An affordable entry-level processor with two compute units inside is the Celeron E3300. The possibilities of this silicon crystal, positive and negative points will be discussed in detail in this material.
Segment and Opportunities
Celeron R E3300 went on sale in 2009. Its technical specifications and cost indicated that it was the most budget chip in the Intel product line at that time. The niche of this processor solution is the most affordable and least efficient office and home personal computers. The key parameter in this case is the cost of the final computing system. Due to the low price of the central processing unit, it was possible to assemble very cheap PCs. But at the same time, their level of performance only allowed them to play videos, process office documents. Playback of audio and even the most simple toys functioned in such a situation. It was impossible to get anything more from such electronic computers.
Equipment
Intel Celeron CPU E3300, like most other chips from this manufacturer, is sold in two different delivery options. One of them is more economical. In his name was the word "Trail". In this case, the buyer received the CPU of this model, a warranty card and a brief guide to using this silicon solution. In the second case, the price was higher, but the equipment was much better. It included, in addition to everything that is available in the budget version of the processor’s supply, also a cooling system and special thermal grease. In both the first and second cases, the package included a company sticker with the logo of the chip model.
Processor socket for this semiconductor solution
This chip was aimed at installing the LGA 775 processor socket in the most popular processor socket of Intel at that time. Moreover, Celeron chips occupied a niche of budget offers in the offer line for this socket. The solutions with the name Pentium had a higher cost and a higher level of performance due to higher frequencies and an increased level 2 cache. Even higher in the hierarchy were Core 2 Due CPUs. The price in this case increased even more, and the performance gain was provided not only by increasing the cache and frequency, but also by a more advanced processor solution architecture. The upper segment of the CPU for LGA 775 was occupied by the 4-core Core 2 Quad. The belonging of the E3300 to the segment of the most budgetary CPUs left no choice when assembling such a PC. As a rule, in this case, the most affordable MicroATX format motherboard was selected based on the P45 chipset with support for the most available DDR2 RAM at that time. That is exactly how the PCs based on this silicon crystal were equipped.
Technological process
At the time of the start of production of the Celeron E3300 65nm, the technological process was morally and physically outdated. Therefore, the Intel company was forced to transfer even its most budgetary processor devices to a more recent and advanced technological process according to the standards already 45nm. In turn, the latest generations of Intel CPUs are already produced at 14nm. Therefore, in technological terms, between the generations of these semiconductor crystals, the difference is noticeable. But, on the other hand, do not forget that the E3300 was introduced back in 2009 and 7 years have passed since then. By the standards of digital technology, this is indeed an impressive length of time.
Fast memory subsystem
One of the weaknesses in the E3300 was cache. More such memory is integrated into the central processing unit. The hero of this review occupied the niche of the most affordable solutions and, as a result, in this parameter was inferior to any other processor for this platform in 2009. Fast volatile memory in this case consisted of only 2 levels. The first was divided into 2 parts of 64kb, which, in turn, were also divided into 2 sections of 32kb. One of them stored CPU data, and the second - instructions. The total size of the cache of the first level was 128 kb (2 modules of 64 kb each).
The second level was common for the computing resources of a silicon chip, and its size was equal to only 1 MB. For comparison, the more advanced Pentium E5200 already boasts 2 Mb. Their clock frequencies were identical, and the performance gain was provided by this very important feature.
RAM
Celeron E3300 could work with two types of random access memory without any problems: DDR2-800 and DDR3-1333. But such universalization was provided not by the processor itself, but by a set of system logic for its installation - P45. But it should be noted right away that motherboards based on this set of system logic supported only one type of RAM. Therefore, when choosing this component of the PC, it was necessary to make a choice regarding what type of RAM will be used in the future.
Thermal package and temperature ranges
The highest possible temperature for the Intel Celeron E3300 was 74 degrees. The processor itself could become so hot if the cooler stopped, or during overclocking complete with a standard silicon crystal cooling system and running on a PC a rather demanding task. During normal operation of the computer system, the CPU temperature was in the range from 40 to 55 degrees. The thermal package for this dual-core silicon solution was 65W.
Frequencies
The proprietary technology for increasing the clock frequency depending on the level of complexity of the task being solved and the thermal state of the central processor unit from Intel under the name Turbo Boost was not supported by Intel Celeron E3300. His multiplier was also fixed at 12.5. Therefore, its clock frequency did not change and was equal to 2.5 GHz. The only possibility of overclocking in this case was to increase the frequency of the system bus.
Architecture
The Intel Celeron processor of this model did not support Hyper Trading technology. As a result, the number of real physical cores in this case corresponded to the number of logical computing threads. That is, this chip was optimally suited for solving software problems that were optimized for operation on a 2-core processor. The code name for CPU architecture is WolfDale.
Productivity Opportunities
There was no prefix "Black Edition" in the name Celeron E3300. The characteristics, in turn, indicated the presence of a locked multiplier (this important nuance was noted earlier). Therefore, the only way to increase the performance of this central processing unit was to change the frequency of the system bus of the motherboard. Its nominal value was 800 MHz. In the most favorable case, it could be increased to 1066 MHz. This made it possible in practice to turn the original 2.5 GHz into solid 3.33 GHz even by today's standards. But such a CPU job required a more advanced PC configuration. That is, a more advanced motherboard must be installed, and the memory must be DDR3, and the power supply must be 650 watts. All this led to a significant increase in the cost of a personal computer.
If we take into account the fact that this chip is of a budget level, then such additional investments were not justified in it. Therefore, the possibility of overclocking in this case was, but it did not make much sense. Only computer enthusiasts are capable of such manipulations, for which more efficient CPUs with an unlocked multiplier and the Black Edition prefix were intended. On the other hand, increasing the frequency of the CPU did not significantly increase the level of performance and circumvent in this regard more expensive solutions with improved technological parameters.
Opinion of the owners. Price
The Intel Celeron processor of this model had only one minus - a low level of performance. But to expect from an entry-level processor worth $ 47 more was not necessary. His destiny is the most affordable PCs with low cost and minimal performance. It is these two pluses that PC owners based on this model of the central processor highlighted.
Summary
Celeron E3300 was focused on the most affordable PC of the time. They made it possible to solve the simplest and most common problems. And that was exactly what he was doing just fine.