How bad is the Pentium D

[phillyman36]

How bad is the new dual core cpu from intel? Is it that bad as far as performance and does is run hot enough to worry? How would a dual core 3.mhz Pentium D compare to say a 3.2 or 3.4 Northwood in video encoding

 

[Furen]

It runs very hot, yes, hot enough to worry you. I think aftermarket cooling is a must unless you have insanely good case airflow. In video encoding (if your app is multithreaded) it should be around 80% faster (just a guess from the clockspeeds and the scaling of video encoders). I'd personally go for an AMD dual-core instead since it will perform better and be a lot cooler, but to each his own.

 

[Markfw]

Check the nemchmarks, and the other posts on this. The AMD X2 dominates in performance,price/performance is way cooler and takes less power. Why even compare Pentium D to the Northwood, its not a dual core, just get an X2.

 

[boshuter]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Check the nemchmarks, and the other posts on this. The AMD X2 dominates in performance,price/performance is way cooler and takes less power. Why even compare Pentium D to the Northwood, its not a dual core, just get an X2.

You might not want to point out the benchmarks..... especially one that does a lot of multithread testing like PCmark05...... the X2's kinda fall on their face in that one Of course you can always cry about it being optimized for intel, it's synthetic, etc. etc. phillyman36, you are not going to get a serious answer to your question on this forum.... look around and do some reading.

 

[Hacp]

The Pentium D Pwnz the northwood in video encoding. Still looses to the x2 by a fair margin though. The Pentium Ds aren't bad, they just don't have alot of Ocing headroom, and performace compared to an x2 is lacking.

 

[TankGuys]

I don't think you can say the Pentium D is "Bad"

The issue at hand is that the X2's generally defeat them in benchmarks (albeit at a higher $$ cost at times). Also, the heat issues raise some concerns. However, I wouldn't go so far as to say the P-D is "Bad"

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Originally posted by: phillyman36
How bad is the new dual core cpu from intel? Is it that bad as far as performance and does is run hot enough to worry? How would a dual core 3.mhz Pentium D compare to say a 3.2 or 3.4 Northwood in video encoding

Well, a 3mhz P-D won't even start Windows

If you can afford it, definitely get an X2 though. The overclocking headroom on those are a lot greater. P-D's run at like in the 50's idling...

 

[slash196]

P-Ds are good. X2s are great. It's your money.

 

[Markfw]

Well if you check Anand's review, he doesn;t use PCMark 05, probably because it is synthetic, and doesn;t emulate real world performance. You want to call him on that ? read his review and decide. Its a no contest.

 

[PetNorth]

pcmark, sandra, 3dmark and the rest sinthetic = crap. Period.

 

[carlosd]

The PD is bad compared to X2's...And synthetic benchmarks are absolutely meningless specially when comparing totally differeny CPU architectures (Like K8 an netburst), that's why AT reviews avoid them and THG doesn't.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: Hacp
The Pentium D Pwnz the northwood in video encoding. Still looses to the x2 by a fair margin though. The Pentium Ds aren't bad, they just don't have alot of Ocing headroom, and performace compared to an x2 is lacking.

Actually the D's overclock pretty well, I've seen several 820 and 830 doing 3.6 - 3.8 which isn't shabby. But the cooling requirements to do so (and the power consumption that goes along with it) are major drawbacks for most users.

And I've seen some people comparing the 820 to the 3800+ which is unfair. You should compare the 830 to the 3800+ - about a $40 price difference - but a world of performance difference (even at stock speeds). Once you get that X2 clocked up, it runs the table.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: slash196
P-Ds are good. X2s are great. It's your money.

Best post in this thread.

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: slash196
P-Ds are good. X2s are great. It's your money.

Best post in this thread.

Agreed. Sums it up very accurately.

The only way i would recommend a Pentium D is if you are on an extremely tight budget, but need dual-core.
That's where the 820 comes in.
But tight budget & dual-core...well, that just doesn't make much sense in 95% of the cases.

 

[Markfw]

I don;t know how you can say the Pentium D is even good, when it puts out so much heat it throttles without a great cooling solution, and by then, you could afford a 3800 anyway. Not to mention the power draw.

 

[Mixman]

I see you guys have no love for the Pentium D. Is it better to have a high clocking single core or a 820, if you are on a budget ? The X2 is still at a premium price.

 

[Duvie]

Again you get a combo of an 820 with 945mobo (no micros) and the price is not as big as you think...almost neglible when you figure the 3800+ X2 beats the 820 by almost 30% in games and near 20% in multimedia....

Any person that even quotes a synthetic like PCmark05 is a moron!!! Sorry it had to be said...

I also like the comment....

<<P-Ds are good. X2s are great. It's your money.>>

I may add it to my sig!!!

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: Mixman
I see you guys have no love for the Pentium D. Is it better to have a high clocking single core or a 820, if you are on a budget ? The X2 is still at a premium price.

$350 and a $80 motherboard is a premium ? Anyway, if you go with a P-D or a single core Presshot, don't come back asking for help; you have been warned !

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Just get a 3800+ and a decent nForce4 motherboard. You'll be much happeir with that than a P-D setup.

 

[Mixman]

Originally posted by: Markfw900

Originally posted by: Mixman
I see you guys have no love for the Pentium D. Is it better to have a high clocking single core or a 820, if you are on a budget ? The X2 is still at a premium price.

$350 and a $80 motherboard is a premium ? Anyway, if you go with a P-D or a single core Presshot, don't come back asking for help; you have been warned !

Well I guess not much over a Pentium 820 $250 + $130 for 945P mobo., but for a 640 $215 for 640 and $130 for 945P. That's almost a hundred dollar difference. I would think the 640 should at least be able to do 4.0Ghz, maybe 4.2 ?. Now whether that compares well to a X2 3800 is for you guys to tell me. This is what I am trying to learn.

 

[Markfw]

do 4 ghz ? On water cooling maybe. And with an smp app, the 3800@2.5 will wipe the floor with it, single core would give it a run for it money, or beat, not really sure, I would never put up with the heat and power consumption to find out. Check some of the benchmark threads. The X2's rule.

 

[Duvie]

4ghz on air is only achieveable with high end air cooling and superb case cooling....It can be done....

Have you seen the Divx test??? I downclocked my 4400+ to 2.0ghz at what would be a 4000+ X2 and it still beat an 640@4.4ghz...I didn't even tweak it as I could have ran a 250 divider for 500ddr so I think I could have possibly been close with a 1.8ghz and 500ddr ....

 

[Bull Dog]

Originally posted by: Duvie


I also like the comment....

<<P-Ds are good. X2s are great. It's your money.>>

I may add it to my sig!!!

Heh

 

[Dadofamunky]

Originally posted by: slash196
P-Ds are good. X2s are great. It's your money.

Yep, that pretty much sums it up.

Basically, the cheapest Smithfield will run you about $250. Then you have to get a better aftermarket cooling system like the ThermalRight XP-90 as the stock cooling is probably worse than useless. I certainly will not turn my nose up at the Intel dual core setup for apps and corporate work, which is basically what I do.

I don't think there's anything wrong with it at all for typical use except that it produces too much heat. I'm sticking with X2 as my future upgrade, but AMD-Intel isn't a political issue with me (Intel = Republicans, AMD = Democrats)