More Core2 Duo Tests appear

TWO SHORT NOTES First, the Informanews roundup of mousepad did have a Laser mouse in there - the Logitech MX1000. Asus did not produce any P5B mobos before but a P2B one. Thanks for everyone who pointed those two mistakes to me.

Gamepc pays tribute to the E6400 and the E6300 Core2 Duo from the Intel family of processors. The results are beyond any doubt when it comes to benchmarks. The E6400 costs less than the 4600+ for example but manages to beat in in nearly every configuration and comes very close to the FX62, which costs three times more. In a matter of months, AMD's range of processors swapped place with Intel's. Not so long ago it was the infamous EE range that was rilled and ridiculed by the x2 range. Not only that, the chip overclocks wonderfully well and runs extra cool. Now I'd be glad if someone can explain to me why we should not buy that chip - except for motherboard problems.

Hothardware tests more chips, this time, two from AMD, the Athlon x2 4600+ and the Athlon x2 3800+, not the older version but the Energy Efficient versions which drop 20w as compared to the previous ones. Cynics might say that this is an easy way of deflecting the Core2 performance comparison.. But even then, it seems that the Core2 is at least as good as the EE when it comes to performance per watt. Both CPUs have 1MB L2 cache and all the usual qualities of Athlon processors. Will they perform better?

More CPU coming our way, through EclipseOC. This time, it is the AMD Sempron 3400+ AM2 that gets tested. With a frequency of 1.8GHz and 256Kb cache, it has the same core characteristics of a ... Desktop Celeron 1.8GHz but it does pack much more punch. First, it works in pair with the new AM2 platform and this one came with the standard heat sink fan. The CPU was overclocked using the MSI K9N motherboard and reached a whopping 2.94GHz, just a few MHz short of the 3GHz barrier. Next time, EclipseOC will test the processor to the extreme.

French website TT-hardware reviews the HIS Radeon X1900GT ICEQ3. This double slot graphic solution comes with a big Arctic Cooler on top and does not overclock that well. ATI and AMD not doing great now. The core speed could only go up by 6% but then, it is less noisier than almost all 7900GT out there. As for the price performance ratio, Nvidia is by far the overall winner. The HIS though has some aces like the game Flat out, the excellent cooler and the accessories bundled.

Anandtech has an interesting comparison in one of its articles. The Core2 Duo against the Core Duo. As one can expect, going from one core to two cores makes a small job of processing chores - pun intended. As Intel increased performance, battery life did not decrease at all. But as Core2 Duo laptops are gradually filling up the market and pushing out the Core ones, you will simply end up with Core2 Duo laptops by default.

CPU3D reviews the MSI RX1300Pro TD256E video card. It is an entry level card but that's no surprise. It has 256MB DDR2 memory, a PCIe interface, DVI/D-Sub and S Video IOs and a simple heat sink fan covering the GPU, with no cooling for the memory chips. The X1300's performance lies somewhere between the 6200 and the 6600LE, i.e, it is only for occasional gamers.But if you want to watch DVD's, then its AVIVO technology is probably better than anything else in the same price bracket.