Group test: £899 dual-core PCs

For years, the processor industry, dominated by Intel’s Pentiums, relied primarily on processor speed to improve performance.

Intel led the way, pushing the Pentium through the 1GHz barrier, then on to 2GHz and 3GHz.

Rival manufacturers, such as AMD and IBM, took a different approach, arguing that efficient processor design could improve performance without increasing processor speed, but Intel’s vast marketing power kept the emphasis on the ‘megahertz myth’ for many years.

Unfortunately, these ever-increasing processor speeds were matched by ever-increasing power consumption and heat output. Eventually, even Intel had to face the fact that more efficient design was the way forward.

That efficient design is represented by the new generation of dual-core desktop processors used in the PCs we tested here. Intel’s Core Duo and AMD’s Athlon 64 X2 processors are, effectively, two processors in one, cramming two processor cores onto a single silicon chip.

Sharing the processor load between two cores has many benefits. It provides better performance when running multiple applications, as you can let each processor take care of a different program.

It can also provide better performance within individual applications, such as multimedia software or games, where your PC needs to juggle complex audio and graphics data at the same time.

Dual-core processors represent state-of-the-art design. But you don’t need to spend a fortune to get the benefits of these processors.

We’ve rounded up seven dual-core PC systems that come in at just £899, providing you with leading-edge performance at mainstream prices.

This article is part of a group test of £899 dual-core PCs. Others are:
Dell Dimension 9150
Panrix Nitro 840D
Others can be read via our pdf downloads above

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