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AMD Phenom II X3 720
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| Amazon marketplace | 149.88 | ||
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| Caractéristiques | |||
| Socket | AM3 | ||
| Number of cores | 3 | ||
| Clock rate | 2.8 GHz | ||
| Cache | 1 MB | ||
| Thermal Design Power | 95 W | ||
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| Technology | 45 nm |
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Régis Jehl
Test date: January 12, 2010
Test date: January 12, 2010
AMD's Range
The Phenom II family was unveiled in January 2009 with the X4 900 series the first to become available, followed up by the triple-core X3 700 a month later.
The Phenom II X3 700 series processors are based on the K10 architecture, with three cores, 1.5 MB of L1 cache and 6 MB of L3 cache. They fit an AM2+ or AM3 socket, are manufactured at 45 nm but have a thermal design power of 95 W.
The Phenom II X3 700 series processors are based on the K10 architecture, with three cores, 1.5 MB of L1 cache and 6 MB of L3 cache. They fit an AM2+ or AM3 socket, are manufactured at 45 nm but have a thermal design power of 95 W.
With three 2.8 GHz cores and less cache than its big brothers in the 900 series, the Phenom II X3 720 has got mid-range users directly in its sights.
As a rule, processors like this need to be able to handle games as well as demanding applications without holding them back too much. Does this one manage?
Energy ConsumptionOur tests revealed a processor that used a little more energy than a Core 2 Duo E8600, one of its main rivals. That's perfectly logical, though, there's one extra core to power here. We found results of 115 W while idle and 173 W while active--these values are for our entire test computer.
Performance: ApplicationsOverall, this Phenom processor beat the Core 2 Duo E8600 in tests with apps designed to make the most out of multiple-core chips. Strangely enough, its main rival is AMD's own Athlon II X4 630, which has one extra core and runs at the same frequency, but is missing L3 cache.
Looking at the details, we'll start with our HD video test, encoding a film as a x264 file. The X3 720 took 7 minus 2 seconds, while the E8600 took 8 m 28 s and the X4 630 just 5 m 29 s. Because this is just the kind of task that can take advantage of extra cores, that's exactly the result we'd expect.
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.
Things change slightly with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.5 though: this software certainly benefits from the extra cores, but is also dependent on the amount of cache. The order of three processors in question changes accordingly: the X3 720 exported our RAW photos as JPEGs in 6 m 46 s; the E8600 in 6 m 59 s and the X4 630 in 4 m 25 s.
Performance:GamingAfter trying it out with each of our three test games, AMD's Phenom came in a little bit behind the Intel E8600, but a long way head of the Athlon II X4 630, and here the extra cache is more valuable than extra cores--which are running at the same frequency on both AMD processors in this case. In any case, we're left with a CPU that is perfectly capable of powering demanding high-end graphics cards.
| View Performance Index Table |
Pluses
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Low energy consumption while active
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All-rounder that can handle most tasks
Minuses
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There are faster (but more expensive) processors for gaming
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No Turbo mode
This is an excellent triple-core CPU that combines speed with energy efficiency. We were particularly impressed by its performance with apps optimised for use with multiple cores.
| MARCHANDS | € |
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| Amazon marketplace | 149.88 | ||
| Compare prices | |||
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