The Performance King: Intel Core 2 Duo
The Core 2 Duo is based on Intel's Core microarchitecture, which was designed to reach high performance while maintaining very limited power requirements. You will find all important information in our technology review: Game Over? Core 2 Duo Knocks Out Athlon 64.
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400
The E6400 is the 2.13 GHz version of Intel's Core 2 Duo. It comes with a 2 MB L2 cache, and runs at 266 MHz interface speed (better known as FSB1066). The current price in quantities of 1,000 and up is $183, which is a great deal for a powerful upper mainstream processor. We picked this processor because it compares very well to AMD's Athlon 64 X2 5600+, which can be purchased for $188 at similar quantities. The question, of course, is which is better.
The E6300 and the E6400 can be seen as entry-level processors to the Core 2 Duo family, and although they represent the slowest models, they have to be rated as upper mainstream. There are still several Pentium D models on the market, which you should avoid. Not only are these slower, but they'll also consume more energy and thus dissipate more heat than the more advanced Core 2 Duo processors. In addition, the Core 2 Duo processors are far better overclockers, just in case you intend to squeeze some extra performance out of your investment.
Article continues belowWe also added benchmarks of the more powerful Core 2 Duo E6600 at 2.4 GHz and 4 MB L2 cache to our benchmark charts on the following pages, because getting a more powerful processor seems like an obvious option (at $224 instead of $183).
