Strengths: It's called a Pentium but it's really an Allendale Core 2 Duo with 1MB L2 Cache, I bought it for an amazing $55 shipped on eBay, OCs like nothing I've ever owned before.

Weaknesses: None

Summary: I bought this CPU on eBay for only $55. I have it overclocked to an amazing 3.2GHz 1.3v (100% OC). For it to be stable I had to raise the motherboard FSB and SPP by .1v. It does 19.203 seconds in Super PI 1M (@ 3.2GHz). There's not even a Core 2 Duo for sale that's clocked at 3.2GHz! My computer is so fast now it's unreal! It boots up in about 15 seconds! Who can complain with a 100% OC! If you want the best bane for your buck I highly recommend you get a E2140, E2160, or E2180! Your won't find anything better for your money!

Strengths: low price, overclocks very well

Weaknesses: low L2 cache, price keeps on dropping

Summary: This is a great budget dual-core CPU that offers more a lot of performance for the price. It delivers more than enough computing power for office and regular tasks, but it might come up a bit short when it comes to gaming or heavy multimedia. This chip also has the least amount of L2 cache of all Core 2 Duo CPUs. While the difference is negligible in most applications, performance might drop as much as 10% in certain game, compression, and encoding applications. If you're a budget overclocker, this is definitely the chip to get if you need something now. Currently, I'm sitting at 2.9Ghz with all default voltages with a EVGA 650i Ultra motherboard and Crucial Ballistix PC6400 2GB kit.The price of this chip is rumored to drop in another month, and the upcoming Penryn cores will outperform by quite a large margin. So if you're building a budget/budget overclocking computer, this is a good chip to get.

Strengths: Low energy consumption, cheap upgrade to Core 2 Duo

Weaknesses: so far so good

Summary: I have been waiting for upgrading to Core 2 Duo for a long while. I have two ancient machines, one with Celeron 2.7GHz, and the other with Intel Pentium 4 1.6GHz. After upgrading to this CPU, obviously, I've notice a significant improvement. Your mileage may vary though, especially if you were looking for a game rig, then this CPU might not be your best choice. However, if the main usage of your machine is for web browsing and office application, I believe CPU will do the work.I bought this CPU mainly for setting my first overclocking machine. Originally, I was waiting for e43xx to drop its price, but then I found out the existence of e2140. Based on the review on Newegg, it seems people have had success on overclocking this CPU. Armed with these good reviews, I purchased this e2140 with a popular MB for OC, GA-965P-DS3. I have also purchased Kingston PC25300 Value RAM early on. Then I started my journey on building my overclocking machine.Putting things together are surprising easy. :-o I had some experience moving PC parts here and there, but building a machine from scratch is rather exciting to me. It's easy to put CPU into the 775 socket, and the stock fan is surprising quiet. I have two quiet fans, but neither of them can fit into the GA-965P-DS3 MB. :-( I was only putting the stock fan to test if the CPU works, but happily found out that the stock fan is quiet enough for me. When the case was open, I only noticed the noise from the 92 intake fan from Nexus, which is supposed to be quiet.After the machine was up and running, I could not wait to see how does the machine do under overclocking. Gigabyte delivers a convenient utility for overclocking, i.e. Easy Tune 5. It's a very useful tool for a OC newbie like me. By simply pressing the up button, the CPU moved from 1.6GHZ to 2.0GHz. To be honest, I could not notice too much difference since I mainly used net browser or editing some documents. But the CPU temperature did not move up a bit. :-)I will recommend this CPU for people who are interesting in doing a bargain upgrade and overclocking. For me, this is the most economic way of system upgrade so far.

Strengths: Fast, dual-core, low power and runs cool, includes a nice, quiet fan. But most of all: VALUE.

Weaknesses: "Only" 1MB L2 cache, 800Mhz FSB, 1.6 GHz clock speed.

Summary: The E2140 is Intel's bottom of the line Core 2 Duo chip, and correspondingly comes with only 1MB of L2 cache (compared with 2MB in the 4xxx and 4MB in the 6xxx series) and runs on a FSB of only 800 MHz (compared with 1333MHz in the latest chips). It's also clocked at only 1.6GHz. But the beauty of this chip isn't its raw power; it's that for a mere $70 (August 07), you get a latest-gen dual-core chip that blazes through day to day multitasking including web page rendering, photo editing, HDTV decoding, occasional gaming, and anything else your average user might throw at it. Sure, if you have unusual processing needs or insist on the latest and greatest, this isn't for you. But for most users -- even enthusiasts like myself -- the E2140 is a bargain and doesn't disappoint. It took some time for me to get over the psychological hump of buying the cheapest, slowest chip in the lineup, but I decided to put my money towards more RAM and nicer peripherals; I don't regret it. My system is incredibly responsive and I've yet to run into CPU bottlenecks. Plus (and this is one reason to choose it over a comparable AMD solution), the E2140 uses the LGA775 socket, so when the time comes there's a drop-in upgrade path to the fastest quad-core chips currently available. A few notes: I'm using the included cooler/fan at stock speeds, and it runs cool and quiet. I haven't tried overclocking, but I suspect it could do 2Ghz at least -- and others have reported much more, making it an even better value. I'm running it with the 945GC chipset and 2GB of DDR 667. My previous system was a PIII 800Mhz, so my bar might be lower than yours when it comes to "incredible" speed. Still, I stand by my comments -- for those looking to save money, the E2140 is a lot of processor for a great price.