Conclusion:

AMD continues to improve their standing in 2009 and the Phenom II X2 550 BE and Athlon II X2 250 are both amazing processors for around or under $100. The 45nm process continues to mature for AMD and so far at least with Core i7's very high price to entry compared to an $80 AM3 motherboard AMD is looking like an easier and easier choice. Things become a little less clear around September when the P55 chipset is released and Core i5 as it's been called, but that's hard to see from here and we know at launch those should only be quad core processors with the cheapest just under $200, so not much cheaper than a Core i7 920 if you shop around.

Overall while this may not be labeled a banner year for everyone it is a proof that don't underestimate this company: the final word is yet to be written on the champion of PC performance. AMD may not have the top tier now but they aren't out for the count either and generally offer the best value in any processors under $200 from quad to dual core.

Comparing the two processors against each other, for just $15 more the Black Edition Phenom II X2 seem like the obvious choice, however, as you can see unless you're playing games there's not much difference between the two processors. If you do plan to do gaming though the difference becomes immediate of the benefit of the L3 cache and it seems obvious which to go with. So that's the jist: if you game go for the Phenom II X2 or X3 if you don't the Athlon II should be fine for everyone else looking for the best sub-$100 processor.

Pricing:

 We don't see the processors at retail yet but the Athlon II X2 250 should go for $87 and the Phenom II X2 500 for $102.

Athlon II X2 250 Score: 93%

Phenom II X2 550 Score: 97%