PC Enthusiasts have been eyeing the Athlon 64 with anticipation, but have been paralyzed by the Osborne Effect field surrounding the Socket 754 versions of the processor. You see, back when the Athlon 64 was launched, AMD promised the world-right out of the gate-a new, 939-pin socket that would bring dual-channel memory to every Athlon 64. That was eight months ago, and since then the only way to get dual-channel memory with an Athlon 64 has been with a 940-pin Athlon 64 FX that requires registered DIMMs.
Today is the day for AMD to finally deliver on its Socket 939 promise with three new processors. Tech Report had the opportunity to test two of these CPUs: the Athlon 64 3800+ and Athlon 64 FX-53 (939-pin edition).
Other reviews: Anandtech, Beyond3D, ExtremeTech, HardOCP.