People had to wait for a long time, but now AMD released the dual-core version of the Phenom CPUs - as Athlon X2. PCGH reviewed the first model, the 7750 BE.
In early 2009 AMD heads for the upper-class of the CPU market with the Phenom II. The lower price regions are supplied now already: with the new Athlon X2 which, regardless of the familiar name, is not based on the K8 architecture. The dual-core CPU X2 7750 BE with the codename "Kuma” is not a modernized Brisbane, but a Phenom offspring with K10 technology. But it is not called "Phenom”, since this name is reserved for the higher-class models with at least three cores. Thereby "Athlon” finally becomes a market entry brand on the level of Intel's dual-core Pentium. A price has not been revealed though. The new Athlon X2 7750 BE is listed in several web stores, but it is not on stock yet.
Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition in detail Contrary to the future Phenom II, which utilizes the new 45 nanometer process, the Athlon X2 is still produced in the 65 nanometer structure of the first Phenom generation. The top model X2 7750 BE is running at 2.7 GHz and has 2x 512 KiByte L2 cache. On first sight there is no difference to the Athlon X2 5200+ with its Brisbane core, but the Kuma benefits from internal improvements of the K10 family, SSE 4a and especially from 2 MiByte L3 cache.
| |
Athlon X2 7750 BE |
Athlon X2 5200+ |
| Core |
Kuma (K10) |
Brisbane (K8/9) |
| Production process |
65 nm SOI |
65 nm SOI |
| Socket |
AM2+ |
AM2 |
| TDP |
95 Watt |
65 Watt |
| Number of cores |
2 |
2 |
| Core clock speed |
2,700 MHz |
2,700 MHz |
| Multiplier |
13.5 (open) |
13.5 (locked) |
| HT clock |
1,800 MHz |
1,000 MHz |
| L1-Cache |
2 x 128 KiByte |
2 x 128 KiByte |
| L2-Cache |
2 x 512 KiByte |
2 x 512 KiByte |
| L3-Cache |
2,048 KiByte |
- |
The Athlon X2 7750 BE "Black Edition” also doesn't have a locked multiplier and thus should be quite overclocking friendly. With a classic locked multiplier the smaller models 7550 (2.5 GHz) and 7450 (2.4 GHz) will be available at first. The temporarily top model now has to show what it got in our Test Lab.
On the next pages PC Games Hardware checks the CPU's performance in games, applications and overclocking.
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