Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and the Intel Corporation are two of the largest manufacturers and designers of advanced architecture microsystems for computers such as central processing units (CPU) and graphical processing units (GPU). The Intel Pentium D line went with two single cores that that would operate together on separate chips. The AMD Athlon would move to a 64-bit architecture and then begin putting multiple cores on the same die.
Core Clock Speed
Core clock speed, or core speed, represents how quickly a processor can perform calculations on complex instruction sets that it receives from the operating system or user applications. The AMD Athlon II series of processors have a range from 2.8 gigahertz (GHz) to 3.0 GHz. The Intel Pentium D 900 series has a range of 2.66 GHz to 3.73 GHz.
Front Side Bus
Front side bus represents how quickly a single core can communicate with other cores as well as external devices such as on-board memory. The AMD Athlon II processors have a front side bus of 2000 megahertz (MHz). This compares well with the Pentium D 900 series of chip which ranges from 533 MHz to 1066 MHz.
Athlon Features
Based on the AMD K10 architecture, the Athlon II bypasses L3 cache in favor of doubling the amount of available L2 which makes it more available for programs. The Athlon currently supports two to three cores at one time. The Athlon incorporates many features intended to reduce the core temperature as well as energy consumption including Cool'nQuiet and PowerNow. AMD products also integrate an additional layer of virus protection called Enhanced Virus Protection (EVP).
Pentium D Features
The Pentium D 900 series of processor features 4 megabytes of L2 cache as well as an almost 3.8 GHz before overclocking. The Pentium D runs significantly hotter then the Athlon, often requiring additional air cooling technologies in addition to fans and heat sinks. It also includes many of Intel's proprietary technologies to increase speed while reducing power consumption such as Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology and Enhanced Halt State (C1E).
Conclusion
The Pentium D series of processor has reached the maximum clock speed that current manufacturing processes can safely achieve. While the Athlon is considerably cheaper and packed with more features, the Pentium D is significantly faster. The Athlon is also intended for mobile processing, where as the Pentium D is only for desktops, with the Core 2 Duo filling the gap for Intel's mobile line. The Pentium D is also slowly being phased out for the Core 2 Duo, meaning that it may be difficult to acquire D processors.
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