Pros: Can overclock very high or be undervolted for energy efficency, runs very cool
Cons: Smaller cache compared to standard Core 2 Duos
The Bottom Line: Whether you are looking for a Green PC or overclocked gaming machine, if you don't have the green for the Core 2 Duos, this is the budget alternative for you!
nad_masters's Full Review: Intel Pentium® Dual-Core E2160, 1.80 GHz E216...
So you want a Core 2 Duo, but still can't afford it. Well, you're in luck!
I was looking for a cheap CPU that is powerful enough to run Vista Media Center and still be stingy with electricity. It had to be based on a Conroe (Core 2 Duo), and had to be dual-core (that ruled out Conroe-based Celerons).
First off, the new Celerons (Celeron 420s and 430s) are based on the Conroe core, but they only single core and have SpeedStep disabled. SpeedStep allows for dynamic underclocking of the CPU and lowering voltage when the CPU is not in use, allowing for increased power savings.
Then there are the Pentium Dual-Core E21xx series. The E2140, E2160, and E2180 all run at the max of 1.6 GHz, 1.8 GHz, and 2.0 GHz with multipliers of 8x, 9x, and 10x respectively. They are pretty much the same as Core 2 Duos except that they only have 1 MB of cache (compared to the Core 2 Duo's 2 MB or 4 MB, depending on model). Although I like to be green with an HTPC (Home Theater PC), I needed enough processing power to play back HD materials smoothly. I decided on the E2180 that runs at 2.0GHz. I figure the cache size will be insignificant for my purpose.
Currently the E2180s are under $100 (I bought mine for $98 at NewEgg). This makes a makes a great budget-minded alternative to the Core 2 Duos for both silent and green PC users and extreme overclockers alike.
In the Box
There really isn't much in a retail-boxed processor. You get a small quick-start guide on how to mount the CPU and the heatsink/fan, a warranty booklet (multiple languages), a "Pentium Dual-Core" sticker, an aluminum heatsink with fan attached, and of course, the Pentium Dual-Core E2180 LGA775 chip itself. And very nice plastic packaging materials.
Installation
Installing an LGA775 CPU is different from installing a ZIF socket from ye olde. The pins are actually on the socket itself instead of the CPU. The contact pads are on the CPU that makes contact with the pins on the socket. A metal gate closes onto the CPU and a latch locks the gate and the CPU in place. LGA stands for "Land Grid Array". An interesting name for this kind of socket.
I would then clean the CPU with some alcohol and lint-free cloth and scrape the thermal pad on the stock heatsink/fan off. The included pad usually sticks to the CPU and is hard to remove once installed, so I usually remove it right from the beginning. I would also clean the surface of the heatsink where it meets the CPU with alcohol as well.
After prepping the surfaces, I'd recommend using Artic Silver 5 or Artic Silver Ceramiq thermal paste between the CPU and the heatsink surface. It conducts heat better than the stock thermal pad and also much easier to clean up when you have to remove the heatsink from the CPU.
Mounting the heatsink is different from mounting one for a Pentium 4. No latches here. Instead, there are four pins on each corner that goes into a corresponding hole on the motherboard. You then push in the black "knobs" in until it clicks on all four corners. And you're done. Although that threw me off a bit, I must say it was much easier than fumbling with latches. Removing the heatsink is also pretty easy. You stick a flat-head screw driver into the grooves of the knobs and twist counter-clockwise until the knob pops up. You can then ease the heatsink up away from the heatsink mounting holes.
In Use
There are many benchmarks out there so I will not be doing any of my own. This was strictly for an HTPC and we just wanted to get our programming back from our old HTPC and have our favorite shows start recording already. :) However, I did some research online from other journalists and users and it seems that when compared to a similarly clocked Core 2 Duo with more cache (2 MB), there is little to no difference in performance with most applications. A few games will perform better with more cache, while applications that really miss the cache are usually audio/video encoding and content creation programs (3D modeling, audio/video editing and authoring, etc).
As for overclocking, it is not unheard of to see overclocks of 2.5 GHz on stock voltage and cooling, while others have been able to push it to 3.3 GHz with generous additional voltage.
The motherboard the CPU was installed on is the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L. The nice thing about this motherboard is that it has a feature that overlcocks the FSB automatically when the CPU is 100% utilized. This allows for extra speed without you tinkering with the FSB or voltages. The most aggressive overclock setting automatically overclocked the CPU to 2.5 GHz (10x250 MHz) on stock voltage (1.25v) without any stability issues! This is not surprising due to the mature 65nm process the new Conroes are based off.
There is also the other end of the spectrum - running cool and quiet while saving electricity. The low idle multiplier of 6x allows the CPU to run at 1.2 GHz (2.0 GHz max), while voltage drops to 1.1v. I was able to set the voltage to 1.0v and force it to stay at 1.0v even when the cores are utilized 100%. The CPU was rock solid at the stock 10x 200 MHz (2.0 GHz) running dual-Prime95 overnight with only a core voltage of 1.0v!!!
Power consumption on my old P4 3GHz measured from the PSU to the outlet (by using a Kill-a-Watt meter) was 210W when watching a recorded TV show in HD (The P4 was undervolted to 1.3v from a stock of 1.475v). When compared to my new build with the under-volted Pentium Dual-Core, it was 130W when doing the same thing! That's a savings of 80W! Before I undervolted the Pentium Dual-Core, it was eating up 175W when watching the same show! So undervolting clearly shows a huge difference in power consumption. And the fact that the Pentium Dual-Core can run at full speed at only 1.0v shows that Intel have a very efficient design!
Conclusion
It is a pleasant surprise for those looking for a budget gaming machine and looking for a cheap CPU that can handle today's games. Sure it falls a bit short compared to the higher cache Core 2 Duos, but the performance difference is small. This is especially true when taken account the fact that you can overclock the Pentium Dual-Core to 3 GHz speeds. You can get performance close to the Extreme line of Core 2 processors! All for $100!
Of course, if you are like me and looking for a cool and quiet PC and looking to shave off some bills from your electric tab, the same CPU is also very ginger on the Watts, especially after undervolting. Not sure if you can get away with passive cooling, but the fan was running at a very slow and quiet 900 RPMs when idle, and on full utilization, it was only at 1300 RPMs! Much slower than your standard 2500-4000 RPM fans for the P4, and that much quieter, too!
So if you can't afford the Core 2 Duo, you won't miss much by going with the Pentium Dual-Core. It's the same CPU with less cache memory. Some applications that depend on the cache will run slower since it will have to hit the main system memory, but the fact that you are saving a good amount of cash from the CPU purchase, it is worth the hit.
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