$89 Pentium Dual Core that Runs at 3.2 GHz

Features
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Test Setup

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Platform
CPU IIntel Pentium Dual Core E2160 (65 nm; 1800 MHz, 1 MB L2 Cache)
CPU IIIntel Core 2 Duo E6750 (65 nm; 2666 MHz, 4 MB L2 Cache)
Motherboard & RAMGigabyte P35-DS3P, Socket 775 (Rev. 1.1)Intel P35 Chipset, BIOS F5Patriot PDC1G3200 XBLK2x 1024 MB DDR2-800 (CL 4-4-4-12 2T)
Hard Disk DriveWestern Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD150 GB, 10,000 RPM, 16 MB cache, SATA/150
DVD-ROMSamsung SH-S183
Graphics CardZotac GeForce 8800 GTSGPU: Geforce 8800 GTS (500 MHz)RAM: 320 MB GDDR3 (1600 MHz)
Sound CardIntegrated
Power SupplyEnermax EG565P-VEATX 2.01, 510 Watt
System Software & Drivers
OSWindows XP Professional 5.10.2600, Service Pack 2
DirectX Version9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Platform Drivers IntelVersion 8.3.1013
Graphics Drivers NvidiaForceware 162.18

Benchmarks And Settings

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Benchmarks
3D-Games
Call Of Duty 2Version: 1.3 RetailVideo Mode: 1280x960Anti Aliasing: offGraphics Card: mediumTimedemo demo2
PreyVersion: 1.3Video Mode: 1280x1024Video Quality: game defaultVsync = offBenchmark: THG-Demo
Quake 4Version: 1.2 (Dual-Core Patch)Video Mode: 1280x1024Video Quality: highTHG timedemo waste.mapTimedemo demo8.demo 1 (1 = load textures)
Audio
Lame MP3Version 3.98 Beta 5Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 minwave to mp3160 kbps
Video
TMPEG 3.0 ExpressVersion: 3.0.4.24 (no Audio)fist 5 Minutes DVD Terminator 2 SE (704x576) 16:9multithreaded rendering
DivX 6.6Version: 6.6 (4 Logical CPUs)Profile: High Definition Profile1-pass, 3000 kbit/sEncoding mode: Insane QualityEnhanced multithreadingno Audio
XviD 1.1.3Version: 1.1.3Target quantizer: 1.00
Mainconcept H.264 v2Version 2.1260 MB MPEG-2 source (1920x1080) 16:9Codec: H.264Mode: NTSCAudio: AACProfile: HighStream: Program
Applications
WinrarVersion 3.70(303 MB, 47 Files, 2 Folders)Compression = BestDictionary = 4096 kB
Autodesk 3D Studio MaxVersion: 8.0Characters "Dragon_Charater_rig"Rendering HTDV 1920x1080
CinebenchVersion: R101 CPU, x CPU run
Synthetics
PCMark05 ProVersion: 1.2.0CPU and Memory TestsWindows Media Player 10.00.00.3646Windows Media Encoder 9.00.00.2980
Patrick Schmid
4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • HansVonOhain
    That was an amazing chip at the day...
    Reply
  • ripwind
    Yep - It was this very article that caused me to buy mine, along with a G92 8800GTS. My E2160 has been running @ 3.2GHZ with the stock cooler for almost 3.5 years. I'm only now considering an upgrade.

    Both that processor and that video card have scaled so well over the years that I'm still able to run what I want at 1920x1080 with reasonable settings.
    Reply
  • presto84
    I've just bought a second hand motherboard for university and it came with this CPU onboard. Remembered this article so had to look to check it was the same chip. The board has an Intel P945 chipset and supports up to 1333mhz according to the website so might be worth giving this a go.
    Reply
  • Noodletoe
    One of my all-time favorite Toms articles - used it to OC my E2180 to 3.0ghz 4 years ago and it's still running strong as my guest computer. I was just looking to upgrade the CPU to a E-6550 I found for cheap, but after re-reading this article I think I'll just leave it alone :)
    Reply