Testbed and Methods

As we have already said, Phenom X3 processor family falls “in-between” Phenom X4 and Athlon 64 X2. Therefore, besides the entire Phenom X3 line-up, we have also tested the top dual-core AMD processor and the youngest Phenom X4 model.

On the competitor’s side, we will have dual-core processor from the same price range. After the recent price reduction these are three youngest models from the Wolfdale Core 2 Duo family including the new Core 2 Duo E7200 CPU. However, since there still are some availability issues with 45nm CPUs, we have also included older 65nm representatives of the Core 2 Duo family.

The testbed configuration is given below:

AMD platform:

• CPUs:
  • AMD Phenom X4 9550 (Socket AM2+, 2.2GHz, 4 x 512KB L2, 2MB L3, Agena);
  • AMD Phenom X3 8750 (Socket AM2+, 2.4GHz, 3 x 512KB L2, 2MB L3, Toliman);
  • AMD Phenom X3 8650 (Socket AM2+, 2.3GHz, 3 x 512KB L2, 2MB L3, Toliman);
  • AMD Phenom X3 8450 (Socket AM2+, 2.1GHz, 3 x 512KB L2, 2MB L3, Toliman);
  • AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ (Socket AM2, 3.2GHz, 2 x 1MB L2, Windsor).
• Mainboard: ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe (Socket AM2+, AMD 790FX).
• Memory: 2GB DDR2-1066 with 5-5-5-15-2T timings (Corsair Dominator TWIN2X2048-10000C5DF).
• Graphics card: OCZ GeForce 8800GTX (PCI-E x16).
• HDD: Western Digital WD1500AHFD (SATA150).
• OS: Microsoft Windows Vista x86.

Intel Platform:

• CPUs:
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (LGA775, 3.0GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 6MB L2, Wolfdale);
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 (LGA775, 2.66GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 6MB L2, Wolfdale);
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 (LGA775, 2.53GHz, 1067MHz FSB, 3MB L2, Wolfdale);
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 (LGA775, 2.66GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 4MB L2, Conroe);
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 (LGA775, 2.33GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 4MB L2, Conroe).
• Mainboard: ASUS P5K3 (LGA775, Intel P35, DDR3 SDRAM).
• Memory: 2GB DDR3-1333 SDRAM with 6-6-6-18 timings (Cell Shock DDR3-1800).
• Graphics card: OCZ GeForce 8800GTX (PCI-E x16).
• HDD: Western Digital WD1500AHFD (SATA150).
• OS: Microsoft Windows Vista x86.