It took a while for Intel to wake up and smell the prices of AMD shares recently (AMD being Intel's main competitor). After years of AMD taking bite after bite out of Intel's market share with innovative, efficient, fast and affordable processors, Intel finally did something about it and released the Core 2 processor. The dual and quad coreCPU's completely blew AMD away and AMD still haven't caught up two years later.
The Intel Core 2E8400 is the latest revision of the Core 2 processor with 6MB cache as opposed to 4MB of it's predesssor mid range chips like the E6400 and E6600. The speed has been bumped up too with the E8400 coming in at 3Ghz. Speed isn't everything of course but as the Core 2 architecture is so efficient, you get massive speed boosts as you ramp up the Mhz.
Because of this many people try to buy the fastest CPU you can afford. This makes sense - many modern games are more and more CPU dependant rather than GPU dependant - they need a powerful processor just as much as a fast graphics card. This means that building a balanced system is more important today than ever.
But while the E8400 is a great chip out of the box, it's an absolute stonker at overclocking. If you don't know what overclocking is then it's definitely worth doing some research. It's a simple method of increasing the speed of any given processor for free. It's not difficult and thousands of people already do it.
The E8400 can easily reach 3.5Ghz by overclocking it, but even 4Ghz is an easy target even with normal air cooling and a half decent motherboard. At this speed it simply flies through anything yet remains relatively cool - something that can't be said of quad cores running at the same frequency that often require watercooling.
There is an arguement for opting for quad cores anyway as many applications take advantage of multi-core processors. However the list of programs that can do this is small and many see small if any boosts over a dual core. They are also expensive compared to dual cores, with lower clocked models going for twice the price of the E8400.
Until more applications take real advantage of quad cores and Intel has released it's next generation architecture called Nehalem, it's well worth saving your money - with the E8400 costing less than £130, it's value for money, especially if you're overclocking, is undeniable. Whether you're buying a new system with an E8400 in it or upgrading your existing system, the E8400 should be top of your list.
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This CPU is overclockableMaximum everything. Energy-efficient performance. Multimedia ... more
power.Latest Wolfdale and the uptodate 45nm technology.Based on revolutionary Intel Core microarchitecture; the breakthrough Intel Core2 Duo processor family is
New BX80570E8400 E0 Stepping, Based on revolutionary Intel Core microarchitecture, the ... more
breakthrough Intel Core2 Duo processor family is designed to provide powerful energy-efficient performance so you can do more at once without slowing down. With 45nm...
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Advantages: Easy to overclock, runs cool, doesn't use much energy. Disadvantages: May require a large heatsink and fan replacement, as the stock HSF is not very good.
Advantages: Easy to overclock, runs cool, doesn't use much energy. Disadvantages: May require a large heatsink and fan replacement, as the stock HSF is not very good.
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