Customer Reviews

Intel E8400 Core 2 Duo Processor 3 GHz 6 MB Cache Socket LGA775

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an excellent CPU for the price if you don't need a quad-core setup. My computer is mostly use for work and gaming, and E8400 has been able to handle everything that I've thrown at it.

The quick specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.0GHz
2GB DDR2 800MHz
Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB HDD
Radeon 4770 512MB
24" LG monitor (1920x1200)

Work:
I'm a web developer so my more CPU intense work applications are Photoshop CS and the Flex SDK (Eclipse IDE). The E8400 is more than enough to handle these applications along with several different browsers (IE, FF, Safari, etc.) all opened at the same time.

Gaming:
I mostly play RPGs and strategy games on my computer. Lately, I've been playing Fallout 3 and Mass Effect, both of which required fairly powerful systems when they were first released for PC. My E8400, 2GB of RAM, and 4770 512MB are able to handle both of these games smooth with high quality settings at 1920x1200.


Pros:
- Fast and dual core.
- 45nm process means that it produces very little heat.
- Relatively inexpensive.
- Overclocks well.

Cons:
- No real cons for the processor itself, but some older Core 2 Duo motherboards only support the 65nm process Core 2 Duos, which are the E6xxx and E4xxx series. Before you buy an E8xxx series processor, make sure that your motherboard supports it first. You can find a chipset compatibility chart if you search the web for "List of Intel Chipsets".

This is the best sub 200 chip right now bar none. As the others have mentioned , it does 4 GHZ overclocked easy. Runs very cool . Its an excellent value !!

I have had this processor for a month and it works well. I have not overclocked it yet. It is an excellent value for the price.

My main problem is that the heat sink/fan is *extremely* hard to install. I could only get three of the pins into the motherboard. I pressed and pressed and bent the board and I think I got the fourth pin in, but it was unsettling to push that hard. Both of my thumbs hurt afterward. I have an XFX 780i motherboard.

Normally it wouldn't matter, because you wouldn't use the stock cooling. However, this chip is popular partially because it can reach 3.6 GHz or more with the included fan.

Also, when I installed it the processor was set at a 7x multiplier. I easily increased this to 9x in BIOS to get the full 3GHz, but it was odd that it started at 7x.

I was undecided between the e8400 and the Q6600 until after doing some research, I learned that almost no programs take advantage of a quad core right now, and are unlikely to in the near future. With the rate processor technology changes these days, getting a quad core now doesn't make a lot of sense. By the time quad cores are the norm, there will be something way better than what's on the market now. Dual core is sufficient for 99.9 of all programs on the market!

I was able to overclock this processor to 3.8ghz using a Zalman CPU cooler at 48C idle and 56C under load. I have a Asus p5k-e motherboard, which overclocks really, really well.

Pros:

Tremendous speed for the price

Extreme overclocking potential

Intel reliability

Cons:

Pretty poor stock cooler. Get yourself an aftermarket cooler if you plan to do any overclocking.

Wow, a huge leap forward from my Pentium 4 3.0GHz. I put it in a new Shuttle SG31G2S barebones system with 2GB of RAM. Speed demon. Highly recommended. Encodes video incredibly fast. Runs very cool.

I considered a more expensive Quad Core, but not sure I'd get any additional benefit since most applications can't really take advantage of it. I'm more than pleased with my choice.

This CPU ran well out of the box, I encountered no problems with installation of the cpu. The included fan/heat sink is difficult to install, but worth the effort - be patient. Win XP with Svc Pack 3 runs smoothly.

The only problem i have come across with this chip was with the cooler that came with it (i should have known better anyway). The cooler is spring loaded, and one of the screws popped up during normal use, causing the cpu to get really hot and almost burnt it out. I closely monitor my systems heat so i was ontop of it within moments, but if it happened when i wasnt home my whole system would have been finished.

Once i traded out coolers i havent had a hiccup. And like i said before, i should have known better once i saw the spring loaded screws for the cooler.

I've been using this processor for a few months now in my gaming computer. I've got it paired with 2 GBs of RAM and a Nvidea Geforce 9600 GT running Widows Vista Home Premium 32 bit. For gaming, usually the Graphics Card is the bottleneck, but I had been using the exact same setup with an older Pentium D 2.8 Ghz Dual Core. After switching it everything runs at a higher frame-rate. I would imagine most people who are building a gaming system would do fine with this processor.

I installed the Core 2 Duo E8400 on an Intel DG35EC motherboard. The board supports 1333 MHz FSB. I did not use the CPU cooler supplied in the Intel box. Instead I used an Asus V72, which I think has a better mounting system than the Intel supplied heatsink. The system I built has been running for several weeks now with no issues. The Core 2 Duo E8400 seems to be an excellent balance between cost and performance for my needs.

It easily overclocked to 3.69ghz. Idles at 35c and operates at 42c at 90% load.

Only gripe is Amazon shipping. Took almost three weeks before I received my processor. Will I buy from amazon again, no, I will spend the extra 5 dollars on another website for shipping than save the few bucks here for free shipping.