Wonderful Budget Core 2 Duo

Author's Rating:

Pros: This processor runs as well or better then some priced twice as high.

Cons: Doesn't make toast.

The Bottom Line: 
You can't go wrong with this CPU

Author's Review
I bought this C2D Processor for my most recent computer build because of its low price with still high benchmarks. I am blown away by its ability to over clock. I was quickly able to get it up to 3.0 GHz without much work. I can easily build a computer utilizing this processor and running Vista quite well. Using this you can build a great system for under $500 including the price of Vista. I couldn't be more pleased with this processor. This CPU out preforms many higher priced CPU's. It ranks with High end CPU's on benchmark dot com. When I was building my system I was reluctant in buying a lower priced CPU because I thought it would be the thing to slow me down. But as it turns out everything else in my system is actually rating below the CPU according to the system analyzer in Windows Vista

I like it so well I am going to be using it again on my next build. You can't go wrong with this CPU, you can spend two or three times as much and only get a slightly better performance but this should be more then enough for even hardcore gamers. Don't let the 2.2 GHz throw you of. The clock speed doesn't mean nearly as much as what it used to. I have thrown a number of tests at the CPU even at its core speed and it perform beautifully.

Since I bought this CPU the 4600 has come out and may be the only other CPU I might recommend over this one. It appears to be priced about $25 more then this one and gives you an extra .2 GHz and an additional multiplier to presumably give you more over clocking potential.