The recent tomshardware review of dual core capable motherboards unfortunately used the much more expensive Pentium D 840 for the benchmark, which retails for $999 currently.

What about those of us that are considering buying the more affordable ($250) Pentium D 820? There's some disturbing posts about the pentium 820 only running in single core mode on 3rd party boards like the $200 Asus P5LD2,
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/d [...] 54105.html
which was one of the very boards reviewed by tomshardware!

So has anyone tested the Pentium D 820 with the 6 boards Tomshardware used? Is the promise of dual core on a $200 motherboard and a $250 chip false?

Check the manufacturer's CPU compatibility charts. It might simply need a BIOS update first.

If the board manu's list says it supports the 820D, then it does .

I would still rather have a single-core A64, but then I don't need dual core.... do <i>you</i>?

Not wishing to turn this into an Intel bashing thread (We've had more than enough of those!), but so many people are going nuts for Dual core without really needing it.

A modern single-core chip is still more than good enough for what most people term 'multi-tasking'.

If you've never considered buying a Dual processor system in the past, you probably don't need a dual-core CPU.

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<font color=red>(" ) This is bunny's foot. Wingding ate the rest of him. At least he's now a good luck charm.</font color=red>

That board uses the Intel 945 chipset. It should run all s775 chips without a problem.
AFAIK the nvidia chipset is not currently supporting either the 820 or 830 chips.
I personnaly think that intel and nvidia are having a fight over SLI, and as soon as they get that sorted, the nvidia chipsets will support the cheaper dual cores.
I do not recommend the intel dual cores at this time, because of mobo stress, and the amount of heat they generate. Most people would be better served using a single core setup, for lower budget, or using one of the Amd X2 chips, where finances permit.

Also note that XP Home doest not support dualcores, only with Professional edition...

Trust me I know what I'm doing... ooops, grab the cat...

The 820 does not support hyperthreading,
as I recall.

Be sure your BIOS setting reflects this.

The 840 is the only dual-core Pentium
that also supports HT (please correct me
if I am wrong about this, because I am
not an Intel expert by any means


Sincerely yours,
/s/ Paul Andrew Mitchell
Webmaster, Supreme Law Library

The plain ol' regular 840 does not do HT. The 840EE does.

Mike.

<font color=blue>Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside the dog its too dark to read.
-- Groucho Marx</font color=blue>

Stay away from the P5LD2 board. It has been nothing but trouble.

ASUS P5WD2 Premium
Intel 3.73 EE @ 5.6Ghz
XMS2 DDR2 @ 1180Mhz

<A HREF="http://valid.x86-secret.com/records.php?PHPSESSID=792e8f49d5d9b8a4d1ad6f40ca029756" target="_new">#2 CPUZ</A>
SuperPI 25secs

Mike,

Does the 840EE then support 4 simultaneous threads
in hardware? I'm running a 2.8GHz Northwood with HT
now, and it's silky smooth with Office applications.


Sincerely yours,
/s/ Paul Andrew Mitchell
Webmaster, Supreme Law Library

If you would like to talk with someone that has this CPU, go over to extremeoverclocking and either PM BigStan or go to the ASUS section for Intel Mobos and you will see alot of us there. He will tell you just about anything you would like to know.

ASUS P5WD2 Premium
Intel 3.73 EE @ 5.6Ghz
XMS2 DDR2 @ 1180Mhz

<A HREF="http://valid.x86-secret.com/records.php?PHPSESSID=792e8f49d5d9b8a4d1ad6f40ca029756" target="_new">#2 CPUZ</A>
SuperPI 25secs