AMD Athlon X2 5400+ Black Edition Review Part1

AMD Athlon X2 5400+ Black Edition Review Part1:
Introduction, Specifications & Test Platform

What we have here today is the AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ Black Edition. The Black features an unlocked multiplier, which is an exclusive feature traditionally found only in top-of-the-range microprocessors, such as AMD's Athlon FX & Intel's Extreme Edition.

These cpus offer enormous overclocking potential as well as excellent price/performance ratio, specifically targeting at the "DIY Enthusiast" market.

Enough said, let's look at its specifications:

Model	Athlon X2 5400+ Black Edition
Socket	AM2
Core	Brisbane
Revision	G2
Clock Speed	2.8GHz
Hyper Transport	2000MHz
L1 Cache	2x 128KB
L2 Cache	2 x 512KB
Process	65 nm
64-bit Support	Yes
Virtualization Technology	Yes
Instructions	MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, 3DNOW!+
Voltage	1.30 V/1.35 V
TDP	65W
Temperature	55~68C
Cooling Device	Processor Only

Test Platform

Processors:
Athlon X2 5000+ Black Edition (2.6Ghz)
Athlon X2 5400+ Black Edition (2.8Ghz)

Motherboard: MSI DKA790GX Platinum (790GX + SB750)
Memory: Corsair DDR2-1066 2x1GB @ 800/5-5-5-18-2T
Graphics: AMD ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
Storage: Seagate 320GB 7200.10 16MB SATA
Display: LG L226WTQ @ 1680x1050
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower 1500W

O/S: Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit
Chipset Driver: AMD 7-Series Chipset Driver for Vista x86
Graphics Driver: AMD Catalyst 8.8 for Vista x86




Cooling Device:



Zalman CNPS 9500 AM2


Part 1: Introduction, Specifications & Test Platform
Part 2: PCmark, 3Dmark Vantage & Cinebench
Part 3: CoJ, CoH & Crysis