AMD Athlon 64 X2 Kuma Black Edition - Incredible Power for a Great Value

Prior to purchasing this CPU, I had been running with an Athlon 64 X2 @ 2GHz for around four years, and for the most part it suited my needs. In upgrading to the Kuma Black Edition and overclocking it up to 3GHz I gained an incredible performance increase. I immediately noticed all wait times (whether it was loading the operating system, a program, running scans, etc) were cut down by around 20%. Additionally, the whole system was shockingly more responsive, especially while running games. While the CPU upgrade didn't directly result in any sort of frames per second (FPS) boost in most games I play, I did notice that it handled multiple applications a lot more smoothly. I put it to the test by downloading and installing three programs simultaneously: AdAware, SpyBot, and AVG Antivirus (hey, I needed to update them anyhow), after which I ran scans on all three simultaneously - something I had frequently done with my old CPU. Whereas before during something like this I always saw CPU usage maxed out and the computer was pretty much useless for doing anything else on, the Kuma Black Edition handled the task with no sweat, never jumping far above 60% CPU usage, and managing to accomplish the task in far less time than I was accustomed to. Cool!

There is a distinct advantage to buying a "slower" CPU with unlocked multipliers, like the Kuma Black Edition. While it clocks in at a standard 2.7GHz, I have achieved successful overlocks of up to 3.4GHz per core and maintained them for an extended amount of time. Imagine if that was a 3.4GHz CPU at stock settings - it would have cost so much more! Overclocking was extremely easy, using a combination of simple BIOS settings and the very cool AMD OverDrive overclocking utility included with my motherboard (which can also be downloaded). While the 3.4GHz overclock spiked my temperatures a little past "comfort zone" (high 50's, Celsius) I reigned them in to a comfortable 35 Celsius running at 3.1GHz, under full load. Of course, I am also running liquid cooling so that might explain part of it.

The 2.7GHz Kuma Black Edition CPU isn't the fastest out there - not even close. But it does offer a truly staggering value-per-dollar. When I picked this CPU up for $73 and free shipping (woo-hoo!) I thought I was getting an incredible deal. Since then, the price has dropped to $67, then $65 from the same retailer. I have even seen it on other websites for as low as $55. For a solid, high performing CPU up for most challenges you can throw at it, that is a Black Edition with unlocked multipliers for massive overclocking potential, that runs in the newer AM2+ socket and only sets you back $50-60 (that's like, cheaper than dinner and a movie!) so how could you go wrong?