Pentium D 820 Smithfield or Athlon 64 3800 X2?

[WhipperSnapper]

Pentium D 820 Smithfield (2.8 Ghz Dual Core, 2 x 1 MB L2 cache) for $247 shipped

or

Athlon 64 3800 X2 (2.0 Ghz Dual Core, 2 x 512 cache) for $347 shipped.

It's a one hundred dollar difference not counting the possible increased expense of a 775 board of a 939 board (if any). Which one would provide better performance? Which would be the better value?

How does the Pentium D 820 stack up to a non-dual core Athlon 64 3500? Are there any benchmarks around?

 

[AkumaX]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper


Pentium D 820 Smithfield (2.8 Ghz Dual Core, 2 x 1 MB L2 cache) for $247 shipped

or

Athlon 64 3800 X2 (2.0 Ghz Dual Core, 2 x 512 cache) for $347 shipped.

It's a one hundred dollar difference not counting the possible increased expense of a 775 board of a 939 board (if any). Which one would provide better performance? Which would be the better value?

How does the Pentium D 820 stack up to a non-dual core Athlon 64 3500? Are there any benchmarks around?

if you can afford the $100 difference then it is definitely worth it!

 

[formulav8]

There are MANY threads on this same subject throught these forums. Do a search and you will find all you want to know about them.



Jason

 

[Markfw]

Yes, the X2 is much faster, and if you already have a 939 board, you most likely will only need a bios update. Also, the 820D is a furnace. I will be putting one together today just so I can report even more details, as I already have 2 X2's, but right now I recommend the X2 by a mile....

 

[TankGuys]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Yes, the X2 is much faster, and if you already have a 939 board, you most likely will only need a bios update. Also, the 820D is a furnace. I will be putting one together today just so I can report even more details, as I already have 2 X2's, but right now I recommend the X2 by a mile....

Agreed 100% 🙂

Just to illustrate, here is what we have sold:

Pentium D 820: 0
Pentium D 830: 0
Pentium D 840: 0

Athlon X2 3800: 64
Athlon X2 4200: 7
Athlon X2 4400: 27
Athlon X2 4800: 2


It's certainly not scientific, but it says something at least 😛

 

[hans007]

if you are willing to use ebay and maybe get an oem one, you can usually if you watch ebay for a week or so, get an 820 for $180 or so shipped.

the market demand on them isn't that great.

 

[dguy6789]

The X2 3800+ is faster than the Pentium D 820. But it is no where near $100 faster. If you need to save money get the Pentium D. If you are able to afford the X2 then you would probabably be a bit better off with that.

Keep this in mind: 3 years down the road, the X2 3800+ that costs $100 more than the PD 820 will not be able to run anything that the 820 cannot.

 

[hans007]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
The X2 3800+ is faster than the Pentium D 820. But it is no where near $100 faster. If you need to save money get the Pentium D. If you are able to afford the X2 then you would probabably be a bit better off with that.

Keep this in mind: 3 years down the road, the X2 3800+ that costs $100 more than the PD 820 will not be able to run anything that the 820 cannot.

i suppose it depends what you are going to use the system for.

I have used a dual core 820 before, and it does run very smooth as i'd expect any 2P machine to on normal windows stuff.

now i've owned an athlon 64 3000+, (no x2 unfortunately) and the 3000 was faster in games. a 820 is not "slow" at all, but there are a lot of drawbacks.

they dont for one thing overclock very well and even if you did overclock you'd get 3.2 ghz tops. at 3.2 each core, is maybe as fast if even to a 3000+ athlon 64 and from what i've read the x2 3800 overclocks also.

so from an overclocking perspective, an 820 will probably do something like 3.2 ghz, and a x2 3800 could probably do about 2.4 ghz (making it more like a x2 4600).

i suppose it depends on your budget, its probably around a $120 difference lets say. depends if you overclock too.

a 3500+ athlon 64 would probably kill an 820 at a LOT of things , especially games (an even better value would probably be an athlon 3400+ s754). the 820 though was nice if you say wanted to rip dvds while gaming (well any 2p could do this).

