Celeron, Pentium Dual Core and Athlon X2: Which One is the Best USD 70 CPU?

The new PCMark Vantage program simulates the use of real-world applications and gives scores for the following categories:

PCMark
Memories
TV and Movies
Gaming
Music
Communications
Productivity
HDD

For a detailed description of each one of these tests, please download and read the PCMark Vantage Reviewer’s Guide.

You can see the results for each category below. We are not going to compare the results for the Memories and HDD suites.

Celeron vs. Pentium Dual Core vs. Core 2 Duo vs. Athlon X2

Athlon X2 4600+ achieved a higher PCMark Vantage score than its competitors: 6.06% higher than Pentium Dual Core E2180 and 13.54% higher than Celeron E1400. The score achieved by this AMD CPU was similar to the one achieved by Core 2 Duo E4400.

Here the higher L2 memory cache played a major role, with Core 2 Duo E4400 achieving a score 8.99% higher than Pentium Dual Core E2180 and 16.68% higher than Celeron E1400.

Pentium Dual Core E2180 achieved a performance similar to Pentium Dual Core E2160 and a score 7.06% higher than Celeron E1400’s.

Celeron vs. Pentium Dual Core vs. Core 2 Duo vs. Athlon X2

On TV and Movies score Athlon X2 4600+ was the fastest CPU, being 5.01% faster than Core 2 Duo E4400, 7.31% faster than Pentium Dual Core E2180 and 10.06% faster than Celeron E2160.

Core 2 Duo E4400 achieved a performance similar to Pentium Dual Core E2180, being 3.44% faster than Celeron E1400.

On gaming score Athlon X2 4600+ was again the fastest CPU, being 7.56% faster than Core 2 Duo E4400, 9.35% faster than Pentium Dual Core E2180 and 13.81% faster than Celeron E1400.

Here Core 2 Duo E4400 and Pentium Dual Core E2180 achieved similar performance, with Pentium Dual Core E2180 being 4.08% faster than Celeron E1400.

Here Athlon X2 4600+ was one more time the fastest CPU, being 7.22% faster than Core 2 Duo E4400, 12.03% faster than Pentium Dual Core E2180 and 18.30% faster than Celeron E1400.

The performance here was proportional to the size of the L2 memory cache: Core 2 Duo E4400 was 4.49% faster than Pentium Dual Core E2180 and 10.34% faster than Celeron E1400. Pentium Dual Core E2180 was 5.60% faster than Celeron E1400.

On the Communications suite Athlon X2 4600+ achieved a performance similar to Core 2 Duo E4400, being 11.88% faster than Pentium Dual Core E2180, 14.07% faster than Pentium Dual Core E2160 and 19.89% faster than Celeron E1400.

The performance here was proportional to the size of the L2 memory cache: Core 2 Duo E4400 was 9.64% faster than Pentium Dual Core E2180 and 17.49% faster than Celeron E1400. Pentium Dual Core E2180 was 7.16% faster than Celeron E1400.

And finally on productivity Athlon X2 4600+, Core 2 Duo E4400 and Pentium Dual Core E2180 achieved a similar performance. Athlon X2 4600+ was 25.75% faster than Celeron E1400 and 26.02% faster than Pentium Dual Core E2160 here.

Pentium Dual Core E2180 was 22.63% faster than Celeron E1400 and 22.89% faster than Pentium Dual Core E2160.

Pentium Dual Core E2160 and Celeron E1400 achieved similar results.