With the Wolfdale core, Intel pours more power into the Pentium package. The 45nm process lets Intel reduce power requirements to 65W. Lower power means less CPU heat, which means lower system heat and longer system life. They also pack more features into the chip.
The L2 cache has been bumped to 2MB and the Front Side Bus has been pushed to 1066MHz. You can now use both DDR2 and the hot new DDR3 memory for extreme performance. They also boosted memory access and execution speed with Wide Dynamic Execution and Smart Memory Access. These technologies work together to let the processor handle more instructions with more data per clock cycle. You'd better watch out -- your enemies will be shooting back faster now!
The Advanced Digital Media Boost feature has been enhanced with the addition of the SSE4 instruction set and Intel HD Boost, to give your entertainment experience better audio and video processing. It will also help with speech recognition, engineering and scientific applications. Most important of all is the enhanced security that comes with increased speed and encryption power.
Specialized Dual-core MicroarchitectureThe Intel Pentium processor includes dual execution cores in a single processor to enable execution of parallel threads or applications on separate cores, resulting in revolutionary dual-core performance, breakthrough processor energy efficiency and exceptional system response when running multi-threaded or multiple demanding applications simultaneously. The innovative 45nm dual-core technology optimizes thermal performance for reduced power consumption and noise.
Intel Advanced Smart CacheIntel Advanced Smart Cache Technology dynamically allocates the shared L2 cache to each processor core based on workload. This efficient, multi-core-optimized implementation increases the probability that each core can access data from fast L2 cache, resulting in significantly reduced latency for frequently used data and improved performance.
Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology (Intel EM64T)Intel EM64T provides an enhancement to Intel 32-bit architecture by enabling the mobile processor platform to access larger amounts of memory. With appropriate 64-bit supporting hardware and software, platforms based on an Intel processor supporting Intel EM64T can enable use of extended virtual and physical memory.
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology (EIST)EIST allows the system to dynamically adjust processor voltage and core frequency to decrease average power consumption and average heat production. Combined with existing power saving features, EIST may provide an excellent balance between providing power when you need it and conserving power when you don’t.
Execute Disable Bit (EDB)Intel's Execute Disable Bit function can prevent certain classes of malicious "buffer overflow" attacks when combined with a supporting operating system. Execute Disable Bit allows the processor to classify areas in memory where application code can execute and where it cannot. When a malicious worm attempts to insert code in the buffer, the processor disables code execution, preventing damage or worm propagation.
Pros: This is for the non-enthusiast browsing Newegg. As most on Newegg know, the E6300 is a Core 2 Duo Wolfdale CPU similar to the E8000 series. As a matter of fact, every CPU Intel currently manufactures are Core 2's, even the "Celeron" processors are really lower clocked Centrino procs used in laptops. This means that you can achieve beyond E8600 specs very easily with this $91 CPU! It has a high multiplier at 10.5 that has shown speeds past 4GHZ on air. To get E8600 stock speed of 3.33GHZ stable like I have for my mothers computer, all you need to do is have a motherboard that you can change the front side bus speed (that is set to a default of 266) and change it to 317 x 10.5 to equal 3.33GHZ! I put together a second build for myself and have it at 3.6GHZ stable w/ a 10.5 multiplier x 343 front side bus. I am very impressed with this low price Core 2 Duo! You can go much higher of course but you would need to know a little more about overclocking from other reviews.
Cons: The 2MB L2 cache is a con albeit a very minor one. You lose a tiny bit of overclocking potential seen in the E7000 series w/ a 3MB L2 cache.
Overall Review: Also has Virtualization Tech which is required to run XP mode in Windows 7. By this alone, it is better than the E7000 series to me. Dont be fooled by the names "Celeron" or "Pentium" anymore, they are ALL Core 2 Duos that perform quite well, have high overclocking potential, and are power efficient.