Wednesday, February 6th 2013

AMD Rolls Out Athlon II X2 280 Value Dual-Core Processor

It's not retirement time for AMD's 45 nm "Regor" silicon just yet, with the company announcing the Athlon II X2 280 value dual-core processor. Built in the socket AM3 package (compatible with AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+ motherboards), and based on the company's K10.5 micro-architecture, the chip features two x86-64 cores clocked at 3.60 GHz, 1 MB of L2 cache per core (2 MB total), an instruction set that includes SSE3 and SSE4A, and a dual-channel integrated memory controller that supports both DDR2 and DDR3 memory types. The chip can take advantage of HyperTransport 3.0 interface, with a maximum data-rate of 4.0 GT/s. It features a rated TDP of 65W, and is designed for entry-level desktops. It is priced at US $49.99.
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64 Comments on AMD Rolls Out Athlon II X2 280 Value Dual-Core Processor

#1
hellrazor
Shit, I could almost buy that.
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#2
AlienIsGOD
Vanguard Beta Tester
i had my old x2 240 o/c ed to 3.5 with ease so im sure these will have good temps @ 3.6ghz
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#3
RCoon
Awesome price for a no-shit CPU. Bog standard cheap ass dual core, decent tdp as well. I can see these selling in environments like schools who are on tight budgets and still need to phase out their old pent 4's, of which I know there are many! Hell id buy one for the media streaming pc for my parents, but I already have a spare 8350 for that :D
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#4
FreedomEclipse
~Technological Technocrat~
Not bad price wise, but then again would you rather an AMD A4 APU or this Athlon II?
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#5
Frick
Fishfaced Nincompoop
They have a lot of old chips or what? Very interesting release.
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#6
dj-electric
Lemme be rude and say this CPU should be priced at 39$
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#7
blibba
Bargain if it unlocks to a Phenom X4.
FreedomEclipseNot bad price wise, but then again would you rather an AMD A4 APU or this Athlon II?
This every time. I've GPUs better than the one in the A4 wasting space in my house :)
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#8
Fourstaff
Sandy Bridge Celeron G550 at £35, it has serious competition at the budget end. Also, why not produce 1 module Piledriver for the budget crowd?
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#9
RCoon
FourstaffSandy Bridge Celeron G550 at £35, it has serious competition at the budget end. Also, why not produce 1 module Piledriver for the budget crowd?
so they can sell their athlon stock I guess. No sense in manufacturing or cutting down new chips when they can just sell what old ones they have left!
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#10
Fourstaff
RCoonso they can sell their athlon stock I guess. No sense in manufacturing or cutting down new chips when they can just sell what old ones they have left!
That is a lot of old stock they have, you would have thought that they will start winding down the Athlon II fabs after starting Piledriver.
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#11
Melvis
FreedomEclipseNot bad price wise, but then again would you rather an AMD A4 APU or this Athlon II?
Id personally go for the Athlon over the APU. Ive tested the Older Athlon 3.2 vs the APU and the Athlon eats it for breakfast. Only good thing is the GPU with the APU.

For a budget gaming rig this would be a good choice.
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#13
Frick
Fishfaced Nincompoop
AlienIsGODAFAIK all X2's based on the Regor core are native dual cores. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athlon_II
IIRC none of the dual cores could be unlocked. Some single core Semprons could be unlocked to two cores (iirc), tons of X3's could be unlocked to either just four cores or four cores + level 3 cache.
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#14
blibba
FrickIIRC none of the dual cores could be unlocked. Some single core Semprons could be unlocked to two cores (iirc), tons of X3's could be unlocked to either just four cores or four cores + level 3 cache.
It was definitely possible to unlock Phenom II X2s, in fact I've never known anyone try this and fail.
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#15
brandonwh64
Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!
Some of the athlon II chips could be unlocked to an Opteron with unlocked multi for higher clocking.
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#16
RCoon
blibbaIt was definitely possible to unlock Phenom II X2s, in fact I've never known anyone try this and fail.
pretty much app phenom II x2's were quad core unlockable, my friend had several before going Intel i5 and every single one unlocked. They're just quad cores that failed tests anyway.
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#17
Norton
Moderator - Returning from the Darkness
RCoonpretty much app phenom II x2's were quad core unlockable, my friend had several before going Intel i5 and every single one unlocked. They're just quad cores that failed tests anyway.
Some PII X2's were locked down quads that worked 100% fine and were justed locked to X2 to hit market demand/price points. A lot of 555's were like that- mine ran perfectly as a quad (overclocked to 3.6 as an X4 w/o a voltage bump :D)

Wondering if these may be X4 Athlons that are locked down for the same reason (i.e. price points/demand). AMD sometimes gets a little loose with their core naming so I would not be surprised at all if this is the case...
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#18
brandonwh64
Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!
I have a older Phenom II X3 720 that unlocks to a quad on stock voltage and it does quite nicely for gaming and everyday use.
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#19
Easy Rhino
Linux Advocate
it is cool how for less than $300 you can build an entire PC that will do everything you want but high end graphics.
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#20
ChristTheGreat
FourstaffSandy Bridge Celeron G550 at £35, it has serious competition at the budget end. Also, why not produce 1 module Piledriver for the budget crowd?
Yup, this is good competition, as the Celeron is faster than a X2 250 3ghz.

The difference? the celeron is less power hungry and has a Graphics Inside.

That x2 280 is quite nice, but I think this is a bit late, no?
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#21
Easy Rhino
Linux Advocate
ChristTheGreatYup, this is good competition, as the Celeron is faster than a X2 250 3ghz.

The difference? the celeron is less power hungry and has a Graphics Inside.

That x2 280 is quite nice, but I think this is a bit late, no?
well it is an AMD product...
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#22
GSquadron
Weird, I got my cpu for around 73$ 2-3 years ago
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#23
Frick
Fishfaced Nincompoop
blibbaIt was definitely possible to unlock Phenom II X2s, in fact I've never known anyone try this and fail.
RCoonpretty much app phenom II x2's were quad core unlockable, my friend had several before going Intel i5 and every single one unlocked. They're just quad cores that failed tests anyway.
Ahh thanks. Evidentily I didn't remember correctly. :laugh:
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#24
drdeathx
blibbaBargain if it unlocks to a Phenom X4.



This every time. I've GPUs better than the one in the A4 wasting space in my house :)
It is not a PII....
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#25
Casecutter
This for $50, then Egg's got a MSI 880GMS-E41 AM3+ 880G HDMI Micro-ATX for $30 -AR$15, and 4Gb of 1333 (PC3 10666) say $25. So, just breaking $105 provides a great base for any home use build... you got to like that.

Although, the AMD A4-5300 $55, a FM2 (D2) mobo are like $50-60, your still it right in there. Then my gut compels me to go with 1866 (PC3 14900), and them I'd get a case of "the might as wells" going the 8Gb option which is judicious, so that's $50-55. That's work to like $160'ish, which is still nice. However seat-of-the-pants you won’t feel much, other than a little better 3D graphics prowess from the HD 7480D while being a little more frugal to the wall socket.

A-typical little quandary... but it’s really based on getting that 880G for a great price of $30. Say it's $45; the $40 difference ($120 vs. $160) for the new technology, efficient, APU with a bump in graphics, and mo-better memory is the elegant purchase.

This might be a case of a little too late, I feel the parade has passed by for this, unless you got parts lying around and just need a CPU.
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