AMD Phenom II X2 550/Athlon II X2 250 Performance Preview

The race to profitability has AMD gunning all-out to switch from their larger 65-nm manufacturing process to their newest 45-nm process as quickly as possible. AMD kicked off the 45-nm era at beginning of the year with their Phenom II X4 920 and 940 processors. Pitched as an upgrade option for Phenom and Athlon X2 users, we found the 940 to be a worthy competitor to Intel’s Core 2 Q9400. Joining those CPUs in February were new triple and quad-core processors based around AMD’s AM3 platform and DDR3 memory. Here we concluded that the Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition was AMD’s best bang for the buck processor yet. Finally in April AMD delivered their most powerful processor ever, the Phenom II X4 955. Sporting a 3.2GHz clock speed, the Phenom II X4 955 delivers performance rivaling Intel’s high-end Penryn-based Core 2 Quad CPUs with 12MB of L2 cache, but at a lower price.

Now AMD is looking to shore up the bottom of their CPU lineup, introducing 45-nm parts with sub-$100 price tags. Launching today is AMD’s first Athlon II CPU, the Athlon II X2 250, and AMD’s first dual-core Phenom II part, the Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition.

The Athlon II X2 250 is AMD’s first in a wave of soon to be released Athlon II parts that are designed to take the value/mainstream mantle from today’s current Athlon X2 CPUs, many of which are increasingly based on AMD’s K10 Kuma core. Considering their Phenom roots, adapting these CPUs for the mainstream and value segment isn’t a very good way to build profits for AMD. The new Athlon II CPUs are purpose built, native 45-nm designs. This helps to keep die size nice and small for maximum profits for AMD.

The Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition is AMD’s latest processor for their high-end Dragon platform targeted towards enthusiasts. Think of it as the gamer’s choice from AMD when it comes to dual-core processing. As a Black Edition, the chip sports an unlocked clock multiplier for maximum flexibility when OC’ing, and thanks to its Agena-based roots, the chip is based on the exact same core used in more expensive quad and triple-core Phenom II processors, only AMD activates two cores. AMD even equips the processor with the full 6MB of L3 cache found on their flagship Phenom II X4 955. Priced at $102, the chip undercuts many of Intel’s popular dual-core Core 2 offerings by tens of dollars too.

If they keep up this pace, the 45-nm transition will be AMD’s fastest process ramp in the company’s history by our estimation.

Of course, the 45-nm process isn’t just good news for AMD’s bottom line. Besides sporting a smaller die and reduced power consumption, enthusiasts love the new process because AMD’s baked in improvements designed to improve the CPU’s frequency headroom. We’ve found that these chips scale further than anything AMD’s ever produced. In other words, AMD’s newest 45-nm chips overclock like mad.

With just two cores, theoretically AMD’s latest processors should scale even further. Intel’s dual-core processors scale dramatically higher than their quad-core processors. Does the same hold true for AMD? Let’s find out!