AMD’s Smart Strike: Athlon X2 BE-2350 from Tom’s Hardware Guide
The Athlon X2 BE-2350 runs at 2.1 GHz, while its smaller brother, the BE-2300, operates at 1.9 GHz; they’re priced at $90 and $85 respectively. How do these differ from the Athlon 64 X2 4000+ and 3600+, though? All of them are based on the 65 nm DSL SOI process (dual stress liner, silicon on insulator) with 1 MB L2 cache, but the new BE processors are rated for a maximum thermal design power (TDP) of only 45 W.
While Intel had been quick to increase its thermal envelopes to as much as 130 W to support its Pentium 4 and Pentium D hot rods, it reduced the TDP to 65 W in the mainstream with the introduction of the Core 2 Duo. Intel currently does not have a desktop processor to get by with just 45 W, though it does offer two processors under the Pentium brand that might be able to get close to it. The Pentium Dual Core E2140 (1.6 GHz) and E2160 (1.8 GHz) are based on the Core microarchitecture, but they only utilize 1 MB L2 cache and they lack some features.
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Even though processor pricing for AMD’s entry-level and mainstream models has reached record lows, AMD hasn’t hesitated to release additional low-power products at extremely affordable price points. The new Athlon X2 BE-2350 at 2.1 GHz costs less than $100, and thus is cheaper than the closest Intel competitor, the Pentium Dual Core (based on Core 2 technology). From a cost and an energy efficiency standpoint, the 45 W Athlon X2 BE clearly is the best choice today, as you can see from the energy consumption test runs.
A 45W low power X2 3800 powers my Vista box. It’s very nice. I love the new low power chips that offer the same performance.