AMD Intros Athlon II X2 Models 240 and 245

[btarunr]

Nearly six weeks into the introduction of the Athlon II X2 250, AMD added two new models in the series to choose from the Athlon II X2 240 and 245 are clocked at 2.80 GHz and 2.90 GHz respectively, and occupy two lower places in the series. The 240 has a bus multiplier of 14.0x 200 MHz, while 245 is a notch higher, at 14.5x 200 MHz. The chips are based on AMD's 45 nm Regor core, which is a monolithic dual-core, with two physical cores on a die, and no L3 cache. The L2 cache per core instead, has been increased to 1 MB, which makes it 2 MB of total external cache for the chip. It uses a lavish 4.0 GT/s HyperTransport 3.0 system interface, and comes in the AM3 socket package that supports DDR2 and DDR3 memory standards. The two will be out soon and will be priced around the US $65 mark.



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[newtekie1]

Damn, I was hoping they would go up, not down...Hopefully a 260 is on the way.

 

[Semi-Lobster]

Damn, I was hoping they would go up, not down...Hopefully a 260 is on the way.

Maybe these will have a lower TDP? Breaking the 45W mark for dual-cores would be a dream come true for HTPC builders

 

[mdm-adph]

Damn, I was hoping they would go up, not down...Hopefully a 260 is on the way.

Cheaper is the only way to fight when your opponent is Intel.

 

[newtekie1]

I'm pretty sure undervolting the 250 gets you pretty close already.

Cheaper is the only way to fight when your opponent is Intel.

No, I'm pretty sure they have plenty of room to increase clock speeds to compete with some of the higher processors. The 250 is only a 65w processor after all...

 

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

monolithic dual-core

how is this an issue?

 

[mdm-adph]

I'm pretty sure undervolting the 250 gets you pretty close already.



No, I'm pretty sure they have plenty of room to increase clock speeds to compete with some of the higher processors. The 250 is only a 65w processor after all...

I'm sure they do, too. That's why, if they haven't, it's because they know it won't be worth their time and money to do so, and have obviously decided to compete on the lower cost market.

Unless you know better that their teams of financial planners and strategists.

how is this an issue?

Is it because these chips will use a lot less power than just a crippled quad-core that's been turned into a dual?

 

[newtekie1]

I'm sure they do, too. That's why, if they haven't, it's because they know it won't be worth their time and money to do so, and have obviously decided to compete on the lower cost market.

Unless you know better that their teams of financial planners and strategists.

At this point I think I just might...

As I don't see how competing at the higher profit margin areas would be a bad thing in any way.

Edit: Although, now that I look at it closer, releasing higher models would probably start to hurt the 550 sales, as the 250 and 550 perform pretty similarly already. Though I would still like to see a 260BE...

Edit2: The 245 is already at newegg for $66.99, putting it right there with the E5200.

 

[btarunr]

how is this an issue?

It's not a quad-core with failed/defective/disabled cores, in other words, there's nothing for you to unlock

 

[HalfAHertz]

Uh last time I checked the 5200 was trailing the 250

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3572&p=5

 

[newtekie1]

Uh last time I checked the 5200 was trailing the 250

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3572&p=5

Your right, sorry. I was looking at this, but I think I had the numbers for the E6300 loaded, but had changed the drop down box to say E5200 and didn't hit the compare button again to get it to load. Thats what I get for jumping back and forth between too many tabs.

 

[HalfAHertz]

Still you are right, they are close, and the 5200 does lead in some of the tests

 

[Wile E]

I wonder how they compare in terms of OCing?

 

[newtekie1]

I wonder how they compare in terms of OCing?

I don't know, I really want to get my hands on one of the Athlon II X2's to play with, but just can't afford it right now.

 

[HalfAHertz]

I have a weery feeling that the 5200 will out-clock it

 

[Wile E]

I don't know, I really want to get my hands on one of the Athlon II X2's to play with, but just can't afford it right now.

I really wish I had a newer AMD board that supports the newer cpus. I'm stuck with brisbanes and windsors.

 

[WarEagleAU]

wow, nice comparative numbers to the 5200. About time they put out something to compete.

 

[newtekie1]

I have a weery feeling that the 5200 will out-clock it

I have the feeling also. I've been hearing 3.8-3.9GHz is about the max for the Athlon II, obviously extreme cooling can get it higher I'm sure.

I seem to want to say the E5200 maxes about at about the same, maybe even higher. For some reason I think 4.0GHz+ might be entirely possible with the E5200. And since the E5200 already comes close to matching the 250, once both are clocked roughly the same I think the E5200 will take it.

 

[Wile E]

I have the feeling also. I've been hearing 3.8-3.9GHz is about the max for the Athlon II, obviously extreme cooling can get it higher I'm sure.

I seem to want to say the E5200 maxes about at about the same, maybe even higher. For some reason I think 4.0GHz+ might be entirely possible with the E5200. And since the E5200 already comes close to matching the 250, once both are clocked roughly the same I think the E5200 will take it.

Well, from what I can tell, c2d still has the per clock advantage over these.