The AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ was a desktop processor with 2 cores, launched in December 2006. It is part of the Athlon 64 X2 lineup, using the Windsor architecture with Socket AM2. Athlon 64 X2 5600+ has 1 MB of L2 cache and operates at 2.8 GHz. AMD is making the Athlon 64 X2 5600+ on a 90 nm production node using 227 million transistors. The multiplier is locked on Athlon 64 X2 5600+, which limits its overclocking potential.
With a TDP of 89 W, the Athlon 64 X2 5600+ consumes a good deal of power, so decent cooling is needed. For communication with other components in the system, Athlon 64 X2 5600+ uses a PCI-Express Gen 2 connection. Although the processor doesn't come with integrated graphics, certain motherboards with compatible chipsets can provide this capability.
The SSE4 instruction set is not supported, which can cause problems with modern games, as they require that capability. Hardware virtualization is available on the Athlon 64 X2 5600+, which greatly improves virtual machine performance.