The Pentium D: Intel’s Dual Core Silver Bullet Previewed
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Welcome to the most anticipated new CPU development since the crossing of the Gigahertz barrier! Due to thermal dissipation issues, processors can no longer be given substantial clock speed improvements. This has led to many months of performance stagnation. Finally, Intel has come up with the latest concept in increasing performance levels, by integrating two or more processor cores into one chip. With this development, significant gains in performance seem to be within reach once again.
As many of you know from dual processor machines, the mere presence of two CPUs does not automatically double performance. After setting up a system with suitable components, the operating system needs to distribute tasks to all available processor resources. To take advantage of multiple CPUs, modern software should be designed to use multiple execution threads, which encapsulate program fragments into snippets that can run independently. Windows XP’s scheduler then allocates threads to the different CPUs, optimizing load balance and leading to better responsiveness of the whole system.
Back in the autumn of 2002, Intel demonstrated this principle with Hyper Threading (HT) technology . HT enables the Pentium 4 3.06+ GHz and all FSB800/1066 versions to process two threads at a time. Although this feature only raises single-program performance levels in certain ideal situations, it leaves the system much more responsive to user input by allowing background tasks to run on the second logical unit. Thanks to HT, it is pretty rare to experience the unwanted scenario of having a frozen system working flat-out at 100% CPU load.
Future Pentium processors are meant to benefit from Intel supporting thread-level software optimizations. Where a Pentium with HT and parallelized code processing shows small performance gains, a dual core processor with two fully-featured processor units should finally enable a noticeable performance boost.
This seems to be a vision to dream of, particularly if one takes into account the rather low entry-level price of $240 for the 2.8 GHz Pentium D 820.
We were given the opportunity to take a close look at, and run benchmarks on, an Intel prototype system. It was based on the 955X chipset and teamed up with the Pentium Processor Extreme Edition. Note that Intel press representative Christian Anderka placed high emphasis on the prototype-status of the test system, as the technology launch remains some time in the Q2 time frame.
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Conclusion : Intel Pentium D 960 Processor Review
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Page 1 of 10 — The Blue Camp’s Dual-Core SalvoPage 2 of 10 — Test Setup & BenchmarksPage 3 of 10 — Results — SYSmark 2004Page 4 of 10 — Results — SPECCPU 2000 v1.
2Page 5 of 10 — Results — Lightwave 3D 7.5Page 6 of 10 — Results — Futuremark PCMark05Page 7 of 10 — Results — Cinebench 2003 & XMpeg 4.5Page 8 of 10 — Results — Futuremark 3DMark03, 3DMark05 and 3DMark06Page 9 of 10 — Results — Unreal Tournament 2004 and AquaMark3Page 10 of 10 — ConclusionPage 10 of 10 — Conclusion
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Conclusion
We have to admit, the silent debut of the Intel Pentium D 960 was actually a very welcomed move. More so because the US$560 processor is a healthy match for the US$1,000 Pentium 955 Extreme Edition processor in many test scenarios. We’ll even go as far as to say that the Pentium D 960 has made the Pentium 955 XE obsolete as we don’t see any real premium standing for it that’s worth twice the cost of the newcomer. Of course Intel preachers with great spending power still have the Pentium 965 XE to turn to, so all grounds have been covered.
If you have a good look at Intel’s Pentium D performance versus AMD’s Athlon 64 X2, you would realize that Intel actually has a much wider offering despite the fact that both series have five processor models.
The difference is that Intel’s dual-core processors come as far more affordable and has the entire price/performance range spectrum covered whereas AMD’s dual-core processors focus more towards the higher-end range and are consequently priced higher as well. Therefore, the mainstream dual-core processors from both parties aren’t exactly comparable and cater to different groups completely. It is thus imperative that you identify what sort of tasks your prospective system would engage and at what budget is it all acceptable and then choose the right processor for the task. Each of them have their own strengths as can be seen from our testing, but if you would want our opinion as the better all-round processor for the general consumer, we would pick the AMD Athlon 64 X2. However, if you require the responsiveness of the dual-core system on the more affordable side of things, Intel’s Pentium D lineup is the most obvious choice and it isn’t all that bad. In fact, it makes a great chip for highly compute intensive tasks as portrayed in SPECCPU and other tests.
Focusing on the higher performance dual-core processor solutions, the new Intel Pentium D 960 is both a hit and a miss. While it is Intel’s best Pentium D processor, it couldn’t outpace AMD’s best mainstream dual-core processor and more often than not, it was found suitable to contest AMD’s Athlon 64 4600+ rather than the 4800+ model in both performance and price. Still, rendering and gaming performance are two crucial areas where its competitor manages to best almost the entire gamut of Intel Pentium D processors. Likewise, the blue camp’s strengths lie in compute intensive processing that relay heavily on floating –point operations, manipulating huge data sets thanks to its large L2 cache and video encoding.
In the end, if you add up the tangible (non-performance oriented) processor features as discussed early in the article such as AMD’s Cool ‘n’ Quiet promoting quieter operation and conserving power in addition to the processor’s own lower power envelop, the Athlon 64 X2 still has the wining edge to appeal towards most consumers, unless of course one has specific needs where the Pentium D lineup’s forte is most pronounced.
