Hi,

I'm a new member and thought I'd make a post. I have a question regarding my processor. I purchased it a few years ago. It's a Pentium (R) 3.0 Dual-Core processor. My friend is in the market for a processor himself though he's on a very tight budget, so he aims to avoid the Core 2 family for now. The only Dual-cores I see kicking around now are no greater than 2.0 though they are from the "E" family.

My question is what is the difference between my (R) chip and the current E series? Which would be more powerful, my R 3.0 or the E 2.0?

Welcome to the forum.

The Pentium Dual-Core is just slapping two Pentiums on one chip and the Core 2 Duals (E) is built on a totally new technology.

Here is link shows comparison in performances of variety of CPUs:

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=898&model2=879&chart=418

There is no R series of Intel CPUs. You probably have a Pentium D, which is different from a Pentium Dual-Core. The latter have the Allendale core, shared by the E4xxx series of Core 2 Duo CPUs, with about 1MB of L2 cache. Any Core 2 Duo series chip will run cooler and deliver much better performance than a higher-clocked Pentium D. If your friend can spend about $80 on a CPU, he should look at the E2180, which can reach 3GHz easily on air.

I'm Sure This Makes No Difference Whatsoever......

There are some "rumors" floating around, that the Pentium Dual Cores are actually Conroe chips. (Contrary to Newegg's listing them as "Allendale"). As they say, "the truth is out there". If it ever surfaces, please let me know, since I'm running an E2200 in my new box.

The R in "Pentium (R) Dual Core" is actually just the ® symbol (meaning "registered", as in registered trademark).

If you're looking for a low-end dual-core, definitely go for the budged-based Pentium Dual Core line of products: any one of the E2XXX models would be perfect. It wouldn't be outrageous either if you could push for a Core 2 Duo E4XXX series processor.