AMD Athlon II X4 640 Socket AM3 Processor

Date: May 11, 2010
Products: Athlon II X4 640 CPU (3.0 GHz)
Company: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
Author: Jason Rabel

More Bang For Your Buck:

Today AMD is announcing six new processors to the existing AMD Athlon II processor lineup. At first glance all these budget processor models look like simple speed bumps over their predecessors, but there is a little more to it than just that. First, AMD is holding the price point on ALL top Athlon II processors. Second, all these new processors are guaranteed revision "C3" silicon. This means that existing models will get pushed down in price, for instance the Athlon II X4 635 will become the fastest sub-$100 quad core processor (previously was the 630).

AMD Model	Frequency	Speed Bump	Cores	L2 Cache	TDP	Price	Tray OPN
Athlon II X4 640	3.0 GHz	+100 MHz	4	2 MB	95 W	$122	ADX640WFK42GM
Athlon II X3 445	3.1 GHz	+100 MHz	3	1.5 MB	95 W	$87	ADX445WFK32GM
Athlon II X2 260	3.2 GHz	+100 MHz	2	2 MB	65 W	$76	ADX260OCK23GM
Athlon II X4 610e	2.4 GHz	+100 MHz	4	2 MB	45 W	$143	AD610EHDK42GM
Athlon II X3 415e	2.5 GHz	+200 MHz	3	1.5 MB	45 W	$102	AD415EHDK32GM
Athlon II X2 245e	2.9 GHz	+100 MHz	2	1 MB	45 W	$77	AD245EHDK23GM

One thing that caught my eye when I read the first email announcing these processors was that the Athlon II X4 has now reached 3.0 GHz. The Phenom II X4 940 & 945 processors also run at 3.0 GHz, making this an interesting crossing point where the value line is really starting to cross over into the performance line (in terms of raw clock speed). I checked the price on Newegg for the existing Athlon II 635 (2.9 GHz) processor and it's only $106. We can only assume that the new Athlon II 640 will retail around that same price, if it comes in at the list price of $122 (or higher) then it would be really hard not to justify bumping up to the Phenom II line.

AMD Model	Frequency	Socket	TDP	Newegg Price
Athlon II X4 635	2.9 GHz	AM3	95 W	$106
Athlon II X4 640	3.0 GHz	AM3	95 W	???
Phenom II X4 940 BE	3.0 GHz	AM2+	125 W	$128
Phenom II X4 925	2.8 GHz	AM3	95W	$133
Phenom II X4 945	3.0 GHz	AM3	95 W	$140

If you would like to see some extra comparative numbers, you can check out an earlier review on the Athlon II X4 635 & X3 440 processors.

CPU-Z Info:

As mentioned previously, all of these new processors will be the C3 revision, meaning they support hardware C1E and other little performance benefits over the previous C2 silicon. For some reason CPU-Z wouldn't show the revision, so I took a snip from the AMD Overdrive utility.

AMD Athlon II X4 640: