21, 2005

No stopping in AMD!

Strengths: Very fast. Flawless performance. Can do multitasking without hesitation. Stable. Quiet!

Weakness: runs a little hot when under load. 114F at times. You can definitely hear fan start then. nothing else!

I previously had the amd xp 3500+. This cpu blows that one away. My setup includes xfx 7800gt, corsair 2gb ram, 2 WD hard drives in RAID 0 and Asus A8N32-SLI deluxe. Windows took about 10 minutes total to install (but it did take nearly 2 hours to format the hard drives for NTFS). I am overall very pleased with AMD. The cool n quiet technology definitely much better than previous. I have noticed...
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By aakkss - Feb 27, 2006

Follow up to previous review

Strengths: Fast, runs cool

Weakness: Problems with some games

This is a follow-up to a previous review I posted on the Athlon 64 X2 4800+. Since I have been running this processor for a couple of weeks now, I have found some problems with poor gaming performance. This appears to be a well recognized issue with the dual core processors and there have been a number of suggested fixes. In all, it has been a little frustrating to actually see game performance...
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By fxpath9; - Feb 24, 2006

Top of the line AMD X2

Strengths: Speed, Stability, Multitasking ability

Weakness: Price

The X2 4800+ is AMD's fastest current dual-core processor. I built my new system around this CPU, and have been very happy with it's performance. As more programs are released that take advantage of dual core processors, it's performance should only improve. That being said, it's still very fast on single-threaded activities, and it runs all current applications beautifully. I've also found that...
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By seniorpaul - Aug 26, 2005

This processor is a multi tasking beast!

Strengths: The price does seems high, but with the CPU being great for the normal MS Windows user or for the Unix user, it is worth every red cent!

Weakness: No weaknesses here at all..

Not only is the AMD Athlon X2 4800 lightning fast for the everyday MS Windows user who enjoys normal use or multi-tasking, it is the ideal processor for the Unix/Linux world as well. As a Gentoo Linux user I compile all of my software from source while running other programs as well, and the X2 4800 is amazingly fast for this purpose. No matter what additional tasks I throw at it while compiling...
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By Daniel Crum; - Jan 11, 2006