Wednesday, February 6th 2013
AMD Rolls Out Athlon II X2 280 Value Dual-Core Processor
It's not retirement time for AMD's 45 nm "Regor" silicon just yet, with the company announcing the Athlon II X2 280 value dual-core processor. Built in the socket AM3 package (compatible with AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+ motherboards), and based on the company's K10.5 micro-architecture, the chip features two x86-64 cores clocked at 3.60 GHz, 1 MB of L2 cache per core (2 MB total), an instruction set that includes SSE3 and SSE4A, and a dual-channel integrated memory controller that supports both DDR2 and DDR3 memory types. The chip can take advantage of HyperTransport 3.0 interface, with a maximum data-rate of 4.0 GT/s. It features a rated TDP of 65W, and is designed for entry-level desktops. It is priced at US $49.99.
64 Comments on AMD Rolls Out Athlon II X2 280 Value Dual-Core Processor
For a budget gaming rig this would be a good choice.
Wondering if these may be X4 Athlons that are locked down for the same reason (i.e. price points/demand). AMD sometimes gets a little loose with their core naming so I would not be surprised at all if this is the case...
The difference? the celeron is less power hungry and has a Graphics Inside.
That x2 280 is quite nice, but I think this is a bit late, no?
Although, the AMD A4-5300 $55, a FM2 (D2) mobo are like $50-60, your still it right in there. Then my gut compels me to go with 1866 (PC3 14900), and them I'd get a case of "the might as wells" going the 8Gb option which is judicious, so that's $50-55. That's work to like $160'ish, which is still nice. However seat-of-the-pants you won’t feel much, other than a little better 3D graphics prowess from the HD 7480D while being a little more frugal to the wall socket.
A-typical little quandary... but it’s really based on getting that 880G for a great price of $30. Say it's $45; the $40 difference ($120 vs. $160) for the new technology, efficient, APU with a bump in graphics, and mo-better memory is the elegant purchase.
This might be a case of a little too late, I feel the parade has passed by for this, unless you got parts lying around and just need a CPU.