AMD's Athlon II X3 425 offers all the features of the of the more expensive Quad Cores, and you can potentially unlock the fourth core. Being priced at only $79 it creates tough competition for Intel in this segment, but also for AMD who has a number of other processors in this market. Even though it lacks the L3 cache it still offers decent performance, especially considering its price. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Athlon_II_X3_425