Intel's new E7000 series of budget 45 nm processors will soon replace the popular E4000 series. At present, the only member of the series is the Core 2 Duo E7200. FEATURES: The E7200 is a scaled down version of the E8000 series and has a reduced bus speed as well as L2 cache size. The processor uses a 1066 MHz bus and a multiplier of 9.5, which translates into a clock speed of 2.53 GHz. The L2 cache has also been halved to 3 MB.

PERFORMANCE: The E7200 runs at an amazingly low 1.14 volts at stock speed which leaves space for overclocking. We managed to push it to 3.70 GHz (390x9.5l with plain air cooling by feeding it with 1.45 V. At stock speed, the E7200 comes quite close to the Phenom X3 8750, but when overclocked, it defeats it easily.

Name: Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Processor.jpg Views: 3827 Size: 52.4 KB

VERDICT: The best option if you want to build a budget PC or a home theater PC.
FOR: Great value for money, low power consumption, great overclocking potential. AGAINST: None.

MOTHERBOARD: MSI X38 Diamond MEMORY: 2x 1 GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 GRAPHICS CARD: Gigabyte 8800 GT TurboForce

HARD DRIVE: WD Caviar GP, 500 GB