Product Face-Offs
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200
| Specifications | |||
| Socket | 775 | ||
| Number of cores | 2 | ||
| Clock rate | 2.53 GHz | ||
| Cache | 3 MB | ||
| Thermal Design Power | 65 W | ||
 See all specifications | |||
| Technology | 45 nm |
 Hide specifications | |
Régis Jehl
Updated: November 06, 2008 - Test date: October 27, 2008
Updated: November 06, 2008 - Test date: October 27, 2008
E7000 vs. E8000
Intel launched its Core 2 Duo E7000 line in April 2008 with this CPU, the E7200, although the processors in the earlier E8000 series are more powerful.
Both sets of processors are dual-core, but the E8000s have 6 MB of cache in place of the 3 MB on this line, and a bus running at 333 MHz in place of 266 MHz here.
The E7000 series is engineered at 45 nm, allowing it to have a Thermal Design Power of just 65 W.
Both sets of processors are dual-core, but the E8000s have 6 MB of cache in place of the 3 MB on this line, and a bus running at 333 MHz in place of 266 MHz here.
The E7000 series is engineered at 45 nm, allowing it to have a Thermal Design Power of just 65 W.
To take the example of our file compression test using WinRAR, the E7200 took 3 minutes 54 seconds to complete a task that only took the E7300 3 minutes 48 seconds.
Compare the Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 with the AMD Phenom X3 8650 and other CPUs in our
Product Face-Off
Product Face-Off
The difference was a lot more marked in Photoshop CS3, where applying a complex filter took 5 minutes 41 seconds on this processor compared to just 5 minutes 17 seconds for its big brother.
That said, if you're likely to be doing a lot of intensive 3D graphics work like this, you might be better off looking at a CPU with four cores from Intel's Core 2 Quad range.
These models are more pricey, but they make good use of the extra cores: the Q8200, for instance, only takes 3 minutes 33 seconds to complete this same Photoshop test.
On the other hand, the E7xxx range uses a little less power than the E8xxx and Q8xxx processors: we rated our test PC at 155 W when idling and 195 W with the CPU load at 100%.
Pluses
-
Good compromise between performance and energy use
Minuses
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Not as powerful as a quad-core processor for demanding applications
The E7000 are decent dual-core processors that are worthwhile for relatively demanding users. For more powerful tasks, though, they just can't keep up with the latest quad-core CPUs.
Return to the Introduction : Archive: Processors 2008-09
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