 

[AkumaX]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Yes, the X2 is much faster, and if you already have a 939 board, you most likely will only need a bios update. Also, the 820D is a furnace. I will be putting one together today just so I can report even more details, as I already have 2 X2's, but right now I recommend the X2 by a mile....

you got it? great! come share the warmth (literally...)

 

[Leper Messiah]

if you're buying new, GET THE X2. End of story. They OC very nice, my runs 2.4 at stock vcore.

Basically, the X2 is inbetween the 830 and the 840 at stock performance, and OC'd, it pwns anything that intel has (stock). OC'd 840EE's can probably out do it, but for that much money, one should probably have a X2 4800+

 

[Cooler]

X2 Take this from an intel user if you got $ get it.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Just out of curiosity, how many people have done extensive overclocking of the 820D with exotic cooling? I have seen one site that claimed they got 4.2 ghz stable with a "simple watercooling setup"(whatever that means), but I have my doubts that that's the norm for these CPUs.

I figure the price differential between a Pentium D and a X2 + good HSF would be around $250 or so. Would $250 get you good enough cooling to make the Pentium D 820 competative after OCing?

(yes, I'm well aware of the fact that the D would put the hurt on your electrical bill, and probably require a stronger PSU)

 

[Markfw]

PentiumD=$250+ good HSF=$300 X2 with stock HSF=$350. X2 3800+ and 820D both overclocked in that config ? I think the 3800 will trounce it. Give me a day to get my 820 going, and I will post a thread, or reply here. I can bench against my 3800, NO 3d on either, as they will both have PCI video cards.

And good old THG who is Intel biased says this about the sucessor to the 830, the 930:

Given that we have already seen the decrease in power consumption achieved by the 65 nm Cedar Mill, the results of the double core counterpart Presler are about what everybody would expect. Not only does the new chip run both slightly faster and cooler, it will allow Intel to go after higher clock speeds while maintaining its thermal envelopes (95 W or 130 W max).

What the new chip cannot do, however, is pose a real threat right now to AMD's Athlon 64 X2 family in the area of performance leadership. The Pentium D 900 certainly is the much better product when compared to the 800 series, but it mainly introduces a number of improvements that were overdue.

So Intels next generaion can't compete with the X2 of today. Need I say more ?

 

[hans007]

i guess i personally would buy an 820 if people are still dumping them on ebay.

i suppose the reason would be that, i already have a 945g based btx machine. and well i dont play games.

but outside of really anyone who is not someone who has what i already have and could get it for $170 or so, it wouldnt be worth it. and its just marginally an ok buy at $170 let alone the $250 or so they are boxed msrp.

 

[AkumaX]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
PentiumD=$250+ good HSF=$300 X2 with stock HSF=$350. X2 3800+ and 820D both overclocked in that config ? I think the 3800 will trounce it. Give me a day to get my 820 going, and I will post a thread, or reply here. I can bench against my 3800, NO 3d on either, as they will both have PCI video cards.

And good old THG who is Intel biased says this about the sucessor to the 830, the 930:

Given that we have already seen the decrease in power consumption achieved by the 65 nm Cedar Mill, the results of the double core counterpart Presler are about what everybody would expect. Not only does the new chip run both slightly faster and cooler, it will allow Intel to go after higher clock speeds while maintaining its thermal envelopes (95 W or 130 W max).

What the new chip cannot do, however, is pose a real threat right now to AMD's Athlon 64 X2 family in the area of performance leadership. The Pentium D 900 certainly is the much better product when compared to the 800 series, but it mainly introduces a number of improvements that were overdue.

