The era of multi-core processors has come quite quickly, and it is also moving forward with increasing cores and clock speeds.
Now the market is saturated with many low-end processors based on current architectures and offered at a ridiculous price of just under $ 70. One of the best budget processors can be considered Intel Celeron Dual Core E1200 with a frequency of 1600 MHz, but it has a small amount of L2 cache – only 512KB. Besides, overclocking this chip requires a very expensive motherboard, because Celeron Dual Core E1200 has a low multiplier.
There is also a Pentium Dual Core E2140 with a megabyte cache, but its cost is not much different from the price of today’s test subject.
Let’s take a look at a test sample of the Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 chip:
At such a low frequency, this processor can outperform its direct competitor from the AMD camp – Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.2GHz. For the price, it costs almost the same, but overclocking the Core 2 Duo requires not a budget board, but this is already a big disadvantage.
It is precisely because of this drawback that it is difficult to recommend buying an E4400 for its further overclocking to those people who are unable to spend more than $ 100 on a motherboard. This article is devoted to overclocking this processor just on a budget board. Therefore, do not expect frequencies of the order of 3000MHz.
Test setup for AMD
- Processors: Athlon 64 X2 4200+, Athlon II X2 250 и Athlon 64 X2 6000+
- Motherboard: ASUS M2V и ASUS M2N68-AM SE2
- Cooler – Zalman 7000cu
- RAM – 2 strips PQI PC 6400 1Gb
- Video card – Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 1GB DDR3
- HDD – Seagate 160Gb
- Power Supply – FSP 400W
Test setup for Intel
- Motherboard – MSI 945GCM5-F (MS7267)
- Cooler – Zalman 7000cu
- RAM – PQI PC 6400 1Gb
- Video card – Nvidia GeForce GTS 250 1GB GDDR3
- HDD – Seagate 160Gb
- Power Supply – FSP 400W
Overclocking was carried out by raising the FSB frequency and raising the core voltage. The maximum that I was able to squeeze out is 2660 MHz:
The system bus frequency has been changed from 200MHz to 266MHz, the RAM multiplier has been reduced by one. The core voltage is increased to 1.360 volts and the system bus voltage to 1.300 volts. With this CPU overclocking, the RAM frequency was equal to 800MHz with 5-5-5-18 timings.
In other words, I managed to squeeze the E5400 out of the processor with the E4400 index. And all this on a weak $ 30 motherboard and $ 13 RAM per board. Not bad, what more can be said?
Now let’s see how the E4400 will look against the background of such processors as Athlon X2 4200+ operating at 2750 MHz, Athlon 64 X2 6000+, and Athlon II X2 250 operating at basic mode and overclocked to 3600 MHz.
Unfortunately, the Core 2 Duo E4400 did not last long in the laboratory and I did not have time to run our standard set of tests. However, as it seemed to me, I still managed to test the most interesting:
Tests
What was my disappointment when, after the end of the benchmark, I saw the defeat of the overclocked Athlon X2 4200+. Working at a higher frequency, plus having a built-in memory controller at his disposal, he managed to lose …
The effectiveness of the Core architecture is undeniable here. But, even if operating at a higher clock frequency, the Athlon II processor first outperformed its old, equal-frequency brother X2 6000+, and then defeated the E4400. Bravo AMD.
And again, the Athlon II chip is simply irresistible! Unless, of course, we do not take into account the fact that the Core 2 Duo E4400 processor is more than 2 years old. Nevertheless, the E4400 is a copy of the Pentium DC E5300, which means that the performance of the Athlon II looks very beneficial.
However, it should be noted that the E4400 outperforms the higher-clocked Athlon 64 X2 6000+ and the overclocked Athlon 64 X2 4200+ in the light. Amazing result!
Amazingly, the situation has changed a lot in Grand Theft Auto 4, and now the Core 2 Duo E4400 does not look so good anymore. To my surprise in overclocking, it lost to Athlon 64 X2 6000+, and in par value, it almost lost to the stock Athlon 64 X2 4200+!
Conclusion
What conclusions can be drawn about a processor that has not been on sale for more than a year? Probably no … no conclusions would have been worth making if it were not for the Core 2 Duo E4400.
Why? Because in fact, this is the same Pentium Dual-Core E5xxx. Their only differences are in the process of technology and support for one new instruction. Probably in the distant future, this will play some role. But at the moment it has no advantages.
You can, of course, buy a Pentium Dual-Core E5xxx, but their cost is off the scale for $ 60-70. Of course, this is a good option for a budget PC, but considering that you can find a used E4400 at a price of about $ 30-50, in my opinion, it is still better to choose it.
Well, gentlemen, it’s up to you to decide, of course, but as for me, at one time it was the best processor from the budget Intel processor family. But you can also look at the other side of the road? After all, AMD Athlon II X2 has long been registered in the price lists of many stores.
Update from 05/31/2020: at the request of visitors, the quality of test charts has been improved.
