Question : AMD Athlon II X4 vs. AMD Phenom II X4

Comparing CPUs here:

($110)
AMD Athlon II X4 630 (95W) Quad Core Socket AM3 , 2.8GHz, 2Mb Cache, 1800MHz HT, 45nm

vs.

($99)
AMD Phenom II X2 545 (80W) Dual-Core Socket AM3, 3.0GHz, 7MB Cache, 2000MHz HT, 45nm (HDX545WFGIBOX)

They are both comparably priced. The Athlon is quad core, better than the Phenom which is only Dual core. The Athlon has a slower CPU speed though 2.8ghz while the Phenom runs at 3.0ghz. The Athlon has a puny cache (2MB) compared to the Phenom (7MB). And the Athlon seems to have a slower front side bus (or whatever HT is).

I was about to go buy the Phenom, just for it's name (Phenom > Athlon, right?) when I looked at the CPU benchmarks according to Passmark:

AMD Athlon II X4 630.................... 3359
AMD Phenom II X2 545................... 1767

That's a HUGE difference for the extra 10 bucks.  What is your take on it? Which CPU is better?

Answer : AMD Athlon II X4 vs. AMD Phenom II X4

PassMark doesn't lie -- it's very obvious which is the better CPU :-)