AMD Unveils Second “Black Edition” Microprocessor for Enthusiasts

@ 2007/09/26
Advanced Micro Devices has announced its new central processing unit (CPU) that is officially aimed at enthusiasts and gamers who dare to overclock and tweak their systems. The new processor from the Black Edition lineup comes with unlocked multiplier, which allows to easily set it working at higher clock-speed, getting additional performance virtually for free.

“The AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor 5000+ Black Edition is an affordably-priced, dual-core processor targeted to the consumer channel, boasting a customizable clock multiplier for tunable performance, enabling mainstream end-users to reap the benefits of setting their own speed limits,” a statement by the world’s largest maker of x86 central processing units maker reads.

Comment from geoffrey @ 2007/09/26
Nice to have unlocked CPU's at this pricetag, though it is not really the product we're waiting for, not even for those we can't afford X-core desktop systop systems. It's funny to see their newest black edition appear on 65nm, latest 90nm CPU's have proven to be better overclockers then AMD's 65nm devision, though it does makes sence as 65nm is better to keep CPU price as low as possible.

The 5200+ comes for the same price but with double L2 cache which will make this CPU a bit faster in performance charts, hence the higher processor rating. The 5200+ is also based on 90nm technology, you should get a pretty darn good clocking 5000+ black edition before you can speak of a better CPU performance wise, 65nm G0 stepping doesn't scale as well as the 90nm F3 stepping...

AMD CPU Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Windsor 2.60 GHz 1000 MHz 2x 512kB Boxed € 104,95 36
AMD CPU Athlon 64 X2 5000+ 65 watt 2.60 GHz 1000 MHz 2x 512kB Boxed € 107,00 36
AMD CPU Athlon 64 X2 5200+ 2.60 GHz 1000 MHz 2x 1MB Boxed € 115,00 36
AMD CPU Athlon 64 X2 5000+ 65 Watt Black Edition 2.60 GHz 1000 MHz 2x 512kB - € 116,00 36
AMD CPU Athlon 64 X2 5600+ 89 Watt 2.80 GHz 1000 MHz 2x 1MB Boxed € 131,99 24
AMD CPU Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.00 GHz 1000 MHz 2x 1MB Boxed € 147,00 36


It is not that bad price/performance wise compared to Intel products, but I don't think if it is really that interesting to release this CPU as the unlocked multi is not really needed and in much cases it just won't beat the same priced 5200+. Combined with decent clocking 100€ mainboards that is, I have no idea how those CPU's scale in utter cheap mainboard. Maybe that is the only reason why you should get such CPU, because the chipset is so much crap that it won't scale high on FSB.