AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Processor

AMD's Athlon 64 X2 4800+ is a very strong processor that will benefit those looking to do multimedia or gaming applications that take advantage of AMD's architecture, but it does come with a high price tag.

2/6/06 – With the introduction of AMD's Athlon 64 FX-60, AMD's previous flagship processor the Athlon 64 X2 4800+ has dropped dramatically in price. The dual core X2 4800+ offers a high level of performance, dual cores for improved multitasking and 64-bit software support.

Testing of the Athlon 64 X2 4800+ was conducted using a DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR board and OCZ 2GB Platinum PC3200 DDR kit.

For applications that are designed for multiple processors, the X2 can really boost performance. Testing of Adobe's Premiere Elements 2 showed that using both cores over a single core netted a 50% increase in the rendering time. This can save a large amount of time for intensive applications such as desktop video.

Even though the X2 4800+ is very strong for gaming, there is a problem for some games in the multiprocessor environment. Downloading the AMD Athlon 64 Processor Driver for their appropriate version of Windows is recommended. This can help prevent stuttering or crashing in many of today's games that have yet to be developed around dual core processors.

Overclocking is not officially supported by the manufacturers and will void any warranties, but this doesn't stop people from getting extra performance out of their processors. The OCZ memory and stock heatsink prevented the CPU from being pushed as far as it could go, but a 10% overclock to 2.64GHz was achieved with little effort.