The Phenom II X4 840 was given to me to run a test this week which got me quite excited as I am a big fan of AMD products. This is a quad core processor clocked at 3.2 GHz and for a low price of £80 anyone looking to upgrade on the cheap need look no further.

The processor is of course a delicate component to the computer so packaging was everything, this isn't a problem as AMD recognise the caution and package their products superbly. This left no doubt in my mind that the component had been handled and packaged well and would come out of the box in pristine condition.

This has an AM3 socket which will work in any AM3 and AM3+ compatible motherboards. To install it into the motherboard you simply have to line up the slots on the bottom of the processor with the socket in the motherboard. This followed up with clicking down the lever and reconnecting any heat sinks and fans and your good to go, it really is that easy. If your upgrading from a dual core or slower prepare to be amazed quad core processors really give you a boost in speed when running multiple applications.
This little component can hold its own in the budget department in fact I would say it's one of the best processors you can buy under £100.

For those of you that this matters to, you will find that it uses considerably less power than most other processors using just 71 watts which is a dip from my Intel by 20 watts! And what's more a clock speed of 3.2GHz will mean you won't be in need of upgrading this processor any time soon.

You can expect AMD to throw in some nice features to the processor such as cool'n'quiet, I can say one thing about this the cool part works pretty well but you never really can tell about the quiet part as most of you will have fans in the computer anyway making the noise.

Overall guys this is a great cheap upgrade option it does what it says basically, you won't get any flashy speeds like more recent processors but you will only be paying a fraction of the price for that matter. If you are running an AM2+ motherboard this is probably one of the best processors available to you and it will surely keep you going longer without the serious upgrades.