The lack of functioning EIST support, high power draw and nosier cooler operation in warm tropical environments are real dampeners for the Pentium D 900 series in our opinion. Hopefully, Intel’s next strike coming in the third quarter of this year would solve all these concerns and help it compete even more aggressively than ever before.
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Page 1 of 10 — The Blue Camp’s Dual-Core SalvoPage 2 of 10 — Test Setup & BenchmarksPage 3 of 10 — Results — SYSmark 2004Page 4 of 10 — Results — SPECCPU 2000 v1.2Page 5 of 10 — Results — Lightwave 3D 7.5Page 6 of 10 — Results — Futuremark PCMark05Page 7 of 10 — Results — Cinebench 2003 & XMpeg 4.5Page 8 of 10 — Results — Futuremark 3DMark03, 3DMark05 and 3DMark06Page 9 of 10 — Results — Unreal Tournament 2004 and AquaMark3Page 10 of 10 — Conclusion
Page 10 of 10 — Conclusion
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Review of the Intel Pentium D 915 processor: characteristics, tests in benchmarks
The Pentium D 915 processor was released by Intel, release date: July 2006. The processor is designed for desktop computers and is built on the Presler architecture.
The processor is locked for overclocking. The total number of cores is 2. The maximum clock frequency of the processor is 2.8 GHz. The maximum temperature is 63.4°C. Technological process — 65 nm. Cache size: L1 — 28 KB, L2 — 4096 KB.
Supported memory type: DDR1, DDR2, DDR3.
Supported socket type: PLGA775. The maximum number of processors in the configuration is 2. Power consumption (TDP): 95 Watt.
Benchmarks
| PassMark Single thread mark |
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| PassMark CPU mark |
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| Geekbench 4 Single Core |
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| Geekbench 4 Multi-Core |
|
| Name | Meaning |
|---|---|
| PassMark — Single thread mark | 515 |
| PassMark — CPU mark | 430 |
| Geekbench 4 — Single Core | 179 |
| Geekbench 4 — Multi-Core | 307 |
Features
| Architecture name | Presler |
| Issue date | |
| Place in the ranking | 2978 |
| Processor Number | 915 |
| Series | Legacy Intel® Pentium® Processor |
| Status | Discontinued |
| Applicability | Desktop |
| Support 64 bit | |
| Base frequency | 2. 80 GHz |
| Bus Speed | 800 MHz FSB |
| Crystal area | 162 mm2 |
| Level 1 cache | 28KB |
| Level 2 cache | 4096KB |
| Process | 65nm |
| Maximum core temperature | 63.4°C |
| Maximum frequency | 2.8 GHz |
| Number of cores | 2 |
| Number of transistors | 376 million |
| Permissible core voltage | 1. 200V-1.3375V |
| Supported memory types | DDR1, DDR2, DDR3 |
| Low Halogen Options Available | |
| Maximum number of processors in configuration | 2 |
| Package Size | 37.5mm x 37.5mm |
| Sockets supported | PLGA775 |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 95 Watt |
| Execute Disable Bit (EDB) | |
| Intel® Trusted Execution Technology (TXT) | |
| Enhanced Intel SpeedStep® Technology | |
| Parity FSB | |
| Idle States | |
| Intel 64 | |
| Intel® AES New Instructions | |
| Intel® Demand Based Switching | |
| Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology | |
| Intel® Turbo Boost Technology | |
| Physical Address Extensions (PAE) | 32-bit |
| Thermal Monitoring | |
| Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x) | |
| Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) | |
Navigation
Select processor
Processor comparison
Intel Pentium D 915 vs other processors
Intel
Pentium D 915
versus
Intel
Pentium III 1400
Intel
Pentium D915
versus
AMD
Athlon XP 2500+
Intel
Pentium D 915
versus
AMD
Sempron 3400+
Intel
Pentium D915
versus
Intel
Core 2 Duo E6550
Intel
Pentium D 915
versus
Intel
Atom 230
Intel
Pentium D915
versus
AMD
Phenom II X4 955 BE
Intel Pentium D 3.
20GHz:
processor specifications
Intel began selling the Pentium D 3.20GHz on October 1, 2008. This is a processor for laptops, it has 2 cores and 2 threads, the processor is made according to the 65 nm process technology.
TDP 35W.
Specifications
General information
- Release date
- Fourth quarter 2008
- Market price
- $29
- Purpose
- for laptops
- Architecture
- Merom
- Series
- Intel Pentium Dual Core
- Process
- 65 nm
- Crystal size
- 143 mm²
- Number of transistors
- 291 million
- Processor capacity
- 64 bit
Frequencies and performance
- Clock speed
- 3200 MHz
- Maximum frequency
- 2000 MHz
- Number of cores
- 2
- Number of threads
- 2
- Level 2 cache
- 1024 KB
Memory
- Bus speed
- 667 MHz
Compatible
- Heat dissipation
- 35 W
- Windows 11 9 support0440
- No
Benchmarks
| Cinebench R10 Multi Core |
3600 |
| passmark |
625 |
Comparison with other processors
Processor 1:
Processor 2:
Video reviews and tests
Assembly on intel pentium D 930.
