AMD quietly started shipping 65nm Athlon X2 parts some time ago; and recently they sent us a 65nm X2 5000+ to take a look at.
In the past, we
reviewed the 90nm X2 5000+ ... so now that we have its 65nm counterpart in hand, we will set up the exact same system and see what differences - if any - there are in performance and overclocking elbow room between the two chips.
Now before we start, you may be wondering why AMD is doing such a "soft" launch of the new 65nm parts.
It's quite simple really.
AMD's current Athlon 64 X2 processors are simply not as fast as Intel's Core 2 Duo offerings, thus it makes little sense to trumpet the introduction of newly shrunk devices when they will not outperform the competition.
BUT.
While the AM2's may not have the highest 'bang' - they definitely do have a good 'bang for the buck', with Athlon 64 X2 3600+ processors being widely available for as little as $59 OEM / $69 boxed, the E4300 at $114 boxed is still $45 more expensive.
By switching the production of Athlon X2's to 65nm, AMD gets many more die's per 300mm wafer, thus reducing its costs; which allows them to sell processors at significantly lower prices than Intel - thus maintaining market share with a lower performance product until their new Barcelona products are ready.
Mind you, Intel is aware of this, and will soon introduce the E2100 series of Core 2 Duo's for the low end.
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