HardwareSecrets reviewed the Athlon 64 X2 4600+ (2.4 GHz) and the Athlon 64 FX-60 (2.6 GHz) to answer the big question of the moment: Will dual-core technology bring real performance gain for the average user?

We were really impressed by Athlon 64 X2 performance, since we thought that only 3D rendering and other very CPU-intensive tasks would benefit from dual-core technology. However, this isn't true. We could see an impressive performance gain by running daily applications.

It is true, however, that 3D rendering and video-related tasks will be the kind of application that will benefit more from dual-core technology, as our benchmarks has shown us.

The only problem we see for Athlon 64 X2 is its price. While Athlon 64 3800+ can be found listed between USD 284 and USD 385 on Shopping.com, Athlon 64 X2 4600+, which runs at the same clock rate, can be found between USD 547 and USD 665, the double. And you won't get double the performance...