X-bit labs

Intel Pentium D 920 and Pentium D 930 Processors (page 12)

Category: CPU

by Ilya Gavrichenkov

[ 03/21/2006 | 08:24 AM ]

Conclusion

The youngest Pentium D processors based on the new Presler core didn’t prove up to our expectations. Despite the improvements introduced by the manufacturer such as larger L2 cache, they are still unable to successfully compete against the rivals from the same price group in the majority of tasks. In fact, Pentium D 920 and Pentium D 930 can only prove faster than Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (the youngest dual-core processor from AMD) in office applications and selected synthetic benchmarks. That is why the only way Pentium D can become popular is due to its $60 lower price than that of Athlon 64 X2 3800+. From all other standpoint, it may not be the best purchasing decision to make at this time.

Unfortunately, the great overclocking potential allowing to speed these processors up to 4.0GHz can also hardly become a convincing argument in their favor. According to our tests, Presler based CPUs working at 4.0GHz cannot outperform Athlon 64 FX-60 working at 2.6GHz only. As a result, we have every right to claim that the overclocked Athlon 64 X2 will be mostly faster than the Presler based overclocked Pentium D processors.

However, summing up the results of our today’s test session we should also point out a few advantages of the CPUs on the new 65nm Presler core, compared with the predecessors on the 90nm Smithfield core. If we compare Pentium D processors working bat the same clock speed but belonging to the 800 and 900 series side by side, we will immediately notice the whole lot of advantages of the newer family. It is certainly the much lower heat dissipation, higher performance resulting from the larger L2 cache and higher frequency potential. Quite an impressive set of features, don’t you think so? It is, but it proved to be not enough for the CPUs to successfully compete against their eternal rivals.

So, Intel fans will have to wait until September, when the new dual-core processors based on the absolutely new Core (Conroe) architecture will arrive. According to the preliminary performance results, they will be at least capable of competing with Athlon 64 X2. And in the meanwhile, Intel processors can not really win the market, for quite a few objective reasons we have just discussed.