Irvine (CA) - Dual-core processors have reached the entry-level computer market. Emachines today announced its T5212 system, which comes with an Intel first-generation dual-core processor, plenty of RAM and hard disk storage for $520.

If you are on a budget, but want to jump on the accelerating dual-core train than Emachines' could be an option. The multimedia system comes with Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center operating system and integrates 1 GB of system memory, 200 GB of hard disk space, a DVD burner and an ATI X300 graphics chipset. What makes this system particularly interesting is its Pentium D 805 processor.

While the chip, based on Intel's first-generation dual-core ("Smithfield"), isn't quite as power-efficient as the recently introduced Core 2 Duo generation, it still is one of the most attractive CPUs in Intel's lineup: The least-expensive dual-core comes with a clock-speed of 2.66 GHz, but has shown tremendous overclocking potential - which reached 4.1 GHz in a recent test published by Tom's Hardware. In certain cases, the overclocked Pentium D 805 outpaced a 3.73 GHz Pentium EE 965 processor, which currently retails for more than $1000 by itself.

Emachines offers the T5112 for $520 after $50 mail-in-rebate. Monitors are not included and are priced from $170 (15"), $190 (17") and $220 (19", all after $50 mail-in-rebate).