CPU NEWS: AMD's Athlon 64 X2 5600+ tested

With their latest round of price cuts, AMD's Athlon 64 X2 line is now more tempting than ever! Today the Athlon 64 X2 5600+ can be found online for less than $190 -- about the same price as the Core 2 Duo E6300. In case you aren't familiar with the specs of the X2 5600+, it runs at 2.8GHz, just like the FX-62, and sports a 2MB L2 cache, also like the Athlon 64 FX-62. Unlike the FX processor, the X2 5600+ doesn't have an unlocked multiplier, instead its clock multiplier is fixed at 14.0x and its TDP is just 89W, making it less power hungry than the FX. FiringSquad have tested how this chip performs and overclocks:

As a result of AMD's latest price cuts though, the price/performance picture changes dramatically in AMD's favor at the higher price points as well. The Athlon 64 X2 5600+ we're taking a look at today for instance goes from competing against the Core 2 Duo E6600 to the Core 2 E6300. This is a battle that easily favors the AMD processor, with the Athlon 64 X2 5600+ generally running anywhere from 10% faster in games like Company of Heroes and Pacific Fighters to 20% faster in Oblivion (we also saw margins of 17% in HL2 Lost Coast and 14% in Quake 4 in favor of the 5600+).

But Intel won't be sitting still much longer. Intel is widely expected to slash CPU prices of their own later this month, as well as introduce a slew of new Core 2 CPUs, including variants of today's Core 2 Duo E6300 and E6400, only with 4MB L2 cache. These processors will be known as the E6320 and E6420 and rumor has it they will be