Conclusion

Now is the time to weigh in all the tests and speak the truth whether it is justifiable to spend extra $$$ for Phenom II X2 550 over Athlon II X2 250. Out of the six games we tested, only two were able to make use of the extra cache on the Phenom II X2 550. And in these 2 games, the difference was more at a CPU limited resolution i.e. 1280×1024 and it diminished as we moved up to 1920×1200. So if you are gaming at 1920×1200 or higher, I would advise you to save money by going with the Athlon II X2 250 and spending the extra $$ on a better GPU as that will generally net you a better gaming experience.

When we compare both the CPUs in the non-gaming tests, we see similar performance at their maximum overclocks in most of the tests. Phenom II trounces the Athlon II in 7Zip comression, Custom PC Multitasking and LameXP Audio Encoding tests.

While choosing between these CPUs you will have to take into account what is it that you are going to be using it for. If audio encoding and file compression is your main motive, then you will benefit from Phenom II, otherwise Athlon II would be fine.

Stay tuned for the next part in this series as I benchmark with a Phenom II X3 720 CPU and see any increase in performance it may offer.