The Athlon 64 X2 3600+ is the lowest priced AMD processor you can buy today. Its new 65nm design offers low power consumption and its main use is for entry level users who want a very affordable but at the same time, highly overclockable CPU. The AMD Athlon X2 3600+ covers both needs. With a retail price of €67, you cannot really go wrong.

In our tests, the X2 3600+ was around 22~25% slower than the X2 4600+, depending on the benchmark and specific application. Where we didn't have great differences was in the gaming area. You cannot get more FPS by simply buying a faster CPU. The X2 3600+ is fast enough to give more or less the same performance as a X2 4600+. To answer which CPU a user should buy, we can check today's prices for both Intel and AMD processors:

As we can see, there is no competition for the low priced AMD Athlon X2 processors. In order to get a C2D processor, you need at least €160 (for the E6300). While this purchase is certainly more future proof and highly overclockable, it's also almost three times more expensive. We can clearly see where the AMD Athlon X2 3600+ target market is, entry level users who wish to build a SFF PC or simply a gaming ring with a "good" VGA card. Prices for AMD motherboards are also cheaper than Intel's C2D, but this is mostly of importance if you plan to overclock. With a pair of low priced memory modules, you can build a fast new PC that has specific capabilities and gaming performance. So it all comes down to budget, what you can afford. We were certainly satisfied with our buy, we haven't spent so little money in the past when buying a CPU :-).