I still remember almost a year ago. Intel was lower down the price of Pentium
D 805 to around USD$130. Then, pair with ASUS P5LD2 motherboard, a USD
$230 super value Dual core platform is done there.

I brought them and also I had written a review article about that platform
too.

Up to now, The story almost the same but the character is AMD, not Intel
anymore.
AMD has also lower the price of their 3600+ and 3800+ to 75~100
approximately.
If you try to pair those CPU with the AM2 motherboards in market, that
would be the Best-value dual core platform in 2007.
AM2 X2 and Pentium D are also dual core processor with a nice price~ around USD$100.
But, AMD has advantage of low power consumption and low temperature.

The last version of X2 3600+ was 200x10=> 2000MHz 90nm 256K
, then the new version has been adjusted to 200 X 9.5=> 1900MHz 65nm 512
K After improved the poor performance of a 256K cache processor...
now 65nm processing, it's real attractive now. (but you still have to
aware the version of this CPU) Besides,
AMD launched a new processor X2 4000+, also 65nm procession

This time, my pal wants to upgrade her computer to an X2 3800+ system.
So, I bought some stuff for a test as well. (something I suggest, as below)

AMD AM2 X2 3600+ (Around USD$75)
Package: 65W low power consumption edition.




Xander represent: please pay attention to the light blue area at lower left
It wrote: 640KB+640KB is the 512 K cache and 65nm editions
320KB+320KB is the 256cache edition.




About X2 3600+, the cycle is 0653MPM
There is a "DD" in the back of the first line, which means 65nm edition.
The product code of 90nm should be "CU".




At a same platform, the most different part of a pc is CPU and motherboard.
Here, motherboard is the key factor of a dual core platform.
DFI INFINITY ULTRAII-M2 cost USD$90.
The secret SLI adjustment settings, is the interesting thing beside its famous
overclocking ability.




It's almost USD$160 that you bought CPU and the board.
Of course, you can get some real hard-core stuff to your system.
Hence, MSI K9NU Neo is a "not bad" choice, it cost USD$64.
FSB can be reached 300, but it only fits single VGA and
not provides much voltage settings are a little bit sucks.

DRAM, VGA stuff as below...
You can pick some mid-range and low-price gears for your system...

I adopt the mid-range ELSA Gladiac 790Gs PHS 256DT
7900GS, the OC edition, then, pair with ZEROtherm cooler (USD$28, it's too
worthy). On the other hand, I suggest most of hardcore gamers can choose
7900GS/ 1950 PRO or something higher. But if you have no such a demand of
3D solutions, something likes 7300/ 7600 are might be your choice!!




About memory module:
My choice: KingMax DDRII 667 512MB x 2, cost USD$73.
The chips are unknown, but its "OC ability" is quite good in AM2 platform.




Kingston DDRII 667 512MB x 2(USD$73)
It adopts the most popular chip "Hynix Y5". I've seen some review report
about this modual that the score can be reached DDRII 1000 above (seems
all under Intel platform). In AM2 environment, when you set the FSB at 200,
then DDRII800 1T can be run steady. But, I'm not AM2 platform to do so.
Because when the CPU FSB has been raised up, the DRAM ratio you'd never
set them back to normal again(cannot be reboot) Maybe this is a "single
issue", but I luckily experienced that... after all, I change that with KingMax
DDRII 667, it has no problem at all.




CORSAIR Dominator TWIN2X2048-8888C4DF
Recently, the price of DRAM chips is quite low these days. Therefore, I like to
use 1GB x 2 for the test. See which one's Cost vs. performance ratio is
higher.
My friend's PC is equipped with 512MB x 2 and I've got a pair of 1GB DDRII for
the test. Even if this is a DDRII 1111 memory, but I'll just run it in the test as
KingMax DDRII 667. I mean: DDRII around 600~700 and CL4 3-3-9 in 1T.
I think it won't affect the result of the test.




The test system details
CPU:AMD AM2 Athlon64 X2 3600+
MB: DFI INFINITY ULTRAII-M2
DRAM:CORSAIR Dominator TWIN2X2048-8888C4DF
VGA:ELSA GLADIAC 790GS PH2 256DT
HD:Seagate 7200.7 160GB
POWER:Corsair HX620W Modular Power Supply
Cooler:AMD Cooler



This post has been edited by windwithme: Apr 3 2007, 10:36 AM

Test of AMD bundled CPU cooler.
1.36V, 297.6X9.5=>2827 MHz, 56C when "full throttle"




1.425V,308.8X9.5=>2933Mhz, 60C when "Full Throttle"




A new limit when changed a better cooler on a K8 65nm CPU platform.




(not increase voltage) 1.296V, 312.7X9=>2814MHz, 31C when full throttle.




PCMARK2005




CrystalMark/CPUMARK99




CINEBENCH 9.5




1.44V, 333X9=>3004MHz, 39C when full throttle.




1.408V, 316.7X9.5=>3008 MHz, 40C when full throttle.

PCMARK2005




CrystalMark/CPUMARK99




CINEBENCH 9.5




If you get a good memory modual in hand, should go test the limit of this
motherboard




3008.7Mhz Super PI 32M




1.456V,331.6X9.5=>3150Mhz
Super PI 1M




A brand new Dual core edition processor, AMD X2 3600+, the attractive price
is not just the only merit of itself. Furthermore, it has a very impressive
performance in Temperature/power consumption and OC ability. Which is
definitely better than K8 (90nm) processors.

AM2 can be reached 3.15G clocking with its 65nm processors at the very
beginning.
I hope it can do a further in performance after some days.

On contrast, Intel's Core 2 Duo processor has a higher performance and a
better OC possibility, moreover, the power consumption/ temperature is
almost the same with AM2. The price of Intel C2D CPU + 965MB is almost 1.5
to 2 times of AM2 processors. If users have a big budget and need a higher
performance, Intel platform still an ideal choice.

Other reviews in near future:
Another AM2 value mobo: MSI K9N4 SLI






The fastest speed DDRII 1250 modual: Corsair TWIN2X2048-10000C5DF