AMD’s Athlon 64 X2 series has seen a proliferation of many new models in the last two months, bringing customers many more options to build their new system upon. Focusing on the high-end, there have been some silent additions to the lineup such as the Athlon 64 X2 5200+ late last year, and just earlier this month, we saw speedier models such as the Athlon 64 X2 5400+ and X2 5600+. Recently AMD hit another milestone with the Athlon 64 X2 6000+ model – their first 3GHz dual-core processor (discounting the earlier launched FX-74 for the pseudo quad-core platform).
..No doubt that the Athlon 64 X2 6000+ is AMD’s personal milestone in offering a 3GHz processor for the consumers, offering up to 6% performance improvement over its FX-62 predecessor, it still falls short of being in our recommendation list. On all grounds, Intel’s Core 2 Duo is still the favorable choice. One step down, the Athlon 64 X2 5600+ (which is the former FX-62) at US$325 squares off with the Core 2 Duo E6600, for which it does hold its own in some of the tests. The same however can’t be said of the Athlon 64 X2 6000+ unless it retails for well below the US$450 mark.
