Intel Pentium® D 820, 2.8 GHz (BX80551PG2800FN) Boxed Processor
- Clock Speed: 2.8 GHz
- Package Type: Intel Boxed
- Architecture: 90 nanometers
- Socket Type: Socket LGA775
- Product Type: Processor
- Bus Speed: 800 MHz
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Half kookoo, half crazy
Pros
Excellent for applications that use dual processing (MPEG Encoding), heat management, overall speed.
Cons
Not many games support dual core...yet, becomes unstable if overclocked
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Recommended for beginners, or for people who are looking for a fast processor which will last them a while.
If you're looking for a cheap, fast, modern processor, then this entry level revision of the Pentium D processor is for you. The power of dual core will unleash the true capabilities, of your applications, making your work, or gaming more efficient. There will be no more slacking off while using this processor, unless you're a mass procrastinator, like myself.
My setup
Pentium D 820 @ 2.8Ghz
2x512MB ram
400GB 7200rpm internal HD
Nvidia 6200TC (256MB, 16MB onboard) lol
A little Background info...
The new Pentium D (codenamed "Smithfield") processors have grown in size from the traditional 65nm to 90nm to help incorporate the 2 individual cores, which are placed on the same die. The 2 separate cores are what set it apart from the previous Pentium 4 HT processors, which incorporate 2 virtual processors. It supports SSE3, as well as Intel's new EM64T technology, insuring that you will not be left with a dud in the near future. IT also has 1MB of cache per core. Most importantly of all, this processor has full support for Microsofts upcoming operating system Windows Vista.
WOW! Windows XP doesn't freeze...as much
The D part of this processors name really holds up. The dual core chips really pack a punch, which really helps the overall performance of Windows XP while idling. With my old Pentium III processor, Windows would just stop running and give me the blue screen of death for no reason. Ever since then I've been a MacOS X enthusiast, until I ran Windows XP on dual core processor. While idling, the processor usage never surpassed 2%. On the Pentium III, when I radically moved the mouse, it would reach 80%. Of course, the processor alone did not fix XP. Occasionally it froze, but it did not stay unresponsive for a lengthy period of time that I needed to restart the whole computer. Sorry for the run-on sentence.
Turbo-charged applications
This processor seems to like running processor intensive applications like Photoshop. Although there are faster processors out there for the professionals, this is more than sufficient for the average person. With the Pentium D, Photoshop will run filters on large images 20% faster than a Pentium 4 processor of equivalent speed (tested on 2.6Ghz P4).
The applications which seem to gain a huge leap in performance were the video and audio encoding applications like MainConcept MPEG Encoder. It takes a mere 10-40 mins (depending on settings) to encode a 1 hours home movie to MPEG2 for dvd playback. Framerate is around 50 - 130fps (again, depending on your settings). Although the settings make a huge difference, the dual core processors will ultimately perform better than its predecessors.
Oh...and you can run a lots of applications without massive slowdowns, which is a tiny plus...
The future of gaming?
At the moment, not many games have full support to utilize the true power of the dual core. Most games which don't use multiprocessing, such as Call Of Duty 2 or Warcraft 3, run well according to the clock speed. The only game which I've came across that actually uses multi-processing is Quake 4. I was amazed at the difference in framerate when I enabled the SMP (symmetric multiprocessing, available in the 1.05 patch or later) feature. I was running this game at 40fps on 1154x854 resolution and textures at high. However, environment shadows had to be disabled because of the vile card I'm currently using (6200TC). Without SMP, i was lucky to get above 15fps in the same configuration. Even though dual processing isn't widely available in games, it will change the way games are programmed and played. And please, make sure you get a good video card.
What's that engine-like sound?
The fan which I'm running to cool the processor is a 6 inch variable speed fan. When I'm encoding an MPEG file or playing Quake 4, the fan gets really loud. This usually isn't a problem because the sound drowns it out. It REALLY isn't a problem unless you're playing late at night, or in a war zone. You really don't want to give away your position.
Overclocking is not in its resume...
This processor is a bit risky to overclock, mainly because it only has a temperature sensor on the first core. Even though they're excessively close, the temperature of the two cores usually varies from a couple of degrees to about a difference of 20. Ultimately, the information delivered to your sensors are not entirely accurate. I initially ran the chip overclocked at 3.2Ghz for the first few weeks, in which I suffered loud fan noises, slow downs, crashes, and restarts, primarily because the temperature surpassed the set BIOS threshold. If you need to overclock, I recommend not going past 3.0Ghz. Even at this clock speed, get a bigger fan or invest in liquid cooling just so you don't fry everything.
