Coming as no surprise, companies update their products periodically, making them run more efficiently, increasing performance, adjusting prices to make them more marketable. AMD's current position is not the best one, of that there is no doubt. With Intel's Core i7 CPUs tearing through synthetic benchmarks like nobody's business, AMD is left to try to stand out in some fashion.
Because AMD has no direct competition in terms of pure performance horsepower to the Core i7, they are focusing more on the Core i5 and Core i3 chips. The more value-oriented market is likely the most competitive, as overclockers on a budget pick up cheap chips, and make them perform like the big boys, for much less, and consumers aren't likely to blow several thousand dollars on a system.
AMD is introducing several new chips, though they are new only in name. The Athlon II X3 440, Athlon II X4 635, and Phenom II X4 910e (the e denoting low power usage) are just three of several new AMD chips, and they do look rather familiar, particularly the X4 635 which reminds us of the impressive X4 620 that proved to be a tremendous overclocker on the cheap. Continuing that trend, these processors are essentially refresh chips with lower prices and higher clocks, plain and simple. AMD is going for computing value, and these new processors are their response to Intel's Clarkdale launch for the most part.
So can these new processors overclock any better than recent AMD offerings, and if so, just how far can they go? How do they stack up against Intel's offerings? We'll answer these questions today, and we promise you, there are some very interesting surprises in store for you.
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