Test System:
AMD 64+ X2 3800+ AM2
ECS GeForce 6100SM-M
Rosewill Z2 cooler
Super Talent 1GB DDR2-1000 RAM
GeForce 7600GS video card
Maxtor 200GB 7200 rpm harddrive
Spire Rocketeer 600W power supply
Sony DVD writer
Testing was performed using a number of benchmarks, including my favorite SiSoft Sandra XI Professional (thanks to SiSoft for providing a copy!) and SuperPi.Results were compared with the previously tested AMD 4000+ single-core processor.
Sisoft Sandra XI Cpu Arithmetic:
This test really shows the power of the dual-core processor.As you can see, the X2 3800+ offers a significant improvement in terms of performance to the 4000+.
Sisoft Sandra XI Cpu Multimedia:
Similar impressive results for the SiSoft Sandra multimedia test.
SuperPi 8M:
When I first ran the Super Pi test, which calculates the value of pi to a certain number of digits, my scores were actually lower than the ones for the 4000+.However, bringing up the Windows task manager, I noticed that only 50% of the CPU resources were being used.Yes, you guessed it, only one of the two processors was being used.To remedy this situation, you have to set the processor affinity to both processors, so that the program runs on both.Once I did that, I was able to achieve the scores above.
Overclocking:
As shown in the benchmarks, I was able to overclock this CPU with no problems to at least 10% above its stock FSB capacity (from 2000 MHz to 2200 MHz).Cranking up the frequency a bit more, I was able to get the speed up to 2400 MHz (which is 4800+ speeds) before things started getting a little unstable and hot for my preference (from about 32C at stock idle speeds to 41C at the overclocked idle speeds). But with a better cooling setup or more tweaks, I�m sure you can get this processor to perform even faster if so desired.
Conclusion:
Based on the benchmarks and increased speed in everyday use, the AMD Athlon X2 3800+ CPU is a fast, lower-powered processor that is a tremendous improvement over its single-core cousins.With processor hungry games and applications becoming more prevalent, it�s pretty clear that dual-core processors will be the mainstream from now on.And, at ~$89 at Geeks.com, this processor is a great deal as well.If you�re looking to bring your computer up to today�s standards, be sure to consider adding a dual-core CPU to your arsenal.
Pros:
+ Easy to install
+ Stable overclocking
+ Runs stable at overclocked speeds
+ Good value
