MacandPcStore.com

Bang for your buck

Customer Rating:
Pros - I have a dell inspiron 530s and was using the core duo 1.8ghz cpu it came with and I can honestly say this is a huge improvement. Noticed immediate performance increase running win7 professional x64. I play a few computer games, mainly WoW, and this processor helps out a lot.

Cons - None!

Best Bang For Your Buck CPU!

Customer Rating:
The e8400 is one of the best processors still out to date. It's not the best in speed wise but in practicality. Dual core processors are still extremely powerful and will still be used for a good amount of time. This processor brings a lot of power to the table and in certain scenarios actually beats Core 2 Quad processors. The e8400 also gives you the ability to overclock a lot and when I say a lot I mean it! You are able to get to 4.0GHz stable with a nice 3rd party heat sink and around 3.8 stable with the stock Intel heat sink. You can't go wrong with buying this cpu. Even in 2010 I will use this processor and more then likely in 2011. If you are looking for something powerful and inexpensive this is the processor for you!

Extreme Value and Speed With Crummy HSF

Customer Rating:
I have an E0 chip and have OC-d this to 4.979Ghz on a DF X48 mobo using 1150 Mhz GSkill DDR2 memory. Outstanding overkill as the RAM couldn't handle the IO. Recently the stock Heat Sink Fan (HSF) locking mechanism failed and the CPU temp went beyond 95'C causing repeated shutdowns until I discovered the issue. After re-locking it's back to running at 49'C - 59'C. I'm ordering an aftermarket HSF as the stock one uses a poor lock design. Most decent aftermarket HSFs use a back plate/screw-in lock design.

Intel Core 2 Duo

Customer Rating:
It is an amazing processor, easy to install, and work great. Five stars for Amazon, delivery on time.

Installed this to replace the stock CPU on my Dell Inspiron 530

Customer Rating:
My Dell had been running slow lately, and I wasn't sure whether or not I could upgrade the CPU to anything worthwhile. After looking around some forums I found out that this was the best processor my outdated motherboard could support.

Installation was a pain. The heatsink isn't compatible with my Dell, because it used a different screw system. (I would have assumed this was universal, but I guess not) I ended up having to use my old heatsink (which was a beast) and had to purchase a vial of Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound, 3.5 Grams to replace the thermal grease.

Once installed however, I definitely noticed a HUGE improvement. Of course my old processor, an OG Core Duo 2.2ghz, wasn't really a snail, but opening things like Photoshop or Premiere seemed to be a lot quicker and the menus were more responsive.

Not that this benchmark means anything at all, but my Windows Experience Index also jumped to 6.5, from 5.9. (Most people laugh at the relevance of this benchmark, but I don't have any other software to gauge performance)

Bottom line: if you've got a PC that needs a boost (purchased 2-3 years ago) and is compatible with this processor, give it a go, you might be surprised at how much faster your system can feel.