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http://www.hothardware.com/articles/...cessor/?page=1
Intel has spent millions making their "Core" brand synonymous with high performance processing. In these days of the Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, and Core 2 Extreme, it's pretty easy to find a Core microarchitecture-based processor to match nearly any possible price point. The performance levels of the Core 2 product lineup have been so dominating that Intel really didn't have to spend a penny if they didn't want to, although big time marketing campaigns are good for converting those who just want the latest and greatest and don't necessarily read enthusiast sites like ours here. Despite the Core 2 being a successful lineup from top to bottom, Intel's Pentium product name is still a valuable asset. Intel's last Pentium-branded product launches happened mid last year, with the "Presler" core based Pentium-D processors hitting the market at speeds in excess of 3.0 GHz. Soon afterwards, the first generation Core 2 processors hit the streets and (more or less) dominated the Pentium-D in terms of performance, all the while consuming far less power and creating much less heat. From that point forward, many had figured the Pentium name would be essentially dead, simply living out its final days as inventory in warehouses until the Core 2 made it obsolete. Apparently, this is not what Intel had in mind. A while back, we started to hear rumblings of a "new" Pentium processor. While the Pentium had always targeted the performance crowd, it appeared that Intel would be taking the name in a new direction, pushing it to the value sector where their Celeron brand typically resided. As the Celeron name does not have a strong following, replacing it with an aging (but still well known) brand like Pentium does make quite a lot of sense. The question is, what really is this "new" Pentium processor? Is this a new architecture, or simply a new chip based on something we've already seen? The answers to those questions are finally here, as the first "new" Pentium processor has arrived and is running in our lab. This new processor is shipping at two speeds, 1.6 GHz (E2140) and 1.8 GHz (E2160), is based on a dual-core architecture, and ships in the same powder-blue box we've come to associate with the Core 2 Duo. |
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For a $95 (USD) processor, the Intel Pentium E2140 put up a surprisingly solid performance, which is a testament to this chip's overall value. Albeit under a new name, Intel is finally moving their Conroe dual-core architecture down to the budget markets, bringing true modern dual-core performance to low-end systems, which is something everyone can appreciate. In terms of raw performance, the Pentium E2140 only runs about 10% slower in most cases than Intel's cheapest Core 2 Duo processor, the E6300, which is impressive considering it has a lower clock speed and half the cache. However, the Pentium E2140 ($95) is currently 42% cheaper than the Core 2 Duo E6300 ($165), making it a better value compared to low-end Core 2 Duo processors. We should also note that, AMD does have dual-core Athlon 64 X2 processors which are as inexpensive as $55 in some cases, so if you're looking for extreme low-budget dual-core processing, AMD still delivers the lowest price. For Intel-based dual-core computing though, the Pentium E2100-series chips are excellent choices for those with limited budgets. When looking at the benchmarks, we also see that the Pentium E2140 can provide extremely good performance when overclocked. Notably, the chip performs great in workstation and basic office-class applications, where the smaller amount of L2 cache does not hurt performance as much as one would expect. Gamers, however, would be better served by a chip with a larger amount of L2 cache, as the smaller L2 compliment on the Pentium E2100 series does hurt its clock-for-clock gaming performance against the Core 2 Duo. While others have pushed these chips further with more exotic cooling, we pushed our chip to 2.9 GHz with the stock cooler. At this level, the Pentium E2140 processor can provide performance similar to a Core 2 Duo E6700 ($320) in best case scenarios. The Pentium E2140 can push very high clock speeds with very little work, and the stock cooler which Intel bundles is whisper silent most of the time, which makes for a great combination. |
