Intel Celeron E1200 Review

The Intel Celeron E1200 is the company’s cheapest dual core processor currently. The latest Socket 775 low cost CPU has a clock speed of 1.6GHz, 512KB of L2 cache, an 800MHz front side bus, and a thermal power of 65W. The E1200 chip is produced using 65-nanometer technology, although Intel nowadays makes 45nm processors.

The Celeron E1200 – model BX80557E1200 – comes with a heatsink and fan. The CPU can be purchased for under $60.

Intel Celeron E1200 Benchmarks

I have compared the E1200 with two similar chips – the single core Celeron 420 and dual core Pentium E2140, both with a 1.6GHz clock speed and 800MHz front side bus. The dual core Celeron has very similar performance to the E2140, which is around $13 pricier.

CPU	Intel Celeron 420 (Single Core)	Intel Celeron E1200 (Dual Core)	Intel Pentium E2140 (Dual Core)
Frequency	1.6GHz	1.6GHz	1.6GHz
L2 Cache Size	512KB	512KB	1MB
Socket	LGA 775	LGA 775	LGA 775
Front Side Bus	800MHz	800MHz	800MHz
64 bit Support	Yes	Yes	Yes
Wattage	35W	65W	65W
Manufacturing Technology	65nm	65nm	65nm
Price (NewEgg, 02/23/08)	$43.99	$58.99	$71.99

The three CPUs were tested on a Windows Vista powered desktop PC, featuring the Asus’ P5K-VM motherboard, 2GB of 800MHz DDR2 memory, an Nvidia GeForce 7300GT video card, Western Digital’s 320GB hard drive at 7200rpm, and a Cooler Master’s 620W power supply.

Both dual core chips have identical Windows Vista Experience Index score in CPU calculation tests – 4.7 points. The Celeron 420 lags behind with 3.8 points.

In a PCMark 05 test, the E1200 is only 6.6% slower than the Pentium E2140, which has twice larger L2 cache memory size.

In PCMark 05 CPU-specific benchmark the difference is even smaller. The Pentium is only 1.2% faster.


The 3DMark 06 benchmark, aimed to test computer’s performance from a gamer’s standpoint, shows the both E1200- and E2140-powered configurations have almost the same speed.

The E2140’s advantage in the Cinebench 10 3D content creation test goes up to 10.3 percent over its Celeron dual core sibling.

All of the three tested processors are almost equal in weakness when playing Crysis, even at the lowest resolutions and detail levels (minimum requirements for Crysis under Vista: Intel Pentium 4 at 3.2 GHz, Intel Core at 2GHz, AMD Athlon 3200+).

In World in Conflict real time strategy, the dual core CPUs have the same average frames-per-second score and are more than twice faster than the Celeron 420.

The tested configurations provide decent gaming performance in F.E.A.R.’s built-in benchmark, but only under lower resolutions.

Regarding temperature, the 420 and E1200 Celerons run at 27C -30C on idle and under load respectively, with fan speed of around 2100rpm. The Pentium E2140 runs hotter – between 30-35C – but its fan spins at only around 900rpm, so it is much quieter than the both Celeron processors.

Conclusion: Celeron E1200 – Cheap Dual-Core Replacement for Pentium E2140

If you want to have a Socket 775 CPU with two cores for just $60, the Intel Celeron E1200 is currently the only choice for you. In almost all tests, the E1200 and Pentium E2140 give very similar results, but the Pentium’s larger cache is its advantage in some of the benchmarks. The E1200 is a decent and affordable dual core alternative to the Pentium with the same clock speed.

Buy: Intel Celeron E1200 1.6GHz LGA 775 65W Processor