Written by Are you looking for a cost effective processor upgrade? Are you constructiong an new PC from scratch? Either way, the Pentium D, which was manufactured by Intel from 2005-2008, offers a variety of cost, performance, and power consumption options.
The Pentium D line production was stopped in 2008, yet you can still aquire new units on many websites.
The Pentium D processors are a line of dual-core 64 bit x86 processors. The line came in a variety of clock speeds ranging from 2.66GHz to 3.73Ghz. One of the most popular versions is the Intel Pentium D 950 model which runs at 3.4 Ghz, has a 4 MB cache (2x2MB), and a 130W power consumption. The 950 model has a 65 nm process which signifies that it is the Presler version (first produced Jan 2006).
Two versions of the CPU family were produced; the Smithfield and the Presler. Inital speeds for the Smithfield were 2.8Ghz to 3.2Ghz; however, The entry level D 805 model was added later with a speed of 2.66. Many users claim this chip was highly overclockable to 3.5Ghz with air cooling and up to 4.0Ghz with water cooling. All of the Smithfield CPUs were made of 2 Prescott cores.
When the Presler models came out in early 2006, nine different models were sold with speeds ranging from 2.8 Ghz to 3.6 Ghz. Some the popular models included:
- 950 – 3.4 Ghz
- 925 – 3.0 Ghz
- 930 – 3.0 Ghz
- 960 – 3.6 Ghz
For someone looking to upgrade their Intel CPU speed, most recommend looking at the 940-950 models as these are priced great for the speed they offer. Since the Pentium D CPU line is now out of production, the processors are becoming harder and harder to find (as brand new units). The 3.6 Ghz – 960 model is the most desirable; however, it is becoming difficult to find new 960 CPUs and the price usually reflects this which is why many are settling for the slightly slower 950 and 945 models.
Once you have decided on the D family of CPUs, I would urge you to consider the great value of the Pentium D 950 3.4 Ghz, 4 MB cache, 800 FSB model. Those who run multiple programs at the same time should notice a great increase in speed when running a dual-core processor such as this one. It can be very useful for audio, video, and photo editing applications. If you were to only run a single program at one time, the dual-core may not run faster than a single-core CPU; however, almost all computers can now take advantage of dual-core. Many computers run background tasks such as virus scans, email programs, and more which can all take advantage of the dual-core technology. It is very rare that anyone today would not have multiple programs running at once to take advantage of this technology.
