AMD is no stranger to power efficient desktop CPUs, but the chipmaker appears to have outdone itself with the new Athlon II X2 260u.
We already mentioned the 260u on several occasions, so here is the lowdown. It’s based on the 45nm Regor core, clocked 1.8GHz and it has 2MB of L2 cache. It supports DDR3-1333 and all the usual instruction sets and features.
Of course, the really big deal is the 25W TDP. In fact, this is even lower than many mobile parts, as both Intel and AMD don’t mind sticking 35W chips in notebooks.
The only complaint is the price tag. At €79, the 260u is no bargain. For roughly the same AMD will happily sell you the Athlon II X2 245e, a 2.9GHz part with a 45W TDP.
Despite this, the 260u could have a bright future if vendors embrace it for nettops and other SFF designs.
You can buy it here, but we suggest you wait for the prices to settle down.
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