So Intels next generaion can't compete with the X2 of today. Need I say more ?

make a new thread if anything, it shoudl be a good read 😉

Originally posted by: hans007
i guess i personally would buy an 820 if people are still dumping them on ebay.

i suppose the reason would be that, i already have a 945g based btx machine. and well i dont play games.

but outside of really anyone who is not someone who has what i already have and could get it for $170 or so, it wouldnt be worth it. and its just marginally an ok buy at $170 let alone the $250 or so they are boxed msrp.

the reason why i got mine was because i did some random bidding on ebay (you know you do that too 😉). i never thought that i would actually win!! then i had to pair it up w/ a cheap mobo, and that 775dual-880 pro seemed to fit the bill just fine

 

[DJExoddus]

Originally posted by: AkumaX
the reason why i got mine was because i did some random bidding on ebay (you know you do that too 😉). i never thought that i would actually win!! then i had to pair it up w/ a cheap mobo, and that 775dual-880 pro seemed to fit the bill just fine

I was looking at getting an 820 because i cant afford an X2 and that seems like the thing to do. If you can afford an X2 than thats the way to go based on performance and heat.

As far as random bidding goes my friends dad did that and ended up with a corvette

 

[Pabster]

That depends.

If you can get the 820 D for say $150 or less off eGay or somewhere else (private seller, maybe?) ...

But if you are talking retail purchase of either boxed product ... X2 3800+ by a landslide.

 

[Markfw]

Yup, mine was $166.79 shipped on ebay. I only got it so I could benchmark against my 3800+ and talk more intelligently, after I found people were dumping these on ebay. Maybe I will find something good, (or bad) about the 820 not currently known. I allways like to be in the know.

BTW, my chip looks well used (face is marked hard from HSF. I should have it fired up tonight if the HSF ever shows up (on the truck still at 5pm). So I wonder why they dumped it so cheap. AnywayAkumaX and I know what we got ourselves in for (HEAT!!) and I don't expect much in performance or OC, but will post when I find out.

 

[Pabster]

From what I've seen most of them are Dell (or other OEM) pulls. That would explain the used appearance 🙂

 

[zahir5776]

I spent CND$380 on Pentium D processor including new heatsink+fan. I have overclocked it at 3.647.

I converted a DVD (Troy) to Xvid with autoGK in 1 hour 38 minutes, while cpu's utilization reaches 100% temp goes upto 72 celcius.

Average temps with minimal cpu usage are 48 celcius. Stability test for PCmark is passed. For heavy utilization I dont know if Pentium D is a right choice?

 

[BW86]

IF you have the extra $100 to spend, get the X2, you wont regret it.

 

[chinkgai]

Originally posted by: TankGuys

Originally posted by: Markfw900

Agreed 100% 🙂

Just to illustrate, here is what we have sold:

Pentium D 820: 0
Pentium D 830: 0
Pentium D 840: 0

Athlon X2 3800: 64
Athlon X2 4200: 7
Athlon X2 4400: 27
Athlon X2 4800: 2


It's certainly not scientific, but it says something at least 😛

rofl!

WINNAR!

 

[Markfw]

BTW, I got my 820D system up and running (at stock until I get OS and patches installed) and it sure is a pig compared to my 3800+ at stock. Also runs hotter even with a big typhoon installed. Until I get my utilities installed, I won't know for sure, so I won't post temps yet. I will make another post when its all ready to go. But my first impression isn;t great at all.

 

[Markfw]

OK, Quick OC, and only one bench. Heres the scenario:

X2 3800+ XP90 closed case, 2550 mhz, superpi 2m -- 1m 37s. 46c

820D, Open case, Big typhoon, 3500 mhz, superpi 2m -- 2m 6 sec. 46c

Now realize I might get a higher OC (very quick OC on the 820D), but I have way better cooling with an open case, and it still is way behind my 3800+. Watch for a new thread in the next 2 days on this with more benchmarks.

Bottom line ? X2 still rules........By a LOT !!!!

Edit: and the response with 2xF@H SUCKS ! My X2 doesn't even care. The 820 acts like a pentium 100 !!!!!

Duvie, you have to come over, I need a witness !! Stay tuned...

 

[n7]

Keep us posted Mark! 🙂

Oh, & OP, there is no question which CPU to go with.

X2.
X2.
X2.
X2.
X2....yeah, i'll stop.