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With the FX-53 processor in our test system Bit Defender pegged the CPU at 100% usage, and after we started iTunes encoding, Doom3 simply refused to open, let alone to play.

It was a completely different story with the X2 4800+ which could split the workload between the two cores, so running iTunes barely made an impression.

With both iTunes and Bit Defender running we were able to play Doom3 without any dropped frames, and although the processor was working very hard it was completely invisible to us.

Better yet, NV Monitor shows that the X2 4800+ was running at a mere 37 degrees C and the Thermaltake heatsink was cool to the touch.

Verdict

There’s no doubt that the Athlon 64 X2 4800+ is very impressive indeed. Combined with the nForce4 SLI chipset it has performance that is truly staggering, and the only possible source of disappointment is the price. That and the fact that we don’t expect speed increases to come along thick and fast. We’d guess that 2.6GHz at the start of 2006 and 2.8GHz at the end of 2006 with a 3GHz version in 2007 is close to the mark. We’re about to be hit by a wave of new technologies as 64-bit computing and virtualisation come to the desktop, and we can’t wait to see what benefits they bring, but right now Athlon 64 X2 is at the top of our IT shopping list.

Links:
http://multicore.amd.com

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