AMD's 2.4Ghz, triple-core Phenom X3 is a bit of an odd-bird: it's got more core than a dual-core CPU but it's not quite a quad-core chip. So, how does it perform? Well, according to the hardware heads at Maximum PC, exactly as you would expect: it's faster than AMD's dual-core offerings but not quite as fast as the quad-core parts. While that might strike a performance sweet spot for some, the chip's retail price--$195--makes it a tough sell, when quad-core CPUs from both AMD and Intel can be had for just a pittance more. "If performance is king, you should avoid tri core and go straight to a quad," Maximum PC writes. "If you’re on the fence between a dual and a tri, we would take a tri-core Phenom over a dual-core Athlon 64 any day of the week, but up against an Intel Core 2 Duo, it gets a little trickier."

For more on the Phenom X3:
- see this Maximum PC article [1]