Setup & Components

For our AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Processor review we have stuck with the new Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard (Shown below) and 1GB of corsair DDR2 Memory. As this is the first AMD attempt at DDR2 support we went with the best memory you can get right now in the form of Corsair's XMS2-8500 TwinX. Our graphics card is the enthusiast Connect 3D X1900 XT ATI based card, but we are reviewing the CPU and not a graphics card. While we took some strain off of the CPU by adding the SoundBlaster X-Fi card. As with all our processor reviews, all processors were reviewed with identical hardware such as memory, soundcard, graphics card, hard drive etc.

• Athlon 64 X2 5000+ AM2 Based Processor
• Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe
• Corsair 1GB DDR2 XMS2-8500 TwinX
• Connect 3D X1900 XT 512MB PCI-Express Graphics Card
• Sound Blaster X-Fi
• 1-Samsung Spinpoint 250GB SP2504C SATA 8MB Cache Hard Drive
• 1-Maxtor OneTouch II 250GB External Firewire/USB 2.0 16MB Cache Hard Drive
• Sony Dual Layer DVD-RW DRU700A Drive
• Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 6000
• Antec 480 Watt NeoPower PSU
• Apple 20" Anodized aluminum Cinema Display

We'll be covering many other AM2 based processors in the coming months but this is our starting block and various other AM2 based motherboards as well. The review will cover Windows performance (including Vista) along with benchmarks and information from a range of programs that many of our readers tend to use and play such as Half Life 2, Doom 3, 3D Mark 06 and PC Mark 05. The review takes place on clean installs of Windows XP Professional with SP2.

The Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe Motherboard - the best one out for AM2 based chips right now

Processor Specifications