When dual-core CPUs first appeared, they changed the CPU landscape. Multi-cored CPUs touted the ability to run multiple tasks of applications efficiently and more or less ended the clockspeed race. It is unlikely for anyone to buy a new single-core computer today, given that dual-cores are now commonplace. Taking multi-cores further, we now also have quad-core CPUs hitting the shelves. At the moment, these are still very pricey propositions, reserved for the enthusiast or industrial users.
So here comes AMD with something to fill the gap – the Phenom X3. Yes, as the name suggests, this CPU is equipped with three core. Actually, the X3 runs off the same silicon fabs of AMD’s quad-cores with one of the cores disabled. An age-old industry method of reusing chips that would otherwise have been binned.
In performance testing, the X3 performed pretty much as expected. The extra core is recognized by most applications and results in performance that’s better than comparable X2 processors. At 2.4GHz, the X3 8750 scored 6306 points in the CPU test section of PCMark05. All-core performance in POV-Ray yielded a result of 1068 pixels per second, with 359 pixels per second per core.
Given its three-core nature, we assume the X3 is targeted as an interim model between a X2 and a X4. Looking at the price, however, we found the the X3 CPU is only slightly cheaper than an AMD quad-core running at the same clockspeed. A more probable scenario for AMD’s market strategy is that the pricing of the X3 was made to match some of Intel’s mainstream dual-core CPUs. For a given price, AMD’s X3 may give you the edge thanks to a whole other CPU core under the hood.
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