AMD’s latest salvo into the processor wars involve a pair of new dual-core chips that fall into the brand’s mainstream and budget line: the Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition and the Athlon II X2 250.
The dual-cored Phenom II X2 allows users on a budget to build a system based on AMD’s Phenom II platform for less. It bears the same architecture and 45nm process as the brand’s top-tiered Phenom II X4 955 quad-cored chip, but with half the number of cores running at 3.10GHz and less than half the price. The X2 550 is set to sell for around $100 and falls under AMD’s Black Edition line of processors, which are basically unlocked chips that allow for a higher overclocking ceiling.
AMD has also updated the Athlon line with the new dual-cored Athlon II X2. Also designed with a 45nm process for efficiency and performance, the Athlon II X2 250 is set to sell for a little below $90.
Both dual core processors can be attached to a number of old and new AMD motherboards with AM2/AM2+ or newer AM3 sockets for compatibility, and therefore will run on both DDR2 and DDR3 memory.
