Athlon II X3 435 processor review

AMD is inch by inch paving the way in CPU land with a bucket load of multi-core processors aimed at the mainstream segment. A little while ago they released their series X4 and X2 (Quad and Dual core) Athlon II processors, but similar to the triple core Phenom II X3 processor the Athlon II X3 series has now surfaced as well.

Get this, a budget triple core processor that is clocked at nearly 3 GHz priced at roughly 55~60 EUR. The idea alone already oozes value, as whether or not we like to admit it, the current sweet spot in processors really is in-between two and four logical CPU cores.

AMD will launch two triple-core Athlon II X3 processors today, the following models: 425 and 435. They will be clocked at at 2.70GHz and 2.90GHz, respectively.

With a die size of 169 mm² this processor comes packed with roughly 300 million transistors, feature 1.5MB of L2 cache (512KB per core), will have thermal design power of 95W and will be compatible with AM2+ and AM3+ sockets.

Today we'll be looking at such a triple core processor, the Athlon II X3 435 processor which is clocked at 2.9 GHz. Like other Athlon II processors, model 435 doesn't have Level 3 cache, and should not perform as well as the more expensive and powerful Phenom II X3 family. However in pure numeric tests the 435 beats Phenom II X3 720 - as the Athlon II X3 435 has a higher core frequency. In memory-intensive applications the 425 is a little slower than the Phenom II X3 720. But again ... we are talking about a 60 EUR processor here

The new processor is  based on the code-named Rana core which is a derivative of the recently introduced Propus Athlon II X4 series processors, yet with one core disabled.

Rana will be aimed at entry-level personal computers and those customers, who want to have something more than a dual-core chip. Well, let's check 'er out shall we ?