Intel Core Duo on the Desktop – Asus N4L-VM DH Review

System Setup and Testing Methods

If we are going to be arguing for the cause of using the Intel Core Duo processors as a desktop replacement of the best from AMD, it makes sense to see how it stacks up against the closest competitor in pricing from the Athlon X2 lineup, currently the Athlon X2 4800+ processor.  So our benchmarks will compare an Intel Core Duo T2600 processor to the 4800+ exclusively.

Interestingly, the frequencies of these processors are very close as well — the T2600 runs at 2.16 GHz and the 4800+ at 2.4 GHz.  That is a clock speed difference of just about 10.5% and using that information we should be able to gauge how the efficiency of each of these processors compares clock for clock, not just in total performance.