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Dual core everywhere.

That is the current message - and the processor manufacturers are NOT kidding.

AMD is still maintaining a premium pricing for their dual core processors, but Intel has fired the first shot in the next price war with the introduction of the inexpensive Pentium D 805 dual-core processor.

Intel is betting that everyone will transition to multiple cores, and it wants to capture market share by offering the most affordable dual core processor on the market. Meanwhile, due to its greater performance, AMD is keeping the prices on its dual core offerings at a significant premium over Intel dual core processors; justifying the price difference on the basis of processor performance.

The question is, how well can such a low priced dual core processor perform?

The D 805 is a low cost (currently as low as $130 CAD), lower performance version of the 820/830/840 family of dual core processors. Unlike its more expensive brothers, it is meant to be used with a 533MHz FSB, and runs at a 20x multiplier to give a 2.66GHz clock speed. Intel was kind enough to send us a sample of the D 805 so that we could put it through its paces.

The D 805 has the following specifications:

• 533 MHz FSB
• 2x 2.66GHz cores
• 1 MB L2 cache per core
• 16 KB of L1 cache
• EM64T support
• Execute Disable Bit support
• B0 core stepping
• LGA 775 packaging
• 90 nm geometry
• 1.25V-1.40V core voltage
• 95W thermal guideline

Basically, the D 805 uses the same core as the D 820, but runs the FSB at 533 MHz with a 20x core multiplier.

Why are we testing a budget processor?

Ever since the D 805 was released, I've been wanting to see how far I could push it. I had a sneaky suspicion that it would overclock well, and that it may set a new standard for performance on a tight budget ... and as the charts will show, it appears that I was right.

Since I intended to examine how well this processor could perform, the overclocked results are fully integrated into the whole article. Every chart you see will have not only stock but also overclocked results. I ran our whole processor benchmark suite at two maximal overclocked settings, so you can get a good idea of the across-the-board maximum perfomrance obtainable by this processor.

Before we get deep down into the results, let me put the numbers into perspective by providing you with current pricing for processors from a local retailer:

Make sure you remember the price differences when interpreting our results. The most expensive chip here is 7.7 times the price of the 805. (All prices here were for retail packaged processors from a major reseller).