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AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Black Edition: Overclocking Monster for the AM2 Enthusiast

Back on August 20th, 2007, AMD introduced the AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Black Edition.  This "Black Edition" CPU was intended for enthusiasts and overclockers.

AMD wrote this about the X2 6400+ Black Edition:

Boxed in collector’s packaging and targeted towards gamers, enthusiasts and digital content creators, the AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor 6400+ Black Edition can meet the needs of sophisticated performance users who run multiple processor-intensive applications simultaneously. The 3.2 GHz dual-core processor features an integrated 128-bit dual-channel memory controller, DDR2 memory up to and including PC2 6400 (DDR2-800) unbuffered memory, and a dedicated 2MB L2 cache. The AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor 6400+ Black Edition is now available in the channel in North America, Japan, Korea and parts of Europe, priced at $251 WOF (without a fan) for PIB (Processor in a Box).

The then-new chip ran at 3.2GHz - the fastest Athlon X2 ever released - and was an obvious attempt to try to retain some of the gaming crowd from the onslaught of the better performing Intel Core 2 Duo processors.

Fast forward a few months and AMD (much more quietly) launched the AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Black Edition with a totally unlocked multiplier, something previously reserved for "FX" chips. AMD was kind enough to send an OEM version of the Black Box chip to us, so we thought we would put it through the wringer.

Previously, we have already reviewed an AMD Athlon X2 5000+ 90nm and AMD Athlon X2 5000+ EE 65nm parts; the only real difference with the Black Box edition of the 5000+ chip is that it is a slightly newer stepping with the multiplier unlocked upwards as well.

Currently, the AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Black Edition is selling for $130 at major on-line retailers. At that price-point it may be an attractive alternative to the similarly priced Core 2 Duo E4400 running at 2.0GHz. or the E4500 at 2.2GHz. Let's take a look and see how the X2 5000+ Black Edition stacks up, especially as we start pushing it to its overclocking limits...