AMD ATHLON64 X2 4200 REVIEW

"Today we will be reviewing the AMD Athlon64 X2 4200 processor which uses the Manchester core and we will compare it to the AMD Athlon64 3500 Venice. Software used for testing was 3dmark 2006, Lost Planet - Extreme Condition, X3 Reunion, Comanche4, Doom3, FarCry, Quake4 and Prey."

SYSTEM INFORMATION

PROCESSOR	AMD ATHLON64 X2 4200
	AMD ATHLON64 3500
VIDEO CARD	CONNECT3D RADEON X1950 PRO
ATI DRIVER	CATALYST v7.7
MOTHERBOARD	ASROCK 939 DUAL SATA 2
MEMORY	2 x 512MB OCZ GOLD XTC PC3200 DDR
OPERATING SYSTEM	WINDOWS XP SERVICE PACK 2
DIRECTX VERSION	v9.0C

3DMARK 2005

FINAL SCORE

	9096
	8655

CPU SCORE

	5383
	4789

AMD ATHLON64 X2 4200 MANCHESTER AMD ATHLON64 3500 VENICE

COMMENT - "3dmark 2005 shows a small 5% increase in Final Score with the AMD Athlon64 X2 4200 when compared to the AMD Athlon64 3500. However the AMD Athlon64 X2 4200 delivers a more impressive 11% increase in the CPU Score. This is probably due to 3dmark 2005 not making full use of Dual Core Technology."

3DMARK 2006

FINAL SCORE

	5189
	4367

CPU SCORE

	1683
	866

AMD ATHLON64 X2 4200 MANCHESTER AMD ATHLON64 3500 VENICE

COMMENT - "3dmark 2006 is a more recent 3dmark benchmark and the results show that 3dmark 2006 makes full use of Dual Core. The AMD Athlon64 X2 4200 outperforms the AMD Athlon64 3500 by between 16% to 49% for a very impressive results."

LOST PLANET
EXTREME CONDITION

SNOW

	68
	51

CAVE

	35
	18

AMD ATHLON64 X2 4200 MANCHESTER AMD ATHLON64 3500 VENICE

COMMENT - "Lost Planet Extreme Condition is the most modern game we have available for benchmarking and uses Dual Core Technology. This shows when the AMD Athlon64 X2 4200 outperformed the AMD Athlon64 3500 by 25% when using the Snow benchmark and by 49% when using the Cave benchmark for a VERY impressive result."

SUPREME COMMANDER

LOW QUALITY

	81
	69

HIGH QUALITY

	47
	36

AMD ATHLON64 X2 4200 MANCHESTER AMD ATHLON64 3500 VENICE

COMMENT - "Supreme Commander is a very demanding game which makes good use of Dual Core Technology. This shows when the AMD Athlon64 X2 4200 outperformed the AMD Athlon64 3500 by 15% when using low quality settings and by 23% when using high quality settings."

X3 THE REUNION

SCENE 0

	58
	42

SCENE 1

	30
	22

SCENE 2

	54
	45

SCENE 3

	48
	42

AMD ATHLON64 X2 4200 MANCHESTER AMD ATHLON64 3500 VENICE

COMMENT - "X3 Reunion also makes use of Dual Core Technology with the AMD Athlon64 X2 4200 outperforming the AMD Athlon64 3500 by 13% to 28%."

OTHER GAMES

COMANCHE 4

	76
	64

DOOM 3

	120
	104

FARCRY

	186
	179

PREY

	187
	185

QUAKE 4

	139
	132

AMD ATHLON64 X2 4200 MANCHESTER AMD ATHLON64 3500 VENICE

COMMENT - "We are now going to be using a collection of older game software which will probably not be using Dual Core. Comanche4 is the oldest game we have used and it was a surprice to see the AMD Athlon64 X2 4200 outperform the AMD Athlon64 3500 by 16%. Doom 3 shows a very decent 13% advantage for the AMD Athlon64 X2 4200. Farcry is a small victory of 4% for the AMD Athlon64 X2 4200 over the AMD Athlon64 3500. Prey shows hardly any performance increase for the AMD Athlon64 X2 4200 with it outperforming the AMD Athlon64 3500 by 1% which is nothing. Quake4 allows the AMD Athlon64 X2 4200 to increase it's advantage over the AMD Athlon64 3500 to 5% which is still a small increase."

COMMENT - "The AMD Athlon64 X2 4200 Manchester delivers a great performance increase over the AMD Athlon64 3500 when the software takes advantage of Dual Core Technology. Examples of Dual Core Compatible Software include Nuclearus Multi Core, PC Mark 2005 and 3dmark 2006. If games are your thing then most modern games software makes good use of Dual Core such as Lost Planet - Extreme Condition and X3 Reunion."