Pentium D

Pentium D is the first desktop multi-core processor, introduced by Intel in May 2005. It made up of two Pentium 4 Prescott core placed on a single package, and it runs on 2.8, 3.0 and 3.2 GHz clock speeds, corresponding to models 820, 830 and 840 respectively.

Equipped with 1 MB of L2 cache per core, the Pentium D also supports the EM64T specifications, and the newer versions of the processor support the Vanderpool virtualization technology. It only works with the Intel 945, 955, 975 as well as with the nForce 4 SLI Intel Edition chipsets.

Pentium D is the last Intel processor line to carry the Pentium name. The next generation of dual core processors will carry the Core Duo name.

Why Dual Core?

Because of physical limitations, manufacturers can no longer offer enhanced performance by just bumping up the clock speed of the processors. The logical solution was to use two (or more) independent processors in a single package, which is akin to putting two brains instead of one, hence the birth of dual core systems like the Pentium D. Dual core processors are advantageous in running multi-tasking-heavy and multi-threaded programs, such as video encoding and 3D rendering tasks.

IBM was first to introduce a dual core processor, the POWER4, back in 2000. Apple’s PowerMac G5 was the first to use dual core processors, and other manufacturers also followed suit with their dual core processors, including Sun Microsystems’ UltraSPARC IV, Intel’s Xeon and Core Duo, and Advanced Micro Devices with their Opteron and Athlon 64 X2 processors.