Select any two CPUs for comparison
VS

CPU Core Details

CPU Codename Centerton Brisbane
MoBo Socket BGA 1283 Socket AM2
Notebook CPU no no
Release Date 11 Dec 2012 05 Dec 2006
CPU Link GD Link GD Link
Approved

CPU Technical Specifications

{
CPU Cores 2 2
CPU Threads - 2
Clock Speed 2 GHz 2.7 GHz
Turbo Frequency - -
System Bus - 800 MHz
Max TDP 9 W 65 W
Lithography 32 nm 65 nm
Bit Width - 64 Bit
Max Temperature - 72°C
Virtualization Technology no no

CPU Cache and Memory

L1 Cache Size 112 KB 256 KB
L2 Cache Size 1024 KB 1024 KB
L3 Cache Size - -
Memory Types
Memory Channels - 2
ECC Memory Support no no

CPU Graphics

Integrated Graphics no no
Base GPU Frequency - -
Max GPU Frequency - -
DirectX - -
Displays Supported - -

CPU Mini Review

Mini Review Atom S1260 2.0GHz is a budget Server CPU based on the Centerton Core of the 32nm Saltwell micro-architecture. Manufactured with a 32nm technology, it features 2 Cores (4 Threads) clocked at 2.0GHz and no Integrated Graphics. The Memory controller supports up to DDR3-1333 memory type. The Max power drawn should be of around 8.5W. Its performance is overall average but there are no benchmarks available and so this CPU's rank is subject to change. Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+ is a middle-class Processor based on the 65nm K8 micro-architecture. It offers 2 Physical Cores (2 Logical), clocked at 2.7GHz and 2MB of L2 Cache. Among its many features, Virtualization is activated. The processor DOES NOT integrated any graphics. and has a rated board TDP of 65W. Its performance is below the average and so most demanding games will not run optimally.

Gaming Performance Comparison

In terms of overall gaming performance, the Intel Atom S1260 2.0GHz is marginally better than the AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+ when it comes to running the latest games. This also means it will be less likely to bottleneck more powerful GPUs, allowing them to achieve more of their gaming performance potential.

Both the Atom S1260 2.0GHz and the Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+ were released at the same time, so are likely to be quite similar.

{ The Atom S1260 2.0GHz and the Athlon 64 X2 both have 2 cores, and so are quite likely to struggle with the latest games, or at least bottleneck high-end graphics cards when running them. With a decent accompanying GPU, theAtom S1260 2.0GHz and the Athlon 64 X2 may still be able to run slightly older games fairly effectively.

More important for gaming than the number of cores and threads is the clock rate. Problematically, unless the two CPUs are from the same family, this can only serve as a general guide and nothing like an exact comparison, because the clock cycles per instruction (CPI) will vary so much.

The Atom S1260 2.0GHz and Athlon 64 X2 are not from the same family of CPUs, so their clock speeds are by no means directly comparable. Bear in mind, then, that while the Athlon 64 X2 has a 0.7 GHz faster frequency, this is not always an indicator that it will be superior in performance, despite frequency being crucial when trying to avoid GPU bottlenecking. In this case, however, the difference is probably a good indicator that the is superior.

Aside from the clock rate, the next-most important CPU features for PC game performance are L2 and L3 cache size. Faster than RAM, the more cache available, the more data that can be stored for lightning-fast retrieval. L1 Cache is not usually an issue anymore for gaming, with most high-end CPUs eking out about the same L1 performance, and L2 is more important than L3 - but L3 is still important if you want to reach the highest levels of performance. Bear in mind that although it is better to have a larger cache, the larger it is, the higher the latency, so a balance has to be struck.

The Atom S1260 2.0GHz and the Athlon 64 X2 have the same L2 cache size, and neither CPU appears to have an L3 cache. In this case, the <span class='gpu2Mention'>Athlon 64 X2</span> has a 144 KB bigger L1 cache, so would probably provide better performance than the <span class='gpu1Mention'>Atom S1260 2.0GHz</span>, at least in this area.

The maximum Thermal Design Power is the power in Watts that the CPU will consume in the worst case scenario. The lithography is the semiconductor manufacturing technology being used to create the CPU - the smaller this is, the more transistors that can be fit into the CPU, and the closer the connections. For both the lithography and the TDP, it is the lower the better, because a lower number means a lower amount of power is necessary to run the CPU, and consequently a lower amount of heat is produced.