Phenomenal Value! Power! Compares to Low-End Dual-Cores

Special Note: This review applies to, both, the AMD 64 socket 939 3400+ (OEM-only) AND the same socket 3500+, which are identical--the 3400+ was marketed as a "3500+" in the popularly-available form, but both were assessed). They may be interchangeably referred to, below.

---------------------------------------------------------Background----------------------

My first experience with AMD was with my first PC-a 750 Mhz Athlon-and having reluctantly graduated from a Motorola processor-based (MC68000, a la Apple Macintosh) Atari STe, I was pleasantly delighted and surprised. That setup served me well, for about 6 years--until my motherboard started popping capacitors during one wicked summer. That's when I started looking for a replacement.

-------------------------------------------------------The "Dealio"------------------

I jumped on this deal from Newegg.com"--a socket-939 3400+ AMD 64 processor, with an E.C.S. KN1 Lite motherboard, for $99, about 18 months ago--and I've NEVER looked back! I dual-booted the system, with Windows XP Professional, 32-bit, and Windows Vista Home Premium" , and everything's gone very smoothly. I even threw in an XFX Geforce 7300GT PCI-e" graphics card, after flirting with a GeForce 7300LE for a while, that performed all tasks, except running the game, Far Cry, admirably. With 1.5 GB of PC3200 (non dual-channel) memory in the setup, I have lost my longings for, both, a dual-core processor, and an LCD monitor with a DVI input (see HP L1906 19" LCD). In short, I'm elated!

-----------------------------------------------------My Requirements---------------------

My absolute, bottom-line spec for this system was, it must run "Far Cry"--the last game that garnered my attention/piqued my curiosity. I'm a "medium-gamer," and not "hard-core," by any measure. I mainly collect games (and, sometimes, consoles), and spend far more time building and fixing other peoples' pcs, than actually using applications. But all the hoopla surrounding the release of this game, several years ago, had me curious--and it seemed like the last important "bench-ware"--or killer-app/game that a system needed to be able to run responsibly.

-----------------------------------------------The Actual Product------------------

The AMD 64 3500+ is a 2.2 Ghz processor, built on a 90 nm process (that supports 32 and 64-bit computing), with 512Kb of L2 Cache, in a 939-pin configuration--the mainstream, comparable 3400+ processors are only available in the socket 754 or AM2 iterations, so (a confusing point is that) this processor is identical to the AMD 64 3400+ socket 939 product (which is normally OEM-only, or available as a "pull"). The difference between this and the socket 754 product is that it can address (up to and beyond 4Gb of)dual-channel memory through its integrated memory controller, whereas the latter cannot, but they have the same clock speed. The socket 754 product also has twice the L2 cache, but the dual-channel memory controller, as well as the more recent Newcastle core, endows (the socket 939 product) with greater overall performance; the socket 754 product is based on the older Clawhammer core.

The socket 939 3400+/3500+ has a 2000 Mhz Hypertransport bus, which can bidirectionally communicate at a 16 bit link, and up to 8Gb/s input/output bandwidth; and up to 14.4GB/s total delivered processor-to-system bandwidth (Hypertransport bus + memory bus). It supports combinations of PC1600 to PC3200 unbuffered DIMMs, although the system will operate at the slowest memory module's speed. It also has a 64Kb level 1 instruction cache, plus a 64Kb level 1 data cache, in addition to the 512Kb L2 cache. AMD Digital Media XPress™ provides support for SSE, SSE2, SSE3 and MMX instructions, and it also has enhanced virus protection, imbedded, which works with XP, Service Pack 2.

-----------------------------------------------------In Actual Usage------------------

What does all that jargon mean? Well, this baby FLIES! It felt quicker than an Intel Pentium D (2.6 Ghz) dual-core processor, under similar conditions, and, of course, SHREDS my 1.6 Ghz Athlon Duron system. With the above setup, I can run Far Cry on "high" settings, with the Firefox Internet browser open with 11 active tabs, and still get a playable 37 fps. With the settings "dumbed down," and no other applications running, I get over 200 fps on Far Cry, which REALLY changes the game. Eight-megapixel pictures open in Adobe Photoshop 7.0 in about 10 seconds. A full DVD (single-layer) worth of MPeg-2 video is encoded in about an hour. In short, it meets all my needs admirably, and in the face of multiple, dual-core competition.

---------------------------------------------------What Else-----------------

These processors also have a "Cool & Quiet" technology, which essentially throttles down the cpu, when the processor is not strongly stressed, and thus slows the cpu fan down accordingly--this, of course, keeps things quiet and more energy-efficient. Whether or not you can implement this will depend on your operating system and BIOS. Many have chosen to defeat these features, for optimum performance (and when they have adequate cooling). And if you ever tire of it, or need more computing horsepower, you could add or switch to dual-channel memory, or swap it out for a higher-rated 939 processor (even dual-core), which are becoming very affordable.