Intel Celeron E3300 Processor: specifications, description and reviews

An affordable entry-level processor with two compute units inside is the Celeron E3300. The possibilities of this silicon crystal, positive and negative moments 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 is the most budgetary chip in the line of Intel offerings at that time. The niche of this processor solution is the most affordable and least productive 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 collect absolutely cheap PCs. But at the same time their performance level allowed only to play video, process office documents. Reproduction of audio and even the most simple toys in this situation functioned. It was impossible to obtain anything more from such electronic computers.

Equipment

Intel Celeron CPU E3300, like most other chips of this manufacturer, is sold in two different versions of the delivery. One of them is more economical. In his name there was the word "Trail". In this case, the buyer received a CPU of this model, a warranty card and a short guide to the use of this silicon solution. In the second case, the price was higher, but the equipment was much better. It included, in addition to all that is available in the budget version of the processor, as well as a cooling system and a special thermal paste. As in the first and second cases, the package included a proprietary label with a chip model logo.

The processor connector for this semiconductor solution

This chip was aimed at installing the most massively at that time processor connector Intel "LGA 775. And in the line of proposals for this socket chips" Celeron "occupied a niche of budget proposals. A higher cost and higher level of performance due to higher frequencies and increased cache of the 2nd level was for solutions called "Pentium". Even higher in the hierarchy were the CPU Core 2 Due. 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 the more sophisticated architecture of the processor solution. The top segment of the CPU for LGA 775 was occupied by 4-core Core 2 Quad. Affiliation of the E3300 to the segment of the most budgetary CPU did not leave a choice when assembling such a PC. As a rule, in this case, the most accessible motherboard of the "MicroATH" format was chosen on the basis of the set of system logic P45 with support for the most available DDR2 RAM at that time. This is exactly how the PC based on this silicon crystal was assembled.

Technological process

At the time the Celeron E3300 began production, the 65nm process was morally and physically obsolete. Therefore, the company Intel was forced to transfer even the most budgetary of its processor devices to a more recent and advanced technological process according to the norms of 45nm. In turn, the last generation of CPU from Intel is already produced at 14nm. Therefore, technologically, between generations of these semiconductor crystals, the difference is palpable. But, on the other hand, do not forget that the E3300 was introduced in the distant 2009 and 7 years have passed since then. By the standards of digital technology this is really an impressive period of time.

Fast memory subsystem

One of the weakest points in the E3300 was the cache. More such memory is integrated into the central processing unit. The hero of this review occupied a niche of the most accessible solutions and, as a result, in this parameter was inferior to any other processor for this platform in 2009. The fast volatile memory in this case consisted of only 2 levels. The first was divided into 2 parts of 64kb, which, in turn, also divided into 2 sections of 32kb. One of them stored the CPU data, and the second - instructions. The total size of the first level cache was 128 KB (2 64 KB modules).

The second level was common to the computing resources of a silicon chip, and its size was only 1 MB. For comparison, the more advanced in terms of performance "Pentium" E5200 could boast of 2 MB. The clock frequencies were identical, and the performance gain was provided by this important feature.

RAM

Celeron E3300 could without any problems to work with a random access memory of two types: DDR2-800 and DDR3-1333. But this universalization was provided not by the processor itself, but by the set of system logic for its installation - P45. But immediately it should be noted that motherboards based on this set of system logic supported only one type of RAM. Therefore, when selecting this component of the PC, it was necessary to make a choice as to what type of RAM will be used in the future.

Thermal package and temperature ranges

The maximum possible temperature for the Intel Celeron E3300 was 74 degrees. The processor itself could become so hot in the event of the cooler stopping, or when it is overclocked complete with a regular system for cooling the silicon crystal and launching on the PC a rather demanding task. During normal operation of the computer system, the temperature of the CPU was in the range of 40 to 55 degrees. The thermal package for this dual-core silicon solution was 65W.

Frequencies

The firm technology of increasing the clock frequency depending on the level of complexity of the task and the thermal state of the central processing unit from Intel "Turbo Bust" was not supported by the Intel Celeron E3300. The 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 the "Hyper Trading" technology. As a result, the number of real physical cores in this case corresponded to the number of logical computational flows. That is, this chip was optimally suited for solving software problems, which were optimized for work on a 2-core processor. The code name for the architecture of the CPU computing units is WolfDale.

Performance enhancements

There was no prefix "Black Edishen" in the name Celeron E3300. The characteristics, in turn, indicated the presence of a blocked 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 even at current standards of 3.33 GHz. But such work of the CPU required more advanced equipment of the PC. That is, a more advanced motherboard should be installed, and the memory must be DDR3, and the power supply should be 650W. All this led to a significant increase in the cost of a personal computer.

If you take into account the fact that this chip is a budgetary level, then such additional investments were unjustified in it. Therefore, the possibility of overclocking in this case was, but there was not much point in it. Only computer enthusiasts are capable of such manipulations, for which a more productive CPU with an unlocked multiplier and a Black Edix prefix were meant. On the other hand, increasing the frequency of the CPU did not allow to significantly increase the level of performance and bypass in this regard more expensive solutions with improved technological parameters.

The opinion of the owners. Price

The Intel Celeron processor of this model had only one minus - a low level of performance. But we did not have to expect more from an entry-level processor costing $ 47 more. Its destiny is the most affordable PC with low cost and minimal performance. These two pluses were highlighted by PC owners based on this model of the CPU.

Results

Celeron E3300 was focused on the application in the most affordable PC of that time. They allowed to solve the most simple and most common tasks. And it was with this that he just coped well.