Final Words
I recommend this chipset to anybody who's into video editing/encoding or just wants to run more programs at once without massive slowdowns and crashes in the brilliant Windows XP OS. If you are a person who is a professional video editor or a hard core gamer, invest in a faster chipset with more capabilites. For example, a dual core with HT would suit you better. Also, AMD processors have been known to perform better for games, so for gamers, it would be wise to take the route of the AMD X2 processor.
My setup
Pentium D 820 @ 2.8Ghz
2x512MB ram
400GB 7200rpm internal HD
Nvidia 6200TC (256MB, 16MB onboard) lol
A little Background info...
The new Pentium D (codenamed "Smithfield") processors have grown in size from the traditional 65nm to 90nm to help incorporate the 2 individual cores, which are placed on the same die. The 2 separate cores are what set it apart from the previous Pentium 4 HT processors, which incorporate 2 virtual processors. It supports SSE3, as well as Intel's new EM64T technology, insuring that you will not be left with a dud in the near future. IT also has 1MB of cache per core. Most importantly of all, this processor has full support for Microsofts upcoming operating system Windows Vista.
WOW! Windows XP doesn't freeze...as much
The D part of this processors name really holds up. The dual core chips really pack a punch, which really helps the overall performance of Windows XP while idling. With my old Pentium III processor, Windows would just stop running and give me the blue screen of death for no reason. Ever since then I've been a MacOS X enthusiast, until I ran Windows XP on dual core processor. While idling, the processor usage never surpassed 2%. On the Pentium III, when I radically moved the mouse, it would reach 80%. Of course, the processor alone did not fix XP. Occasionally it froze, but it did not stay unresponsive for a lengthy period of time that I needed to restart the whole computer. Sorry for the run-on sentence.
Turbo-charged applications
This processor seems to like running processor intensive applications like Photoshop. Although there are faster processors out there for the professionals, this is more than sufficient for the average person. With the Pentium D, Photoshop will run filters on large images 20% faster than a Pentium 4 processor of equivalent speed (tested on 2.6Ghz P4).
The applications which seem to gain a huge leap in performance were the video and audio encoding applications like MainConcept MPEG Encoder. It takes a mere 10-40 mins (depending on settings) to encode a 1 hours home movie to MPEG2 for dvd playback. Framerate is around 50 - 130fps (again, depending on your settings). Although the settings make a huge difference, the dual core processors will ultimately perform better than its predecessors.
Oh...and you can run a lots of applications without massive slowdowns, which is a tiny plus...
The future of gaming?
At the moment, not many games have full support to utilize the true power of the dual core. Most games which don't use multiprocessing, such as Call Of Duty 2 or Warcraft 3, run well according to the clock speed. The only game which I've came across that actually uses multi-processing is Quake 4. I was amazed at the difference in framerate when I enabled the SMP (symmetric multiprocessing, available in the 1.05 patch or later) feature. I was running this game at 40fps on 1154x854 resolution and textures at high. However, environment shadows had to be disabled because of the vile card I'm currently using (6200TC). Without SMP, i was lucky to get above 15fps in the same configuration. Even though dual processing isn't widely available in games, it will change the way games are programmed and played. And please, make sure you get a good video card.
What's that engine-like sound?
The fan which I'm running to cool the processor is a 6 inch variable speed fan. When I'm encoding an MPEG file or playing Quake 4, the fan gets really loud. This usually isn't a problem because the sound drowns it out. It REALLY isn't a problem unless you're playing late at night, or in a war zone. You really don't want to give away your position.
Overclocking is not in its resume...
This processor is a bit risky to overclock, mainly because it only has a temperature sensor on the first core. Even though they're excessively close, the temperature of the two cores usually varies from a couple of degrees to about a difference of 20. Ultimately, the information delivered to your sensors are not entirely accurate. I initially ran the chip overclocked at 3.2Ghz for the first few weeks, in which I suffered loud fan noises, slow downs, crashes, and restarts, primarily because the temperature surpassed the set BIOS threshold. If you need to overclock, I recommend not going past 3.0Ghz. Even at this clock speed, get a bigger fan or invest in liquid cooling just so you don't fry everything.
Final Words
I recommend this chipset to anybody who's into video editing/encoding or just wants to run more programs at once without massive slowdowns and crashes in the brilliant Windows XP OS. If you are a person who is a professional video editor or a hard core gamer, invest in a faster chipset with more capabilites. For example, a dual core with HT would suit you better. Also, AMD processors have been known to perform better for games, so for gamers, it would be wise to take the route of the AMD X2 processor.
