Saturday, June 26, 2010

Pentium Dual-Core


The Intel Pentium Processor Extreme Edition 840 running at 3.2 GHz and Intel 955X Express Chipsets are being built into computers that are now entering the market. This is Intel's first desktop dual-core product supporting Hyper-Threading Technology. Processor features include the following:
· Hyper-Threading Technology: Enables you to run multiple demanding applications at the same time.
· Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology: Provides flexibility for future applications that support both 32-bit and 64-bit computing.
· Dual-Core: Two physical cores in one processor support better system responsiveness and multi-tasking capability than a comparable single core processor. [Source: Intel Dual-core Desktop Processor]
AMD also announced its line of desktop dual-core processors, the AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor family. The initial model numbers in the new family include the 4200+, 4400+, 4600+ and 4800+ (2.2GHz to 2.4GHz).The processors are based on AMD64 technology and are compatible with the existing base of x86 software, whether single-threaded or multithreaded. Software applications will be able to support AMD64 dual-core processors with a simple BIOS upgrade and no substantial code changes. [Source: AMD Dual-core Desktop Processor]
Both companies have also announced or released dual-core processors for servers and workstations as well.

The Pentium Dual-Core brand was used for mainstream x86-architecture microprocessors from Intel from 2006 to 2009 when it got renamed to Pentium. The processors are based on either the 32-bit Yonah or (with quite different microarchitectures) 64-bit Merom-2M, Allendale, and Wolfdale-3M core, targeted at mobile or desktop computers.
In terms of features, price and performance at a given clock frequency, Pentium Dual-Core processors were positioned above Celeron but below Core and Core 2 microprocessors in Intel's product range. The Pentium Dual-Core was also a very popular choice for overclocking, as it can deliver optimal performance (when overclocked) at a low price.
In 2006, Intel announced a plan[1] to return the Pentium trademark from retirement to the market, as a moniker of low-cost Core microarchitecture processors based on the single-core Conroe-L but with 1 MiB of cache. The identification numbers for those planned Pentiums were similar to the numbers of the latter Pentium Dual-Core microprocessors, but with the first digit "1", instead of "2", suggesting their single-core functionality. A single-core Conroe-L with 1 MiB cache was deemed as not strong enough to distinguish the planned Pentiums from the Celerons, so it was replaced by dual-core CPUs, adding "Dual-Core" to the line's name. Throughout 2009, Intel changed the name back from Pentium Dual-Core to Pentium in its publications. Some processors were sold under both names.

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