The Celeron was introduced as a budget alternative to the Pentium, and it’s been through countless revisions to end up as the Celeron D. Predominantly based on the Prescott core, the misleading “D” suffix doesn’t signify a dual-core architecture – it still has a single core.

All models support Intel’s EM64T technology (apart from the rare 3xxJ models) and XD-bit. The majority have 256KB of Level 2 cache, although the newest revision has double that. Based on the Cedar Mill core and produced using the 65nm process, the 352 and 356 (and 360 when released) are the top-end Celeron Ds.

The range begins with the 2.53GHz Celeron D 326 for $75 and climbs up to the 3.46GHz 360 for $95. However, it’s not worth buying the 326, because at $60 the 2.8GHz 336 is $15 cheaper and 5% faster. The 347 is even better value for money: at $65 it scored 0.67 thanks to increases in speed to 3.06GHz, and a doubling of L2 cache to 512KB. It also runs cooler thanks to a finer manufacturing process. The range has an incredible eight steppings in the space of $35, emphasising just how precise you can be with your budget.

But at the top end, the $95 price of the 360 collides with the identically-priced Pentium D 915 which offers dual-core benefits and a 9% overall speed boost. Also, if you’re not locked into choosing Intel, AMD’s Sempron range undercuts Celeron in almost every way – there’s a cheaper equivalent of every chip. Add to this the fact that the full-powered Athlon 64 X2 3800+ also costs $95, yet achieved a significantly-larger score of 1.05 and it’s difficult to find value in the Celeron range at all.