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Product: AMD Athlon 64 3800
Company: AMD
Website: http://www.amd.com
Estimated Street Price: $500
Review By: Byron Hinson

Conclusion

Table Of Contents

1: Introduction
2: Setup and Components
3: More Details
4: Installation
5: Windows Performance
6: Half Life 2
7: Doom 3
8: Farcry
9: X2: The Threat
10: 3D Mark 2003
11: Conclusion

With the introduction of the Socket 939 processors AMD have created another excellent product. Those of you who are out looking for a new CPU can't really go wrong with the 3800, it's top of the range, it's 64-Bit ready for the upcoming 64-Bit version of Windows and performs superbly. The only drawback is the price, but as with all new processors this is something we have to live with but when you compare it to the top of the range Intel equivalent the AMD one is still cheaper and if you go the Intel route now, you'll want to update to a new processor once Windows 64-Bit edition comes out so you could end up paying out for two chips in the space of a year.

Final Comments

How It Grades

Installation: 92%
Performance: 94%
Manual: 91%
Gaming Performance: 93%
Windows Performance: 92%
Price: 85%
Overall: 92%

What more can I say, I have been using both Intel and AMD products over the last few years, but it is AMD that still keep on improving their chips without just upping the speeds. 64-Bit is the way to go right now, you can even download the beta version of Windows XP 64-Bit from Microsoft and start to notice the improvements there right away.

Not only is the speed excellent here in gaming and general Windows performance, it also has the added bonus of the Enhanced Virus Protection only on offer with AMD 64-Bit processors right now and available for free through downloading Windows XP Service Pack 2. I can't recommend this processor highly enough, even just going from a 3000 to a 3800 I could notice a major jump in speed and performance. An excellent processor.

Big thanks to Theresa Zimmer at AMD UK for making this first AMD review possible.

Feel free to comment on the review here.

Specs & Package
Overall Score	92%
Version Reviewed	AMD Athlon 64 3800+
Release Date	Out Now
In The Box?	Processor Heatsink
The Good Points	Speed Great for gaming 64-Bit Virus Protection
The Bad Points	Price No Windows XP 64-Bit Final Yet