Conclusion

Let's look at all the results, diluted into one simple chart:

Here's where it all comes together.  Look at the Athlon II X3 435 vs. the Phenom II X3 720. For 3/4 of the price, the Athlon II X3 435 offers identical encoding ability, less than a three percent disadvantage in gaming ability, and less than a five percent disadvantage in productivity ability.

Now let's look at performance per dollar for all of these CPUs, based on existing Newegg pricing for the available units and $87 MSRP pricing for the upcoming Athlon II X3 435:

Here is where the Athlon II X3 435 really shines. Yes, the Athlon II X2 250 has a marginally better price/performance ratio, but remember that multitasking will cripple the Athlon II 250 while the Athlon II X3 435 will fare much better with its extra CPU core. In addition, the Athlon II X3 435 beat the Athlon II X2 250 by about ten percent across the board, a significant performance increase. Compare this to the Phenom II X3 720, which costs 1/3 more to deliver essentially the same performance as the Athlon II X3 435.

Yes, the Phenom II X3 720 has an unlocked CPU multiplier, and that's worth something. But if you have a high multiplier to work with like the Athlon II X3 435 does, you can achieve overclocking results just as impressive -- it only takes a little more effort, and in the case of our test sample it didn't take much effort at all.

In the final analysis, this author can heartily recommend the new Athlon II X3 435 as the best budget CPU for the dollar available at stock clocks. We haven't properly compared these CPUs when overclocked so we'll leave that judgment for a future review. Regardless, the Athlon II X3 435 is a fantastic buy and obviously offers some good overclockability. We can't help but speculate that the Phenom II X3's days might be numbered with the Athlon II X3 offering comparable performance for a lower price.

Aside from that, AMD has introduced a number of low-power CPU options likely to be quite attractive to the power conscious, and with a maximum draw of 45 Watts the Athlon II X4 605e makes the lowest demand of any quad-core consumer-level CPU.

While AMD is currently able to demonstrate dominance in the sub-$120 CPU market, we have to wonder how long they have to continue without serious competition from Intel who has been relying on derivatives of the older Core 2 architecture to compete. Intel has scheduled the release of its low-end Core i3 early next year, a processor based on its new Nehalem architecture, and it remains to be seen how competitive the Athlon II will be against this new threat.

Having said that, next year is months away - a long time when it comes to PC technology. For now, AMD has released an impressive product in both the new Athlon II X3 435 and the Athlon II line in general. With low prices, a great deal of selection, and good overclock-ability, these CPUs are sure to score AMD a solid win in the months to come.