Celeron, Pentium Dual Core and Athlon X2: Which One is the Best USD 70 CPU?

How We Tested

During our benchmarking sessions, we used the configuration listed below. Between our benchmarking sessions the only variable was the CPU being tested and the motherboard, as AMD and Intel CPU’s require different motherboard types.

Hardware Configuration

• Motherboard (Intel): ASUS P5K-E/WiFi-AP (1013 BIOS)
• Motherboard (AMD): ASUS M3A32-MVP DeLuxe/WiFi-AP (0603 BIOS)
• Memory: 2 GB Corsair Dominator TWIN2X2048-8500C5D (DDR2-1066/PC2-8500 with 5-5-5-15 timings), configured at 800 MHz with 5-5-5-18 timings.
• Hard Disk Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 160 GB (ST3160815AS, SATA-300, 7,200 rpm, 8 MB buffer)
• Video Card: GeForce 8500 GT
• Video resolution: 1440×900 75 Hz
• Video Monitor: Samsung Syncmaster 932BW
• Power Supply: OCZ ProXStream 1000 W
• CPU Cooler: Thermaltake TMG i1
• Optical Drive: LG GSA-H54N

Software Configuration

• Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit
• Service Pack 1

Driver Versions

• NVIDIA video driver version: 175.19
• Intel Inf chipset driver version: 8.3.1.1009
• AMD chipset driver version: 3.0.642.0

Software Used

• PCMark Vantage Professional 1.0.0
• VirtualDub-MPEG2 1.6.19 Build 24586 + DivX 6.8.3
• RazorLame 1.1.5a + LAME 3.9.7
• GamingHeaven Photoshop Benchmark V2
• Cinebench 10
• 3DMark06 Professional 1.1.0 + October 2007 Hotfix
• 3DMark Vantage Professional 1.0.1
• Quake 4 – Patch 1.4.2
• Crysis – Patch 1.2.1 + HardwareOC Crysis Benchmark Tool 1.3.0.0

Some Information About our Methodology

Since we were reviewing entry-level CPUs, we also used an entry-level video card, a GeForce 8500 GT. Because of that, you cannot compare the results published on this review with results published on our other reviews, where we used a different video card.

Even though we had DDR2-1066 memories, we configured them as DDR2-800 units, for two reasons. First, entry-level PCs won’t use DDR2-1066 memories and, second, Athlon X2 can only access memories up to 800 MHz. Also, we made sure that with both AMD and Intel CPUs the memories were running at the same speed (800 MHz) and timings (5-5-5-18). Since the reviewed Athlon X2 4600+ doesn’t suffer from the memory divider problem (see introduction for more details), memories were really running at 800 MHz with this CPU.

Error Margin 

We adopted a 3% error margin; thus, differences below 3% cannot be considered relevant. In other words, products with a performance difference below 3% should be considered as having similar performance.