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AMD Phenom II X2 550
| Caractéristiques | |||
| Socket | AM3 | ||
| Number of cores | 2 | ||
| Clock rate | 3.1 GHz | ||
| Cache | 1 MB | ||
| Thermal Design Power | 80 W | ||
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| Technology | 45 nm |
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Régis Jehl
Test date: January 11, 2010
Test date: January 11, 2010
AMD's Range
The Phenom II family was unveiled in January 2009 with the X4 900 series. In June of the same year, the manufacturer released the dual-core version, beginning with the X2 500 series.
The Phenom X2 500 CPUs are based on the K10 architecture, with two cores, 1 MB of L1 cache and 6 MB of L3 cache. They fit an AM2+ or AM3 socket, are manufactured at 45 nm with a TDP of 80 W.
The Phenom X2 500 CPUs are based on the K10 architecture, with two cores, 1 MB of L1 cache and 6 MB of L3 cache. They fit an AM2+ or AM3 socket, are manufactured at 45 nm with a TDP of 80 W.
What is the Phenom X2 550 exactly? It's similar to the Athlon II X3 400 series of processors, but has two, rather than three cores, but with twice as much cache: 3 MB on the Athlons, compared to 6 MB here on the Phenom. Running at 3.1 GHz, how does it compare to an Athlon II X3 435?
Energy ConsumptionFor a dual-core processor, the Phenom II X2 550's consumption is best described as average. It uses the same amount of power as the X3 435, which has one extra core. That leaves us at 115 W while idle and 151 W while active, which is around ten Watts more than a Core 2 Duo E8500.
Performance: ApplicationsA higher frequency and twice as much cache allow the X2 550 to produce performances which are practically equivalent (just 5% behind) to the X3 435. It's 3% above the Pentium Dual Core E6500. To go into details, rendering a 3D clip in Cinema 4D R11 took 6 minutes 53 seconds on the X2 550, 7 m 15 on the E6500 and 5 m 36 s on the X3 435. Encoding a HD project in Windows Live Movie Maker produced the same league table: 4 m 50 s for the 550, 4 m 56 s for the E6500 and 3 m 56 s for the 435.
So how come the average discrepancy is just 5%? It can be explained by the fact that some of our applications can't take advantage of a multiple-core processor. iTunes is a great example: it took 1 m 44 s to encode our test album as MP3s on the X2 550, and 1 m 46 s when powered by the X3 435, despite having an extra core.
General overall average.
Click on the graph to see all of our results and compare this CPU to other models.
Click on the graph to see all of our results and compare this CPU to other models.
Performance: GamingWhen gaming, this CPU isn't far behind the Athon II X3 546 and it's powerful enough to pair with an average graphics card. In Far Cry 2, for instance, we recorded an average framerate of 61 fps on the 550, 55 fps for the E6500 and 63 fps for the 435.
| View Performance Index Table |
Pluses
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Acceptable application performance
Minuses
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Average energy consumption
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No Turbo mode
This is an average dual-core processor that does what you need: provide enough power to prevent office applications from running painfully slowly. For more intensive use, though, or for gaming, you'd do better to upgrade to a more advanced range.
