Overall performance of the 3500+ is pretty much what was expected as it hung in there with the 3800+, but overclocking is where it really shines at 2.7GHz even giving dual core some fits a couple of times.

So with the 3500+ it appears a 500MHz overclock will be fairly easy to get to, and we feel that with better cooling 2.8GHz should be almost as easy to reach. If you are serious and throw some higher powered cooling at it 3GHz might not be out of the question. At $100 less than the 3800+ it certainly a bit of a better value. Now the 3200+ and 3000+ come in $80 to $130 less, but we don't yet know their overclocking potential. Stay tuned as we hope to test out these CPUs as well soon. For now the 3500+ is a good looking midrange Athlon 64 with the advantages of the Venice core, and the longer life of Socket 939. Perhaps most impressive is how cool the 67 watt CPU ran when overclocked and under load. If you want overclockability, high performance, and cool running then the 3500+ wins the triple crown.