In the performance stakes the 3200+ came up trumps, finishing middle to top of the pack and clearly cementing itself as a solid performing processor for home, office or pure entertainment. It boasts performance similar to that of the 4000+, but if you can't stomach the cost of forking out $1229 on a CPU, then this could be the part for you.

Clocking in at 2.0GHz, AMD's Athlon 64 range is well and truly out to disprove that megahertz is the be-all and end-all of computing performance. The 3200+ is available in two flavours, socket 939 and socket A's replacement, the 754. The two are also separated by on-die memory, the 754 version packs 1MB L2 cache while the 939 version has 512KB.

AMD is no stranger to 64-bit computing, having released its first hybrid 32/64-bit chip over 18 months ago. While they do offer a great opportunity to futureproof your new investment, they're also a great performer on current 32-bit software.

If you're after a top performance chip but don't want to wear the price of the Athlon 64 4000+ this is definitely one to look at.