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Enter the socket AM3, AMD Athlon II X2 250 microprocessor - a new 3.0GHz mainstream dual-core chip based on the Phenom 'Deneb' architecture, but crucially stripped of all L3 cache.
79% Rating: 
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AMD Athlon II X2 250 |
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32-Bit CPU Gaming Benchmarks: Crysis, FEAR
Crysis is a science fiction first-person shooter
developed by Crytek. Crysis uses Microsoft's new API, DirectX 10 for graphics
rendering, and includes the new engine—the CryEngine 2—that is the successor to
Far Cry's CryEngine. CryEngine 2 is among the first engines to use the DirectX
10 framework of Windows Vista, but can also run using DirectX 9, both on Vista
and Windows XP.
Higher results are better.
 Crysis v1.2.1 No AA
|
| 800x600 LQ Physics Very High |
FPS |
Ranking |
| Intel Core i7 920 |
117.47 |
   |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 |
114.905 |
|
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 |
104.09 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition |
101.98 |
   |
| AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
(DDR2) |
83.65 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
(DDR3) |
87.41 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition |
97.89 |
|
 AMD Athlon II X2 250
|
87.76 |
   |
| 1024x768 LQ Physics Very High |
FPS |
Ranking |
| Intel Core i7 920 |
117.01 |
|
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 |
114.72 |
|
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 |
103.75 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition |
101.72 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
(DDR2) |
83.77 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
(DDR3) |
87.71 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition |
96.83 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X2 250
|
88.59 |
|
| 800x600 LQ |
FPS |
Ranking |
| Intel Core i7 920 |
115.95 |
|
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 |
115.355 |
|
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 |
104.09 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition |
101.14 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
(DDR2) |
84.09 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
(DDR3) |
87.01 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition |
96.33 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X2 250
|
88.4 |
|
| 1024x768 LQ |
FPS |
Ranking |
| Intel Core i7 920 |
117.06 |
|
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 |
115.52 |
|
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 |
104.59 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition |
101.19 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
(DDR2) |
84.13 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
(DDR3) |
87.47 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition |
95.95 |
|
| AMD Athlon II X2 250
|
88.74 |
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In Crysis the performance difference between the Athlon
II X2 250 and the Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition becomes a bit more pronounced.
As you're probably used to, the Core 2 Duos still pull ahead of both by a small
margin.
 Sierra FEAR 1.08 |
Source: Sierra |
|
FEAR is Sierra's latest first person
shooter which relies heavily on DirectX 9 features. With its "Soft Shadows"
feature enabled, even the fastest videocards run at a crawl, FEAR is definitely
the new benchmark for future FPS games to follow.
Higher results are
better.
| Sierra FEAR 1.08 No AA
|
| 640x480 LQ |
FPS |
Ranking |
| Intel Core i7 920 |
701 |
|
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 |
757 |
|
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 |
713 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition |
711 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
(DDR2) |
632 |
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| AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
(DDR3) |
642 |
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| AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition |
667 |
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| AMD Athlon II X2 250
|
536 |
|
| 800x600 LQ |
FPS |
Ranking |
| Intel Core i7 920 |
692 |
|
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 |
752 |
|
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 |
689 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition |
703 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
(DDR2) |
590 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
(DDR3) |
597 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition |
654 |
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| AMD Athlon II X2 250
|
526 |
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| 1024x768 LQ |
FPS |
Ranking |
| Intel Core i7 920 |
673 |
|
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 |
722 |
|
| Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 |
572 |
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| AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition |
667 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
(DDR2) |
483 |
|
| AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
(DDR3) |
491 |
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| AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition |
636 |
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| AMD Athlon II X2 250
|
496 |
| |
Here the
new Athlon II processor finished slightly ahead of the Phenom II X3 720 Black
Edition.
So how's the new Athlon II X2 250 stack up after all of
these benchmarks? Let's boil everything down and see how it compares!
Conclusions: Is a $90 Athlon II X2 250 Worth
it?
 AMD's move to
45nm has helped usher in something that we love seeing here at the PCSTATS labs:
healthy competition.
AMD was in a rough spot for a while. Its dual-core CPUs
were too large and too hot to keep up with Intel's Core 2 Duo's, and the only
way it remained competitive was through heavy discounting, at times being sold
at a loss.
Re-architechting for 45nm manufacturing has helped turn
things around. I've already spoken about the 45nm Phenom II processors here at PCSTATS, and now
that AMD is transitioning its midrange and mainstream processors to the
45nm production process, the real benefits are starting to become more
clear.
The dual-core Athlon II X2 250 is a processor that
doesn't have pretensions of power. It's not going to break any MHz speed records
or push a fantastic amount of GFLOPS. Instead it's going to give buyers the
processing power they need for day-to-day tasks, while keeping its cost and
power levels low. At 3.0GHz, the socket AM3 Athlon II X2 250 processor is speedy
in most desktop and office applications, and will work with either DDR2 or DDR3
memory (depending on the PC system).
AMD has cut away the L3 cache from the 'Deneb'
architecture and beefed up the Athlon II's L2 cache so that both cores have a
megabyte of cache each. The improved L2 cache replaces the underused L3 cache
that was in the previous Athlon 7000-series of processors, and has the side
effect of cutting the Athlon II's size down to just 117.5mm2/ 235M transistors / 65Watts.
Thanks to the small overall size of the processor, the
Athlon II X2 250 doesn't draw much power or produce a lot of heat. Overall power
usage was competitive with Intel's Core 2 Duo lineup of processors, the closest
AMD has come yet to rivaling Intel's power efficiency.
 Overclocking
the AMD Athlon II X2 250 was
actually pretty easy, and using just air cooling PCSTATS pushed it
from 3000MHz to 3750Mhz. While it's doubtful that there's going to be a lot
of overclocking going on in the mainstream market segment, having the option of
getting some free performance out of your processor is always a plus.
Despite the change in name and socket type, the
AM3-format Athlon II X2 250 processor is actually backwards compatible with
socket AM2+ motherboards as well as socket AM3. AMD has made upgrading to an
Athlon II or transitioning to a new AM3/DDR3-based platform easy and
inexpensive, which really helps in the entry-level and mainstream CPU market.
Indeed, at $96 CDN ($87 USD, £55 GBP), the biggest
competition the Athlon II X2 250 has is from other AMD processors. The Phenom II
X2 550 Black Edition tends to be a little bit faster across the board, and
doesn't cost a whole lot more. AMD also has a ton of processors in the $65-90
range that are still on shelves, some of which have larger cache sizes and
clock speeds than the Athlon II X2 250, and make it more difficult for the first
Athlon II processor to really distinguish itself.
That's more of an issue for AMD's retail managers than
for the well-educated readers of PCSTATS though. If you're looking to spend less
than $100 on a new AMD CPU upgrade, the Athlon II X2 250 is a very easy choice.
It's power-efficient, cool, inexpensive and has enough CPU horsepower and
overclocking potential to let you keep up with today's desktop applications.
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