Conclusion

The transition of Intel’s budget processors to the 90nm Prescott core appeared a very successful move. SSE3 instructions support, larger 256KB L2 cache, and the use of faster 533MHz Quad Pumped Bus have increased the performance of this processor family really tangibly.

As we see, the new Celeron D processors turned 10-40% faster without any serious frequency increase. However, it is even more pleasing when you look at the prices. Celeron D processors based on Prescott core cost exactly as much as the previous generation Celeron processors on Northwood core working at the same frequencies. This way Intel increased the power of its budget solutions “absolutely for free”.

However, I would like to point out that the performance gain obtained by the new Celeron D processors is unfortunately too low for them to compete with the corresponding AMD Athlon XP solutions on equal terms. AMD processors selling at the same price are still faster, although not all the time and not that much faster now.

One more important thing resulting from the shift to a new 90nm Prescott core is the increased overclocking potential of the Celeron D processors. Our first overclocking experiments indicated that Celeron D processors can reach pretty high frequencies when overclocked. And the performance in this case appears comparable with that of the Pentium 4 3GHz, which is a pretty high achievement for a $100 CPU, I should say. Therefore, Celeron D processors should be much more beloved by overclocking fans than their Northwood based fellows.

In general, I have to admit that Celeron D is a pretty competitive CPU for low-cost PCs. This processor will become an excellent choice for many user’s out there.